How to Buy Wedding Flowers Online

Wedding Flowers

It's cheaper to buy wedding flowers online!

Buying flowers online can be a great way to save money. The price per flower can be much, much cheaper than flowers bought from a florist. For example, a dozen premium roses at FTD.com (a florist website) cost $59.99, whereas at freshroses.com you can get 25 roses for under $50, including the cost of overnight shipping. That's twice as many roses for less money!

What's the catch?

The catch is that you generally have to buy flowers wholesale (in bulk), so you end up with a whole bunch of each kind of flower. This may or may not be what you want. You also usually have to arrange the flowers into boutonnieres and bouquets yourself. Arranging flowers is not that difficult, and you don't need to worry about messing up because it's hard to make flowers look bad! However, making the arrangements will eat up some of your time right before the wedding, which is when you'll probably have the least time to spare. You might not want to cause yourself this added stress. One way to get around this problem is to ask your bridemaids to do it. They will probably be happy to make their own bouquets, and it's one less thing for you to worry about.

How do I make my own bouquets?

You can find instructions for making bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages here.

When should I order my flowers?

You should order your flowers at least a month ahead of time, and preferably more. You generally get your flowers shipped overnight or via two-day shipping. Most brides have their flowers delivered two days before their wedding.

What are the best places to buy wholesale flowers?

The best site for you depends on what kind of flowers you want and in what quantities. When comparing prices, keep in mind that different sites have different shipping policies. Some sites offer free shipping (or, more accurately, the shipping is included in the price of the flowers) while others charge as much or more for shipping as they do for your order. Here are some sites that are worth looking at:

1. growersbox.com - Free shipping, good selection. You generally have to buy $80+ worth of each kind of flower.
2. fiftyflowers.com - Fiftyflowers is similar to Grower's Box, but they tend to beat their prices, especially on rose petals. Free shipping. They also offer pre-arranged wedding packages and centerpieces.
3. freshroses.com - These guys have cheap roses, even after you add in the hefty cost of shipping. Shipping on this site can double the cost of your order, so don't be surprised. Despite their name, they have many kinds of flowers other than roses, although their selection is not quite as good as the above two sites. The thing I like most about this company is that you can purchase flowers in smaller quantities than at other sites, allowing for more variety on a tight budget.
4. costco.com - You have to have a membership to buy from Costo. (The cheapest membership is $50 per year.) Costco seems to specialize in flowers that are already arranged for you, so there aren't as many choices as there are at other sites. They have several wedding packages in the $200-$750 range.

Hi

Comments

Vanilla Bean on December 19, 2016:

Is that a cat burrito on the front page?

PewterPigeon on December 19, 2016:

What type of flowers do you think would be best for a winter wedding?

Katrina on August 02, 2016:

For me, the hard part is choosing which flowers to buy. Do you know of a list that tells you which flowers are in season at different times of the year?

Saraphin on August 02, 2016:

I almost bought my flowers online, but I was too nervous that they wouldn't be in good condition when they arrived.

Fawntia Fowler (author) from Portland on November 14, 2013:

Yes, Costco is the best, and I'm not saying that only because of the free samples! You can save quite a bit on movie theater tickets, and food of course.

Marina from San Francisco, CA on November 14, 2013:

I would have never thought to buy flowers at Costco! They really do have everything.

danielabram on August 05, 2012:

Flowers have limited lives, might as well not spend too much. Great hub!

Derdriu on October 15, 2011:

Thank you for a clear, succinct, well-organized article. Particularly convenient, helpful and relevant for me is your link to bouquet, etc.-making: I've been wanting to perfect my tower vase arrangements and stem ribbon wrapping skills and happily found the instruction especially useful.

Silver Poet from the computer of a midwestern American writer on January 22, 2011:

Your hub was very well written, and I liked checking out the resources you listed. Thanks for writing!

Fawntia Fowler (author) from Portland on May 06, 2009:

It's true that I am busy at HubPages, but the main reason that I don't write more hubs is that writing is very difficult for me. I am the kind of person who has to rewrite something many times before I am happy with it, which is very time consuming and not always fun! But you are right, rancidTaste, I should try to write more. With practice, it might get easier ...

Mayakanon on May 01, 2009:

Great article with nice flowers.

@rancidTaste

I think she is quite busy with hubpages development.

rancidTaste on April 30, 2009:

I enjoyed your writings and became your fan. Why you don't write more hubs...?

Ronald Stephanie WISEMAN on April 24, 2009:

This is a great hub. You definately should publish more! Team Wiseman

aprilrue on April 22, 2009:

I ended up using http://www.wholeblossoms.com. They delivered on time, the flowers were awesome and I ended up saving a ton of money! Plus, it was fun to get my bridesmaids together to put our bouquets together.

britneydavidson from united kingdom on March 24, 2009:

thanx for sharing this informatio...i was looking for some online shopping source for buying flowers...thanx...

Om Prakash Singh from India, Calcutta on February 14, 2009:

Hey you have some good collection of flowers here. Single but good hub. Good start

Lgali on February 11, 2009:

useful info

Anamika S Jain from Mumbai - Maharashtra, India on October 17, 2008:

Wow! Nice flowers....

Paul Edmondson from Burlingame, CA on August 20, 2008:

I am happy to see Costco on your list.  For our wedding, we got some of our flowers from Costco and some from a local shop.  The Costco flowers were less expensive and lasted longer:) Now, if I only had a poll capsule to vote for my favorite place to buy flowers online...