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I am on a TIGHT budget and am considering eliminating my bridesmaids' bouquets. Has anyone else done this? I've seen weddings where no one has had bouquets (including the bride), but I've never seen a wedding where the bride was the only one with flowers. I don't want to do it, but I've got to cut costs somewhere, and flowers are expensive. I am DIYing my bouquet to cut costs also.
I love beautiful flowers as much as the next girl, but I also love having money in my savings account. If they don't in the budget, just cut them-- you don't NEED them. :) I've seen weddings where the BMs each carry a single long stem flower, which is pretty. Or, DIYing them is an affordable option, if you have the time and inclination. But honestly, it is such an easy thing to cut-- none of the guests care about what your BMs are carrying. :)
Lots of weddings do single flowers, especially lilles with big ribbons. They're really elegant.
Or, you can DIY your flowers. It saves a lot of money if you have the time. jhphi is right, nobody cares what THEY'RE carrying
I think, if it were me, rather than cutting them all together, I would downsize them. I've seen some lovely options where the BM carried just a single calla lily with a beautiful ribbon. Or you can also DIY and save a whole lot of money. We did all our bouquets and bouts (6 bouquets and 7 boutinneres) for around $80. We ordered the flowers through a local grocery store and assembled them ourselves using directions from Martha Stewart and The Knot.
Since you are having a coastal wedding, perhaps they could carry something representing that...beach grass or sand dollars...
Um..they need a bouquet imho. How about a single calla lilly and some seagrass tied in with it with some ribbon? You could hot glue a sand dollar to the ribbon btw to give it some "oomph".
I saw a picture somewhere sometime, and I didn't save it. But the bride had blogged about being on a tight flower budget, so instead of flowers, her bridesmaids each carried something that represented something important to the couple. It was adorable and unique. And cheap!
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I agree - do a single flower instead of nothing at all. We are also DIYing the flowers and there are some great bulk flower websites where roses are $1 each (sold in groups of 100)
Costco.com
Freshroses.com
Theflowerexchange.com
Good luck!
Shall I cut mine out too, in solidarity? We can start a new trend. Bridesmaids bouquets are sooooo 2008! ;) hahaha
Jennybryde: what a cute idea, I am seriously going to contemplate that, I love things that are different & unique!
Honestly, who cares if your BMs aren't carrying a bouquet? I can tell you your BMs won't care one way or the other. I think you could cut out their flowers, and while people will notice, no one will be trashing your wedding just because you didn't spend $75 per BM on something that gets thrown away after the reception. Don't sweat it!!
I don't think there is a problem with cutting them, but I would feel a little awkward as a bridesmaid not carrying something while walking down the aisle. Maybe you could consider an alternative as mentioned above or ask your bms how they would feel not carrying anything at all.
i definitely agree that they need to carry something, it would just look awkward and especially if you have yours. i completely understand being on a tight budget and cutting back...have you though of doing silk/artificial flowers? they are so convincing these days and people cant tell theyre not real unless you tell them. you could save a lot of money doing silk AND do a single or small bouquet...total diy money-saving project!
Why not have them carry a purse with a flower attached?
I don't think they need to carry flowers- that's a personal choice, in my opinion.
How about fans, or a parasol? Those would be awesome! If it's a night reception, what if they each carried a candle (dripless, of course)?
I wouldn't totally nix the flowers. Give them a long stemmed flower with ribbon and tails or a wrist corsage. I have also done a wedding (long time ago though) where each bridesmaid and flower girl carried flowers of different kinds. They walked the aisle and took their positions. The bride came down the aisle with no flowers, just a beautiful bow in her hands with white pipe cleaner (you couldn't see it). When she got to the alter each of the ladies came and handed her two of their flowers and kept one. She would take and hug and then the maid of honor gave her the last flowers. She just pulled the pipe cleaner around then (all were cut correct size) and she had a bouquet. After the ceremony I wrapped the handle with ribbon before the reception. I really thought it would seem awkward but it flowed smoothly. Read of something similiar where the lady had several children as did the groom and they each presented her with a flower which she just clutched into a bouquet.
you can also do a DIY of baby's breath; or a single rose;
flowers are beautiful
its so unfortunate the wedding bsiness has driven costs so high that brides have to start cutting things out
back in the day everything was DIY
If you had to, you could cut them entirely, but I think most women feel more comfortable standing in front of a group if they have something to do with their hands.
I don't know your color scheme, but maybe you could cut some daisies or other wild flowers -- free and easy! Sea grass, cat tails, or wheat also looks really pretty tied up with a nice ribbon.
You could also do dyed (or pure white) carnations -- you can get a small bouquet at the florist for under $10 each. Or go to your local grocery store or Walmart, get one big bouquet for $10-20, and separate it into smaller bouquets for each girl. I also really like the idea of each girl carrying a single flower, as others mentioned.
stems are 0.65 each at my grocer; a mere $6/12 stem rose bouquet even cheaper with carnations or others do you really want to cut it out?
I would love to be able to find flowers for $0.65 per stem! If I could, I would definitely purchase them from a local grocer. However, we are having a destination wedding, which makes everything more complicated. We are getting married on the beach in a very small vacation town. I believe it's actually considered a "village" because it's so small. So that village and the surrounding area have little to offer us as far as floral selection goes. I was planning to order red/yellow bi-color roses for my bridesmaids and either white or red roses for my bouquet from Sam's club. It's relatively intexpensive--about $160 all together. I was just lucking to cut costs SOMEWHERE. I will probably keep the flowers just because I know how stunning they would look against the girls' mermaid (aqua/teal) dresses. I am ordering 125 roses for my bouquet--I won't use them all--I won't even use half of them. I suppose I could just use the remaining roses for my bridesmaids. I just had my heart set on them carrying the bi-color roses or nothing at all. Do you think the red roses would look okay with their dresses? The bi-color roses look more orange than red.
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red or orange will look fine with an aqua dress. My favorite color combo is blue with orange.
it'll look great!
We're on a tight budget, too, so I'm just having my bridesmaids carry a single bloom (a sunflower) with a ribbon tied around the stem.
If you're getting married at sunset or at night, they could carry candles. I am not a big flower girl, so I'm DIY my own bouquet of leaves (fall wedding) and my BM are each carring a small glass tealight holder, with a battery powered tealight inside (I don't want anyone catching on fire!) If you live where it's not windy or the ceremony is indoors, you could even opt for a real candle.
I agree with everyone else though; they should probably carry something, be it a candle, book, single bloom....
If you wedding is at dusk or later, each BM could carry a candle inside a hurricane. I saw this in a picture of a hawaiian inspired wedding. The candles could be your wedding color and the hurricane prevents dripping wax, flame blowing out, and anyone catching on fire! You could even anchor the candles (I saw votives I think) with sand or glass beads for a little more glitz.
Sorry Noelle-a-belle, just realized that you said basically the same thing! ;-)
i'm considering other options too, but not necessarily out of budget reasons...just want to be unique. i was thinking of giving my girls clutches with a removable pin (either floral or jeweled brooch). this way, they can still carry something, it will be pretty and they can reuse it:-) for myself, i just saw a post on clay bouquets. i googled it and am considering having one done. at least i can display it in my home for ever, instead of having dead flowers. it's not cheap, but i don't mind spending the money.
<h4>I am going to do all of my own flowers (only 50 or so guests) also wedding party only 6 minus flower girl and ring bearer! I have a talent and a love that come naturally, so I can do pretty much as good or better than some of the florists. If you were to order off line, say Potomac flowers they will arrive two days prior, which is great as I want the roses to open a bit, I have reviewed testimonials and looked at different online companies, just verify your order. That is where I plan to get the roses (I want 70 cm the largest they carry) yet the price is about 120.00 for 100 roses. they have many kinds. I love Peonese/Hydrangea I am going to advertise on Craigslist in my area and pay like a dollar or so a stem. Then there are local flower farms where you go and cut your own flowers and they are quite reasonable, that is where the Dahlia's come in!! Sorry if my situation was confusing!!! Look at local flower farms, and or maybe order off line. What colors and or flowers do you like? If you lived by me I would do it free. Also then just take ribbon or satin or satin like material and pin it up the side for boquets. I am going to make them with velcro and fancy rhone stone buttons. Also on bay they sell these rhinestone jewel decorations that go in the flowers, roses especially. I found them a 100 for only ten bucks. Four colors, white/pink/lime green/blue. So if you did just simple roses, then put the rhinestone jewels in them, and wrap the boquet with satin ribbon, or similiar and pin. Feel free to message me if you wish!!!
I agree with the girls who are suggesting downsizing or even just a single flower or two with a pretty ribbon :)
I say it's fine to cut them, replace them with a single flower, or something meaningful. =)
At my wedding, my bridesmaid (MOH) will not have a bouquet. I myself will be carrying either a single blue rose, or nothing.
From hearing what some other bridesmaids have said, bouquets are a bit cumbersome anyways.
Here's a unique idea. Here's a vendor at etsy selling 12 of these (which can make up a bouquet) and add in some seagrass or long grass stems, some ribbon (narrow burlap would look great around it) and maybe hotglue a sand dollar to the front of the ribbon..
12 bucks for this seashell bouquet. Add in inexpensive grass, maybe one roll of ribbon and a few sanddollars and the cost of using a hot glue gun? Cheap and would be fabulous!!! (boutique baby bouquets at etsy)
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25581347
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Have you thought about a non real flower alternative? Like paper flower, fake flower, felt flower or clay flowers that you can DIY really cheap? - the single flowers is a cool idea too ;)
a single flower with a pretty ribbon(thast can be purchased at Wal-Mart) sounds good. Now speaking of paper flowers, check out Martha Stewart Wedding magazine, they have tips on how to make paper flowers!
I've been to weddings where bridesmaids do not have flowers, but the bride does. You can also get them corsages or do a big single flower or couple of flowers.
I think you should do whatever you feel comfortable with! Cutting out BM bouquets, or just using a single stem, or something meaningful to the couple -- it'll be fine no matter what. Like others have said, though, it make the BMs more comfortable if they have something to hold/do with their hands. Have you considered fake/silk flowers from someplace like Michael's? No one will really be able to tell the difference, and even if they do -- who cares!
Good luck, your wedding will be beautiful with or without BM bouquets!
I have decided to move forward with flowers for the bridesmaids, but I am not sure if I will be leaving that to the professionals or taking on yet another DIY project. I cannot justify spending that much money on a small bouquet. I met with a local florist and was offended with his estimate. It was ludicrous to say the least. I could double the amount of flowers for each bridesmaids and make 3 bouquets myself for LESS than the price he quoted for one bouquet. I ran to the market and bought a dozen carnations Friday to make a test bouquet. I am on a carnation kick right now. They are frowned on for weddings, but I think they are lovely. Not only are the economical, but they are hardy. I took the DIY bouquet to a dinner party to show my bridesmaids and had the bouquet out of water for 6 hours and it did not wilt at all. In fact, the bouquet is still beautiful 2 days later.
I need to improve my technique, but I made this bouquet in 5 minutes. With more practice and more flowers, I think I could make all of the bouquets for my bridesmaids. I am a little nervous about making my own bouquet since it will be larger, so I am considering ordering my bouquet and all of the bouts from a bonafide florist. The first photo is my DIY attempt, and the second is my inspiration...I'd like to create that look for the wedding.
I personally really like carnations =]. BIg and fluffy and so pretty! I spent $200 on silk flowers for ALL the flowers at my wedding (mine, corsages, bouts, bouquets, etc) so it IS possible to not spend a fortune on flowers if it's not in your budget. I like the idea of non-floral bouts and stuff, though. You can pick up some starfish (fake?) and glue them to pins, put a little jazzy thing on it (flower or shell?) and pin and you're done!
you could also do parasols which are very cute and chic!
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I am cutting them and doing what's in this picture above. They'll have parasols that I already bought and I'll DIY corsages.
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