Top 5 Trends and Tips for Affordably Fashionable Bridal Bouquets

Unless you're planning on marrying outdoors in either the spring or summer seasons chances are flowers are going to be a major necessity of decorating both your ceremony and reception sites, and as such, expect to donate a hefty portion of your budget to these blooming buds.  Still, even those charmingly romantic Garden Gazebo sites can require a few quick "perks" to give them that unique, signature look for the bride-to-be's big day.  Between ceremony décor, reception site décor, bridal bouquet, maid of honor boquet, bridesmaid(s) bouquet(s), mother(s) and grandmother(s) corsages, bridal departing corsage, groom's boutonnière, groomsmen boutonnières, table centerpiece(s), and of course, the cake, bride's have a tendency to seriously underestimate the total "cost" of their flowers and its hefty blow to the wedding budget.  One of the biggest places the floral budget gets exploited is in the notorious bridal bouquet and complementing bridesmaid bouquets.  In general, you should be able to find a florist that can customize a bouquet that compliments your vision for around $100-150.  But depending on your flowers, their color, the size of the bouquet, the difficulty in the artistry and creativity of the design, the variety of flowers, etc., your bridal bouquet can suddenly skyrocket in price!

Usually coordinators and do-it-yourself brides allot approximately 10% of their budget to budding blooms (a more reasonable estimate is as much as 15-20%).  Still, if you're not marrying outside, or if you're just one of those brides that absolutely has to walk down a petal-filled carpet and eat at a table with a lavish floral centerpiece, its likely that you will spend much more than a mere 15 or so percent on floral décor.  If you're dead-set on sticking to your budget, but also intent on drowning in petals, there's still hope, though budget cuts for other areas (like that pricey designer gown you've been eyeing) may prevail. 

The goal is compromise and if flowers are your number one priority than go all out!  All the same there may be some of you who would "like" to have flowers but just can't justify spending that much for something that's going to inevitably wilt and die (potentially) faster than you can say "I do". 

BONUS*:  All these trends are easy to DIY (Do It Yourself).