* All the floral designs featured in this post were created by Limewood Flowers with love.
When couples start their wedding planning journey, one of the biggest surprises is often how much wedding flowers cost. It’s something you don’t expect to be such a significant expense. After all, flowers are just flowers, right? However, once you begin to dive deeper into wedding planning, the true value behind your wedding florals starts to become clearer.
In my blog on how much wedding flowers cost, I explain that it’s not the flowers themselves that are expensive, but the services of a professional florist. This is where I take you behind the scenes of creating your wedding flowers to show you exactly why it’s more expensive than that supermarket bunch.
The first important thing to understand is that every florist works differently. At Limewood Flowers, we’re part of a growing movement of florists prioritising eco-friendly and sustainable practices.
For me, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a fundamental part of how I operate. Sourcing British-grown flowers, avoiding floral foam, working with other local businesses and asking lots of questions! This means that much of the behind-the-scenes work that is normal to me and incorporated within my costs may not be the norm for all florists.
Now that we’ve established the basics, let’s dive into what actually makes wedding flowers costly and why the investment is worth every penny.
What is included in wedding flowers costs?
Designing your wedding flowers
The first step to creating your perfect wedding flowers is the floral proposal you’ll receive from me after our consultation. This proposal will outline the look and feel of your day, your colour palette, and the locally grown flowers that should be available, along with some inspirational images. The final part will include a detailed quote with your wish list of arrangements and their costs.
This design process takes time, research and expertise to create. If you are looking for a light and delicate style in summer, I might recommend including corncockle. It’s one of my favourite elegant flowers and lasts longer than you might expect out of water, making it perfect for bouquets. Searching for a picture of a corncockle now? I am not surprised; most people haven’t even heard of one!
Allow me, as your florist, to recommend flowers based on the feeling you want for your day.
Learn more on our country garden style here
Once your design is settled, it forms the basis for sourcing and ordering your flowers, which includes knowing exactly how many stems to order.
Mechanics
No, not the ones fixing your car! In the world of floristry, “mechanics” refers to all the elements that hold flowers in place or contain them. For example, if your floral proposal calls for two hanging chandeliers but I only have the metal hoop and chains—aka the ‘mechanics’—for one, I’ll need to source another one in time for your day. These pieces are often bespoke builds from specialist suppliers and can take several months to arrive, especially during peak season.
More simply, if your design calls for 150 bud vases and 35 bowls, I will need to count and inspect each one in the studio, ensuring they are perfect, unchipped, clean, and ready to hold flowers. As part of my commitment to working more sustainably, we don’t use floral foam. Instead, each bowl is prepared with a kenzan and a perfectly scrunched ball of chicken wire as a “mechanic” to hold your flowers in place. This preparation takes time and is included in the cost of each arrangement.
The flowers
Would you like to know the name of the person that grew your flowers, from seed?
This is something I can tell you – most of the time. Over the years, I’ve built a network of artisan flower growers, each with their own expertise and speciality flowers. If you book with me far enough in advance, I can even request flowers to be grown just for you.
Of course, I also source from large British-grown wholesalers. Even then, knowing the faces behind the business has enabled me to access flowers not normally available.
Throughout the year, I work closely with these growers, discussing colours, themes, and dates to ensure your flowers are perfect for your day. On the week of your wedding, your flowers are picked for you in the early hours of the morning, ready for me to collect and start the arranging process.
It’s a more personal approach to flower sourcing than traditional floristry and one my couples cherish. The expertise of these growers, combined with the creativity of your florist, is reflected in the beautiful arrangements you’ll see on your wedding day.
As a last point here, I do also need to contradict myself slightly – the flowers can be expensive. Since the UK left the European Union, the additional paperwork for imported flowers has caused prices to rise—sometimes nearly doubling. On top of that, the rising cost of living has affected all British growers, forcing them to raise their prices. Flower growing margins are surprisingly thin, and these extra costs cannot, and should not, be absorbed by the growers. While the cost of materials is only one part of the overall price of your wedding flowers, it has become an increasing challenge for florists.
Conditioning
No, it’s not what you do after shampooing! In floristry, conditioning refers to the process of preparing the flowers before arranging them. Along with cleaning all the florist buckets, this has to be one of the least favourite jobs in floristry. It can also be one of the most time consuming.
Peonies when they arrive in the studio vs. how they look on your day
Flowers rarely arrive in the studio ready to arrange. Some deliveries come via courier and will have been out of water for over 24 hours. These flowers need time to rehydrate before they can be used. This process can take hours or even days, depending on the flower. Flower deliveries need to be timed to take this into account – logistics is the next section if you want to jump ahead!
Here is a quick checklist of some of the steps for conditioning:
- Remove flowers from their packaging
- Remove any leaves that will be submerged in water so they don’t go mouldy
- Remove every thorn!
- Remove damaged or bruised petals
- Remove side shoots or buds that are not needed in the design
- Recut the stems so the flowers can hydrate better
- Place into lovely clean water
Yes, it is a lot! This process is very different from the way supermarket flowers are prepared, and it helps illustrate the cost difference between the flowers you’ll find in a supermarket bouquet and the flowers a professional florist provides.
Would you like me to do this for you? Enquire now
Did you know – if your supermarket flowers are held together with an elastic cord in a knot, it means they were bunched by a machine, not a person?
Logistics and travel
One of the most overlooked areas in floral pricing is logistics. At Limewood Flowers, I include the delivery, setup, travel, and breakdown costs within your floral proposal, so there are no hidden fees.
Some florists may adopt a set fee, but I prefer to charge based on the time you need. For example, if your venue is Stubton Hall, just a few miles from my studio, your travel fee will be much lower than if your venue is Callow Hall, which is a two-hour drive.
In the same way, if a team of four is needed to build an arch onsite, the cost will be higher than for a team of two. Every florist includes these costs differently, but rest assured, it’s in there somewhere! This is why I can only give you an accurate floral quote after our consultation. There are so many details that affect this cost and I prefer to account for them up front so you can be completely happy with the total amount you allocate to the flowers.
Now, let’s move on to another one of the least favourite jobs for florists—the clear, or breakdown.
Most of my weddings involve some kind of installation or statement flowers like an arch, staircase or urns. This means that the day after your wedding (or sometimes on the night), your florist needs to return to the venue to clear the flowers. It’s definitely not something you’ll want to do the morning after your wedding! Even if you did want to, how would you do it? Where would you put the waste or water? When would you return all the bowls, urns, and mechanics to me? Would they fit in your car? Did you bring a dustpan and brush to the wedding? I think not!
Of course, we don’t like seeing all the flowers go to compost (which is where they go with Limewood Flowers; all our waste is carefully separated). Any flowers that are still looking perky the day after your wedding, I pull from the arrangements and leave for you and your nearest and dearest to take home. These will either be bunched into bouquets or left in larger buckets of water.
More on my eco-friendly approach here
That said, part of the conditioning process (you remember that part?) is to ensure your flowers are perfectly open on your day. The time it takes for flowers to open varies, with some speciality roses taking up to five days to fully open. The logistics of flower deliveries and managing fresh flowers is tricky and requires a lot of experience.
A florist, not just flowers
If you’ve made it this far, thank you. So much of what I do for each couple is behind the scenes—hidden from view in the final bouquet or buttonhole. I truly appreciate the time you’ve taken to learn more about the process.
If you’d like me to handle all of this for you, please enquire to check my availability for your date.
Alternatively, feel free to read on to discover more about wedding flower costs in the UK and take a look at our guide to wedding flowers.
