Floating Centerpieces- how much should I expect to pay?

[skye425]

I am seriously considering doing floating centerpieces. Particularly tall ones with calla lilies and dendrobium orchids (the cheaper orchids ). I was thinking of having 2-3 cylindrical vases with floating flowers. Has anyone done something similar for their wedding? How much should I expect to pay per table for something like this? I had one florist quote me at ~$100 dollars for 3 vases. This seems awfully high for a centerpiece that uses a minimal amount of flowers. Am I just out of touch?

I was considering DIY floating centerpieces, but I decided that I am doing the bridesmaids bouquets and groomsmen boutonnieres myself since I can purchase wholesale callas for a lot less and save a lot of money. So I don''t think I can take on the centerpieces as well.

 

[TooPatient]

Do you get to keep the vases after?

 

[skye425]

No, the florist that quoted me would just rent the vases out for the day.

 

[Clairitek]

That sounds hideously marked up, but what time of year is your wedding and where are you living? Those things make a difference in the cost of the flowers.

 

[sunnyd]

Maybe you could find your own vases to provide to the florist? I did this and sold them after the wedding for pretty much the same price. Just a thought.

 

[Clairitek]

I just looked at a price sheet for wholesale flowers (where a florist would buy from) and then checked out save-on-crafts.com to get an idea for cost of vases.

For 3 varying height vases of 6", 10" and 12" heights you are looking at around $10.60 per table (if you buy in bulk, cases of 12). The orchids are $8 and $15 a stem, depending on variety and quantity. So if you take the average of $11.50 a stem wholesale * 3 stems you are looking at around $45 a centerpiece, on average.

Callas are GORGEOUS submerged (biased, I did this) and a lot cheaper. I had about 8" tall cynlinders at my wedding with 3 knotted callas in there and a floating candle on top. The callas on the price sheet I have here are $1.29 to $3.79 a stem depending on quanitity and variety. Standard white ones are $1.29 each if you buy a bunch fo 25. I''d think that if you did the 6/10/12 sized vases you would need 2-3 in the 6", 4 in the 10" and 5-6 in the 12". This would all depend on how you organize them. So based on this information I would estimate costs for DIY to be around $28 per centerpiece.

From my experience, the submerged CPs were super easy to assemble, but I did not work with orchids. I thought about it but paying that much per stem just didn''t seem like an option, especially since centerpieces for me were an afterthought (I had a super small dinner wedding so it was an extra for me).

Oh, also important to note is that this price sheet I have was from February in the southern MA area. I have a price sheet from last May that I''m tempted to look at to see seasonal fluctuations.

Another thing to keep in mind is that its not typical to get wholesale flowers from a florist wholesaler. I ahve a friend who has access to it so thats why I have this info. You might want to check out Sams Club/CostCo/BJs Wholesale Club (if you have a membership) or 50flowers.com and other sources for DIY flowers for prices.

 

[slg47]

C-tek do you have pictures of your centerpieces?? they sound gorgeous and I would LOVE to see!!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I did that for my centerpieces myself and it was pretty inexpensive. I think my entire floral budget was $700 and that included flowers, vases, supplies, ribbon, etc for brides bouquet, 6 bridesmaids bouquest, 6 Jr. bridesmaid bouquets, flower girl, 4 corsages, 13 boutenniers, AND I think 20 centerpieces.

I ordered my flowers at fifityflowers.com (I had green dendribiums and green and white cymbidiums (not callas)
vases and most supplies I got at save-on-crafts.com

honestly, the floating centerpieces are really easy. It took less than an hour to set them all up and I could have easily shown someone else how to do it.

The rest of the flowers took 4 of us 2-3 hours to do.

We did everything the day before the wedding b/c I only went home to my parents the day before the wedding

I think the quotes you are getting are high! The only variable is how tall you want the vases. If you get much above 14 inches the price does go up quickly...

 

[skye425]

Yea, I thought it was a little steep. The only thing is that my wedding is on Mother''s Day weekend. So all the florists will be pretty busy and thus marked up. But I will definitely go to other florists now for quotes. Hopefully will find lower cost. The buying your own vase idea is great, and I will definitely consider it. Thanks so much ladies!

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 6/30/2010 5:40:36 PM
Author: slg47
C-tek do you have pictures of your centerpieces?? they sound gorgeous and I would LOVE to see!!

Sure! I got the vases at the Dollar Store (as well as the river rocks in the bottom). They aren''t anything fancy, just what we decided to do last minute. I put them together in about 5 minutes with one of my bridesmaids just before I put my dress on.

 

[sunnyd]

For vases, this was the cheapest site I found: wholesaleflowersandsupplies.com. I got cylinders for my unity candle there.

 

[slg47]

Date: 7/1/2010 12:24:56 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 6/30/2010 5:40:36 PM

Author: slg47

C-tek do you have pictures of your centerpieces?? they sound gorgeous and I would LOVE to see!!

Sure! I got the vases at the Dollar Store (as well as the river rocks in the bottom). They aren''t anything fancy, just what we decided to do last minute. I put them together in about 5 minutes with one of my bridesmaids just before I put my dress on.

ooh pretty! I might take some ideas from yours!