Stretch Your Wedding Flower Budget

Choose arrangements that dramatically highlight the flowers rather than displaying them in a tight cluster for use in both wedding ceremony and reception venues. Less really can be more. Use style rather than volume to decorate your space.

Save the expensive blooms for arrangements that will be seen up close such as reception centerpieces, corsages and boutonnieres. Choose cheaper flowers such as carnations and gladiolas in the same color range for arrangements that are to be seen from a distance such as those meant to decorate the altar or the corners of a room. All people see from a distance is clusters of color so it's pointless to use more expensive blooms on these arrangements.

Trust your florist's advice on which flowers are seasonally available in your region. Off season blooms are more expensive and unreliable. Sometimes their quality is also poor.

I can't stress this too much - off season flowers are not a good choice for your wedding - ever. You are bound to be disappointed after paying more than you should for flowers that may even unexpectedly be unavailable for your wedding. You can learn more about the most popular wedding flowers, including seasonal availability at The 10 Most Popular Wedding Flowers and What You Should Know before Choosing Them.

Paying your florist to transfer the flowers from wedding to reception will negate whatever savings you achieve by re-using the flowers. You will need to enlist friends or family members to move and place the flowers if you want to use this money saving tactic to stretch your wedding flower budget.

Create diagrams of the wedding site and reception venue, labeling the ceremony arrangements and indicating where they go. Give these diagrams and instructions to your helpers well before the wedding. Then your helpers will be more comfortable with the task and know exactly what they have volunteered to do.

Many florists rent out their glassware for a fraction of the cost of buying it. Also, find out what other rental items your florist has. Some florists rent out big tropical plants, classy looking artificial topiaries or other items which can add a great deal of style with a minimal expenditure. Be sure to rent vases to hold the bride's and bridesmaids' bouquets as decorations on the head table.

Keep the bridesmaids' bouquets small and inexpensive. After all, the bride's bouquet should be the most grand and impressive. Consider using a single, perfect bloom of a type or color that you will also be carrying. A single rose, lily, gerbera daisy, or orchid can be very classy for each of your attendants to carry at your wedding.

Corsages, being labor intensive, cost more than the same number of blooms alone or even made into a little bouquet. A single rose makes a suitable and elegant alternative to a corsage.

You can extend a small, inexpensive reception table centerpiece to serve for an eight or ten top table by using one or more of the following recommendations.

To make the decoration look bigger surround the centerpiece with several votive candles in glass cups. Fill out table decorations by sprinkling items on the table that coordinate with the design in some way. For instance; if your centerpiece uses river rock or sea glass pieces in the vase you could sprinkle more of the same around it on the table.

The same can be done with flower petals or the heads of inexpensive flowers like daisies. A mirror or piece of fabric which matches the wedding colors can be used under the arrangement to give an impression of greater size.

Not only is this a money saving tip because petals are cheaper than whole flowers it's something you can do yourself or have an untrained volunteer do for you instead of a paid professional.

All you need to do is sprinkle the petals evenly on and around the cake starting on the top and going down the sides for an elegant look at a fraction of the cost of buying a floral cake topper and cake decorations made and applied by a professional.