Part III: Buying Wedding Flowers Rent Your Flowers
Planning your wedding flowers doesn’t have to be overwhelming. If you’re worried about your wedding flowers wilting in the summer heat, the option of renting wedding flowers could be just right for you! Learn more abot faux flower rentals.
If you are looking for a less expensive alternative to a florist, wanting a super easy wedding flower plan, or if you just want to skip all the flower fuss, this option might be for you: renting your wedding flowers.
Yes, you read that correctly. You can RENT your wedding flowers! Psst…you can also rent your wedding dress, but that’s a blog post for a later time.
Renting wedding flowers can be a great option. Now if you’re thinking you don’t want “fake” looking flowers, I want you to look at some of the collections offered by the companies below. The arrangements are stunning, life like, plus they’re put together for you - yes, yes, and YES!
The Pros
Less expensive than a traditional florist
Average feature bouquets with fresh flowers can be about $160
Rented feature bouquets are around $75
You don’t have to worry about sticking to seasonal flowers
Weather won’t impact your floral arrangements (no wilting flowers - yay!)
No mess with petals, leaves, water, etc.
No picking up or arranging delivery - they ship right to you + easy returns post wedding
You don’t end up throwing thousands of dollars of fresh flowers in the trash (beaks my heart every time - if you go fresh definitely donate arrangements to avoid waste)
The Cons
You don’t get that fresh floral smell
You can’t give away arrangements to family/friends
You are limited to the collections and styles available from the company
You can’t dry out your bouquet as a keepsake (note this company offers a loose flower keepsake)
Wedding Flower Rental Companies
Check out the Marlowe collection for a pop of color!
You can order a sample bouquet for $40
They offer loose floral keepsakes so you can keep the memory of your flowers, even though you have to send the arrangements back
I love the Santiago collection!
New company launching in April 2024
Love that they offer floral wall rentals!
Walls range from $175-$400
Love that this company originated in Boise!
Are you feeling surprised by how stunning these faux flowers are? It’s amazing right?!?I really love the option of faux flower rentals.
If you’re not convinced of going full faux. Remember we have other options and you can always mix and match to meet your needs. Consider faux rentals for centerpieces and fresh local flowers for bouquets. Or go faux for bouquets and boutonnieres and order online wholesale for centerpieces.
As we wrap up this 3 part series, all you need to remember for you and your fiancé’s wedding is that when it comes to wedding flowers YOU HAVE OPTIONS!
Chat with your partner and determine what option (or combo) would work best for your big day!
Keep blooming,
Amanda Jean
Part II:Buying Wedding Flowers Buy local/wholesale
Learn where to buy your wedding flowers. The perfect option for newly engaged couples looking to DIY their wedding flowers.
If you are considering DIY-ing your wedding flowers, you have come to the right place!
I know it can feel overwhelming when you’re first considering doing your own wedding flowers, but stick with me and I will help guide you along your way. As a self-taught designer (more on that journey here), I have learned a few things along the way and I want to share the tips and tricks of the trade with you, starting with where to buy your wedding flowers.
Recently, I talked about how to purchase wedding flowers in bulk online. I have used that approach multiple times in my own designs and have had overall good experiences with this option. Read more on how to buy in bulk online here.
As we continue exploring options of where to buy wedding flowers, today we’re going to look at how to buy flowers locally. Now when I talk about buying local flowers, I do not mean going down to the grocery store and picking up flowers (that will get expensive real quick). By buying locally, we’re going to look at farms, wholesalers, and farmer's markets.
Most flower farms allow you to buy flowers by the gallon or bucket
Buy local/wholesale
Farmer’s market
Local flower farms
Wholesale supplier
Farmer’s Market
I have a heart for farmer’s market flowers. You can read more on that here. One of my first “aha” moments with flowers was back in 2011 at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. The colors, the textures, the smells…I was instantly inspired. And those textured vibrant green beauties in the photo below? The Bells of Ireland. I planted some of these in my own garden years later (very pokey) but worth it!
Buying wedding flowers at the farmers market is a great option if you’re willing to be flexible with what florals you have on your big day. Like everything, there are pros and cons to this option - to help you decide, I’ve listed some below.
Pros of the Farmer’s Market:
Supports local business owners
Provides vibrant colors
Allows you to purchase flowers that are in season
Often bouquets are pre-arranged for you, so you can just buy a bunch of bouquets and though them in vases for centerpieces or wrap them with twine/ribbon for bouquets
Cons of the Farmer’s Market:
Most places only have farmer’s markets in the summer and often only on Saturdays, so if you’re getting married in the winter or on Saturday, this option might not be the best for you
There is no way to select the type of flowers that are going to be available, this means being flexible with styles and colors is a must with this option
Pike Place Market - Seattle 2011
Flower Farms
My husband and I have a dream of someday owning a wedding farm. In our dream farm (called Gather Farms), we have a wedding barn, a Christmas tree lot, a pumpkin patch, and flower fields. A lot of my flower farm inspiration comes from Floret Farms. If you’re looking for flower inspiration, it’s worth exploring their website, reading their books, and watching their show. Dreaming aside, flower farms can be a great option to purchase wedding flowers.
Depending on where you live, the flower farms in your area likely have limited operating hours and seasons. Be sure to check online to see what options are available. Usually late summer/early spring is what you’ll see most often. You can often buy from a flower farm by the gallon, which is relatively inexpensive compared to traditional options like a florist.
Some flower farms carry multiple types of flowers, while others specialize in certain flowers only. Do a quick google search to find options near you!
Some great flower farm options in the Treasure Valley:
If you’re down for getting your hands a little dirty, this can be a great way to support local business, get really creative with your design, and have something specific to your area.
Local Wholesale
This is one of the most unique local options. With some planning, this can be a great option for buying wedding flowers. In order to purchase from a local wholesaler, you usually have to have a business or agriculture license. You can secure one of these for around $100 (depending on where you live) through your Secretary of State office/website.
At first you might think $100 seems steep, but once you look at the cost of hiring a florist, you’ll realize $100 for a license, plus the ability to buy flowers wholesale you’ll experience a HUGE savings. With local wholesaler companies, you can get the flowers at wholesale price (similar to online options like this one). The benefit of buying in person though is you get to see exactly what you’re purchasing, how different flowers can go together, and what you might enjoy having at your wedding.
The one we have here in Boise is called DWF (this is a franchised company with locations around the country). Again, look online to see what’s available in your area.
Wax Flower in Orange
To wrap it all up, there are a lot of ways to buy flowers locally. With some planning around time of the year, looking at available options in your area, and exploring potential license ended - buying locally can be a great approach!
Whether it’s the farmer’s market, a flower farm, or a local wholesales - all of these are great options to support local business and have fresh seasonal flowers at your wedding.
Now if you’re thinking this option may not be for you and buying online also doesn’t feel quite right, I have one final option I would love to share with you in the coming week - stay tuned!
Keep Blooming,
Amanda Jean
My own floral creation - designed for a baby shower
Part I Wedding Flowers: Buy in bulk online
This 3 part series will help you explore where to purchase wedding flowers. Part I will show you where to purchase flowers online in bulk to help save cost on your floral design.
If you’re been following along the past few weeks, I’ve been talking a lot about wedding flowers. From my own flower journey to what three wedding flower decisions to make first.
By now you likely have a sense of what your wedding flower style is and if you don’t, be sure to take my wedding flower personality quiz. Once you feel solid on your wedding flower style, you’ll need to take the leap into purchasing. Now there are A LOT of options when it comes to how/where you can purchase wedding flowers. Because of this, I will be doing a 3 part blog series on different options.
You will notice of the different options I share, traditional florists will not be on my list. Please know I have nothing against florists. The reason I won’t be including florists in the series is because this option tends to be more expensive and it’s a more obvious choice for wedding flowers. I wanted to focus this series more on unique options that you might not have thought of before.
Today, I’m focusing on the option of buying flowers online in bulk.
Buy online in bulk
This is an option I have used multiple times myself - both with Costco and with Blooms by the Box.
Costco Flowers
For my wedding, we did a combination of a florist (for 3 bouquets and some boutonnieres) and the rest were Costco flowers in bulk (gerberas daisies). We used the daisies for centerpieces and cake flowers.
Gerberas daisy from Costco bulk order
Our wedding 7/10/10 - cake flowers via Costco bulk order of gerberas daisies
Costco has limited options, so if you’re wanting a very specific flower and you’re not willing to bend, then Costco florals might not be the best option for you. If you’re open to what they have available (carnations, daisies, roses, etc.), Costco can be great. They also have lots of bulk greenery options too. They do have a couple collections (see here and here), if putting together your own arrangement feels too intimidating for you. Though honestly, I feel their collections are pretty limited.
If you’re open to creating and you want to dive into floral design, the next option might be a great way for you to go!
Blooms by the Box
When I did the flowers for my younger sister’s wedding in 2019, I went with Blooms by the Box. I found this company online after lots of searching for purchasing options. I really love how easy they make it to search for flowers by style, by color, by flower type, etc. They also have great DIY guides and videos.
Blooms by the box does offer pre-made options, I just love love love being able to pick all the flowers that go into your design. This is where I first came across lisianthus (the purple flowers in the bucket on the left side of the photo below). I find this flower so delicate yet wild. It’s stunning in purple and white too.
Prepping my sister’s wedding flowers in my parent’s garage - circa 2019
The one downside I will share is there were a few flowers I had ordered that they ran out of and replaced with other ones, without my consent. This caused some issues the day of the wedding, as I had built my design off a certain set of flowers. I will say when I called Blooms by the Box about this, they provided great customer service, were very apologetic and refunded the flowers they had substituted without my approval. In the end, it all worked out - as most things do.
Now you’ll see below I went a bit bananas with color and texture on these flowers, but my sister and her partner were all for it. Dahlias, calla lilies, blue thistle, craspedia - swoon.
A bright + bold bridal bouquet I created for my sister’s wedding
Calla lily from Blooms by the Box - I used in my sister’s wedding floral design
Floral corsage cuff I designed for my sister’s wedding
I hope you’re feeling inspired by all the beautiful blooms above and maybe you’re feeling even a little bit brave to try your hand at floral design for your own wedding day. If you’re not feeling convinced buying flowers in bulk online is for you, don’t worry! I have more options coming your way - stay tuned for next week’s blog where we will talk about buying wedding flowers locally or via wholesale.
Keep Creating,
Amanda Jean