How Much Do Wedding Flowers Cost? Wedding Flower Prices Explained
There's so much that goes into your wedding florist quote - so read on to find out why wedding flowers cost what they do, and what you can expect for your money
When it comes to how much wedding flowers cost, there is so much to consider. Wedding flower orders span from simple rose bouquets, to full-blown floral wedding arches and instalments, so pinpointing an average cost of wedding flowers in the UK is close to impossible.
However, for couples trying to plan their wedding budget, it's important to become more familiar with wedding flower prices and ultimately determine what their cost of wedding flowers will be. To do this, you need to understand what impacts the cost, and how florists determine each quote.It's a common misconception that anything with the word 'wedding' attached to it doubles in price, but that is so far from the truth. If you think your wedding florist quote is expensive, that's because wedding flowers genuinely can be expensive - not because someone's added a zero as soon as they find out you're getting married.
Having said that, there are so many affordable wedding florists out there, including ones that cater specifically to smaller wedding budgets, as well as those who specialise in high-end events. To ensure you get the best bang for your buck, whilst maintaining realistic and fair expectations, we've put together a guide to wedding flower costs and prices in the UK.
Wedding Flower Prices: How Much Does It Cost & Why?
With the help of seven UK wedding florists, we've gathered everything you need to know about the average cost of wedding flowers, what impacts the price of wedding flowers, and exactly what you can expect to get for each price bracket.
Giving expert advice and invaluable insight into what goes on behind the scenes as a wedding florist, here is the ultimate guide to wedding flower prices, as told by the experts themselves.
- How Much Do Wedding Flowers Cost?
- What Impacts the Cost of Wedding Flowers?
- What Do Wedding Flower Prices Include?
- How to Save Money on Wedding Flowers
- Wedding Flower Price Lists in the UK
How Much Do Wedding Flowers Cost?
The cost of wedding flowers will vary wildly and depend on a number of factors - all of which we detail in this article. The price of wedding flowers spans so much, and when speaking to Hitched florists, they had average spends ranging from £350 all the way up to £4,000.
Though the prices vary massively, the fact of the matter is, you can only pay what you can pay, and sticking to your own personal wedding budget is really important. Rather than talking specifics, because we know that one size does not fit all here, we're going to be explaining what impacts the cost of wedding flowers, what's generally included, and what you can expect from different price brackets.
Whether your wedding flower budget is £300 or £3,000, it's really important to have realistic expectations and a good understanding of what your money can get you. There are often misconceptions about what wedding flower costs entail, and we've got insight from the experts that explain everything you need to know.
What is the Average Price for Wedding Flowers?
Though she herself prefers to offer a bespoke quote (as do many of our wedding florists), Belinda Campopiano from Chez Fleur explains where couples can expect most florist prices to start from.
She says, "I would suggest couples expect to pay upwards of £125 for a large, loose style and hand-tied bouquet, from £90 for bridesmaids bouquets, between £10-£15 for buttonholes and between £23-£35 for corsages, which are actually really time consuming to make!"
Though this gives couples a good starting point, below we have more information on everything that impacts the cost of wedding flowers, as well as what you can expect to get within different price brackets.
Our 2023 National Wedding Survey (our annual study of over 2,400 couples who married in that year) revealed that, on average, couples spent £1,050 on their wedding flowers - but this is a country-wide average and many factors will influence the average cost, include where and when they got married, as well as what type of flowers they chose, so don't get too caught up on that number.
What Impacts the Cost of Wedding Flowers?
To truly understand what goes into pricing up your quote, it's important to know what impacts the cost of your wedding flowers. Though the size of your order will always be the main one, there are some more unknown factors that we're about to shed light on.
1. Suppliers & Sources
Jennifer Hindmoor from Into the Wild Florist explains that, like many others, the floristry industry has been heavily impacted by things like Brexit and the cost of energy increases. She explains: "Brexit and the energy crisis have hit florists quite hard. There are now much fewer Europe-based growers sue to the impact of Brexit, Covid and the additional energy costs - heating greenhouses is expensive!
"Because of this, it means there are fewer flowers available across the board, so during peak times and in high wedding season, costs go up excessively, much more than the usual hike. For example, last year the cost of one garden rose was £3.50 before adding on VAT."
Proving that this is a nationwide issue for florists in the UK, Elaine Graham from Pesh Flowers says, "For us, wedding flower prices have gone up by 40% when buying from growers and suppliers, so it's important that couples are aware and know that the amount of money they set aside for flowers is realistic."
In addition to this, as everyone's costs increase in households, the same is happening to businesses. Rebecca Giles from Paper Bouquets explains, "My running costs as a business have increased by around £850 a month. At the moment I have not passed that onto my clients, but it will be difficult not to gradually phase that in."
2. Lead Times
Carole from Tulipa Botanica Flowers and Events explains the impact that long lead times can have on floristry prices, "Personally, I have a preference for sustainable floristry and sourcing British and locally grown flowers and foliage.
"Unfortunately, our climate does not sustain an abundant supply of beautiful flowers year round and it's necessary to buy via the Holland auctions or direct from further afield growers. As a result, prices fluctuate and more recently, as with fruit and veg in short supply so too have we found that flower prices have soared due to less availability.
"So, for us, it's so important to get that quote right especially if we are pricing wedding flowers for dates up to 18 months in advance. As a result of getting it wrong, or trying to be too competitive we not only do not make any profit, we may well be significantly out of pocket at a resulting loss.
3. Additional Stock for Delicate Blooms
A common misconception about wedding flowers is that, if your bouquet includes five roses, the florist orders just five roses. Surprising to most, this is absolutely not the case.
Belinda sheds some light on this, saying, "Some flowers, though beautiful, are notoriously unreliable. For example, if someone wants to have peonies in their bouquet, I would order around three times the amount I actually need because peonies can take days to open, or burst open quickly and be far too open to use.
"I actually had one bouquet which required three coral peony flowers, and I had to buy 20 stems to get three that were perfect - all the others looked like golf balls and stayed resolutely shut."
4. Expertise & Experience
On the subject of additional stock, Carole explains how not working with an experienced florist could lead to errors being made, "If I need 10 roses, I buy two wraps of 10 roses a wholesale to ensure that I have at least 10 perfect blooms. We are working with natural materials, therefore we find in a wrap of 10 several ‘perfectly imperfect’ and even broken stems not fit for use.
"As I have a flower shop, these remaining stems will go into stock and used in other standard orders. An inexperienced florist or florist who may have underquoted (going back to the importance of getting the price right!) would be unable to afford to do this, as they would have only bought 10 stems and use these regardless of quality."
5. Time of Year & Season
As with many wedding businesses, the time of year will impact the price, but with flowers there's the added influence of bloom seasonality. Whilst high wedding season in the UK runs May - September, all flowers have their own high and low seasons. The difference here is that when flowers are in season, they tend to be more affordable as there are more available, and they are of good quality.
When a flower is not in season, they are harder to source and you are more likely to have imperfect batches, increasing order costs and in turn, the cost to you as a couple. You can read all about wedding flower seasons here, and of course, it's always best to ask your florist as they can advise.
What Do Wedding Flower Prices Include?
Every wedding florist in the UK will include different things in their price or package, so it's important to check these right at the start, but here are some of the things most commonly included within your wedding florist quote, according to the experts.
1. Design & Consultation
Almost all wedding florists will include at least one consultation phone call or in person meeting in their price to you. Some will even offer a free consultation before you book with them. What's more, your wedding florist will also then design your flowers.
Jennifer adds: "Wedding flower costs include paying for a skilled designer to match floral designs with your venue, wedding colour scheme as well as creating bespoke and personalised arrangements and sourcing the flowers, too."
2. Conditioning & Prepping Flowers
Florist Belinda explains just how much work goes into preparing and conditioning the flowers ahead of a wedding: "Flowers generally arrive two to three days before the wedding and need conditioning. This involves cutting every stem, removing most of the leaves and placing them all in clean buckets of water at least 24 hours before using them."
Adding to this, Jennifer says, "As well as preparing and arranging the flowers by hand, as flowers are a live material, costs often include additional labour to arrange the flowers within a limited time frame, as well as setting them up in an equally limited timeframe."
3. Accessories & Hire Items
Many florists will include additional accessories needed in their price. Belinda details her process, "My prices include the accessories such as mirrors, wood slices, table runners but there is a refundable deposit to pay which is returned to the couple once all the items are returned to us at Chez Fleur – I am very much into reusing bottles, vases, mirrors etc from an eco point of view and this way things can be reused over and over."
4. Delivery & Collection
When it comes to delivery (and sometimes collection!) of wedding flowers, it's important to note that not all florists include this in their price, and some will charge a bit more for tricky locations or late/early times. Jennifer explains, "Additional charges may include delivery and collection (often after midnight) and sometimes dropping bouquets to a hotel prior to arriving to the venue.
"Hotels in central cities often do not have parking and congestion charges also mean delivery is complex and may well have to involve hiring a delivery service or vehicle."
How to Save Money on Wedding Flowers
As we've already said, wedding flowers are worth their weight in gold. Jennifer rightly points out, "Nothing transforms a space and venue as much as fresh flowers. They are an immersive experience. They are a great backdrop for images and the scent of your wedding flowers will trigger memories for many years to come."
And the same goes for paper and dried wedding flowers, too. But, not all couples have large wedding flower budgets. So, how can you save money on your wedding flowers? There are ways to spend less if your budget doesn't give you much wriggle room, but it's important to maintain really realistic expectations whilst doing this.
1. Prioritise What You Want
Those with a lower wedding budget can absolutely have great wedding flowers, but prioritisation is going to have to play a big part in your order. If you only have a set amount you are able to spend, you need to decide which flowers take priority.
Maybe you absolutely must have a wedding bouquet, but aren't too fussed about buttonholes, or aren't adamant about having a bouquet, but really want some table decorations. Whatever matters most will be unique to you, but you may have to sacrifice some things if you have less money to spend.
2. Quality vs Quantity
Couples on a smaller budget can make this work in two ways. You can either opt for more wedding flower arrangements using cheaper materials or flowers, or fewer, but using higher quality blooms or fabrics. However, more doesn't mean cheaper - it's often thought that bulk buying reduces costs, so if a florist orders 500 of something, it'll be cheaper per unit.
Interestingly, this is rarely the case. Rebecca explains, "I charge the same amount for the same bouquet, whether it's a wedding or birthday, because exactly the same has gone into both. I pay the same amount and spend the same amount of time per flower regardless of whether I'm ordering or making 500, or a dozen."
Continuing to explain the compromises that can be made on quality and quantity, Rebecca says, "The way I am combatting the ever rising costs is to offer my couples a 'good, better and best' type of tier system. Budget friendly options are ones which are the quickest and easiest for me to make using the least amount of materials.
"There are then options to upgrade with more expensive foliage, flowers and larger bouquets all the way up to the top end."
3. Repurpose & Reuse
Belinda explains the benefits of repurposing and reusing flowers as a way to get the most out of your flowers, "Wherever possible, I try to repurpose flowers. For example, the marriage table arrangement can often be used for the top table.
"I wouldn't however encourage trying to make bouquets double up as table centres – this is because the stem length for a bouquet is too long for a table centre but if you make it shorter so that they can be used on the tables the proportion a bouquet is incorrect.
"It's better to have separate flowers for the table and keep the bouquets at the length they need to be but provide two or three empty vases for the bridesmaids to place their bouquets to decorate the cake table, bar area, gift table and more."
4. Explore Ways of Ordering
The traditional consultation, design process and delivery is great if you can afford to do that, but for anyone who can't there are other options out there. The team at Blooming Green Flowers offer a few different alternatives. "We believe that everyone, whatever their budget, should be able to have wonderful wedding flowers — and we are able to keep our prices down when you order online.
"The flowers are the same, freshly picked, gorgeous seasonal flowers that we use for our bespoke orders – there is no compromise on quality. When you order, simply select your floral items, choose your preferred colour scheme, add any special requests and choose your collection date. Once we have confirmed our availability, we will send a payment request. Once this is paid, your booking is confirmed."
They also offer a 'pick your own' service using their professionally grown flowers, "There’s something really special about picking your own wedding flowers. On more than one occasion we have had couples say that this was the best part of their entire wedding!
"We recommend picking your flowers a couple of days before your wedding so that they have time to stand in water overnight before being arranged. When booking we just ask you to choose a date, approximate picking time and number of buckets, and these are paid for in advance. If you decide that you need to pick an extra bucket or two on the day, this can usually be arranged.
"Picking your own is perfect for DIY weddings and allows you to have an abundance of flowers at an affordable price."
Wedding Flower Price Lists in the UK
Similar to almost all other wedding suppliers, we know how much the price of wedding flowers varies across different areas, services and orders. However, many wedding florists do work to a price list, so we spoke to more of our very on Hitched florists and asked them for their expert insight on what they charge for wedding flower orders, and what you can expect to pay at different levels.
Up to £500
Couples with a wedding flower budget of up to £500 should be able to get all of the wedding flower basics that most couples would want. We're talking a bouquet for you, between two and four for your wedding party, some button holes and your corsages.
Whilst many wedding florists in the UK have average prices that far exceed £500 and below, there are businesses like Bouquets n Bunches who specialise in smaller orders for couples working to a tighter budget. With an average wedding florist spend of £350, they were the perfect people to speak to about wedding flowers at the lower end of the scale.
Hannah from the team says, "We focus on small orders up to £500 as our ethos is providing affordable flowers for all.
"We work differently to most other wedding florists as we grow nearly all of our own flowers and target a lower florist budget. We keep our prices affordable for our clients using a few different techniques. Firstly, we encourage couples to choose a colour palette rather than a particular type of flower, which works well for us as we grow our own.
"All of our surplus is then dried, meaning we can include dried flowers outside of the main growing season which runs from May to September. We also have a quicker consultation and booking process, reducing our admin massively. Because we grow our own flowers, this means we have minimal wastage and gives us more time working in our garden creating our flowers."
So, for couples who aren't set on particular blooms and are happy to leave their florist to work creatively on their behalf, there are options for you to keep the cost of wedding flowers below £500. But it's important to remember to manage your expectations. Whilst it's completely doable to have wedding flower costs at less than £500, this won't be a package that includes all the bells and whistles.
£500 - £1,000
Between £500 and £1,000, most florists will be able to provide you with the wedding party flowers, buttonholes and corsages as detailed above - but in this price bracket, you can expect to have some small decorative flowers included.
Paper Bouquets, Into the Wild and Chez Fleur all agreed that at this price, small centerpiece tables were doable, but many specified that this is unlikely to include a larger arrangement for your top table. Rebecca from Paper Bouquets also said that with a spend of up to £1,000 they could also include some wedding cake flowers if you wanted some as decorative items.
£1,500 - £2,000
At this price bracket, your wedding flower options really start to open up. As well as your wedding party flowers, and some small decorative features, you can now expect to upgrade your bouquets to include bigger and better blooms, as well as having larger and more elaborate wedding table decorations.
This could also include some small floral wedding aisle decorations, mantelpiece arrangements and urns or pedestal vase blooms. Belinda says that this is a really healthy wedding flower budget. It welcomes a more bespoke service with much more to work with.
More than £2,000
When you're looking to spend more than £2,000 on your wedding flowers, you really open yourself up some incredible options. Here, you will be able to start discussing large floral hoops and hanging pieces, many more decorative flowers for your wedding venue and potentially even large installments like flower walls, wedding arches and statement pieces.
Companies such as Pesh Flowers specialise in wow-factor displays and, with an average spend of £4,000, look to completely transform your wedding into a floral extravangaza.
We have so many other ways to transform your venue in our wedding venue decor article, as well as the most important questions to ask your wedding florist!
