Every Bride has been "window" shopping since the ring first went on her finger. Its fun to look at magazines and on the internet where there are endless photos of everything imaginable for a wedding.

Every Brides walks into a consultation with photos on her smart phone, tablet or laptop. One of the first questions I ask is "what is your vision", that's when the photos come out and the Bride really gets excited because  she has a dream and I can see it in her eyes. Its heart breaking when we have to do a reality check and she realizes that her dream flowers are out of her budget. 90% of the time if you are looking at floral arrangements in a magazine, you are looking at something a TOP designer has done. TOP meaning they are know through out the Country and design for shows, conventions and events related to flowers. And then you have the TOP of the TOP, like Preston Bailey and Karen Tran. Yep, we are talking million dollar weddings. Can you, the everyday American Bride afford Bailey or Tran? No, now if you're doing a 40 to 50 thousand wedding, we may be able to do one over the top floral wall or floral panel but that's about it other than your other floral needs. I will give you some examples shortly on what I would price a few pieces for, other designers would price much higher Your best choice you can make when choosing a florist or event designer is to choose one that can and will work with your budget, one that understand your vision and will work to give you all your money can get you, one that you feel comfortable with, one that will go a little extra with the small detail that in the end mean a lot. Give your designer room to work, you will be amazed at how he or she can give you choices that you can live with.

The gorgeous floral panels and hanging orbs on the left are around a $10,000.00 so, you would need a total budget of about S70,000.00. The beautiful floral panel on the right with floral tie backs runs $2,000.00.. Much more affordable with a smaller budget.

Bells of Ireland and green dendroibum orchids elegantly arranged in silver containers on the left run around $300.00. White dendroibum orchids softly draping from a glass vase for $150.00.

 On the left this arrangement would price out at $700.00 and the one on the right would price out at $300.00. Similar designs different prices.

One of the first things a bride does once she gets engaged is start planning for the wedding day. Some set a budget, but once they start looking into caters, venues, dresses and accessories they realize quickly how fast that budget disappears. It really is hard to set a budget if you have no idea what things cost.

You start out with "sticker" shock once you start finding out how much things really cost. Your venue and catering should be about 48% of your budget. Music and Photography about 10% each. Flowers about 8 to 10% for the Bridal party and ceremony flowers, add another 5 ti 7% for reception flowers.

You have gifts, invitations and transportation which should be about 2% each. The bride and grooms attire, gown, shoes, tux, hair and makeup and any other thing that each would wear should run around 10%.

We try to work within a budget but sometimes now matter what we do we just can't.  We realize that most people have no idea what flowers cost, I do have a page "Just so you know" that goes into detail about pricing.

Your budget must be the first thing you set in place, if you don't you are out of control with in just a few days. You wouldn't go out and buy a car or home without having a budget and you shouldn't plan a wedding without one either.

Part of our job as a floral designer is to help you stay within your budget, yes we are the ones that say "no you can't afford that". But let us show you something you can afford. Let's look at options like less expensive flowers, or smaller arrangements. Just let us help you with what we do best.

So when you go to a florist or wedding event designer please don't say you haven't thought about a budget, or that you don't have a budget because you really need one before they can quote you a price.