For us, flowers were not very important in the grand scheme of things. During the initial conversation about what we were envisioning for our wedding, I shared photos of fluffy peonies and garden roses and vibrant dahlias. I love a good, plush floral arrangement.
But after deciding on a location in Maui that overlooked the ocean and coastline, the extra “stuff”, like flowers, just didn’t seem as important to us. The backdrop of our wedding could and would do all the talking, and we were thrilled to be so lucky to have the wedding of our dreams in one of our favorite places.
We moved forward with seeking quotes for flowers. After requesting the peonies, garden roses and dahlias in various arrangements, which all happen to be very expensive, the total came to $4,000 for table centerpieces, cocktail tables, ceremony site (two arrangements plus an arrangement for the bamboo arch), bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages. I literally had to use my hand to pick my jaw up off the floor. Did all of these arrangements really matter?
In my head I had planned to spend $1,000 and that is what we budgeted as we felt it was reasonable for where we had ranked flowers on the list of things most important to us. I still wasn’t convinced that $4,000 was reasonable, despite knowing I would be getting the exact flowers I wanted.
We ended up moving forward with another vendor that took our vision and modified it to get much closer to our budget. We were more than okay with that as we didn’t anticipate our wedding in Maui being remembered for the floral arrangements. We settled on a number closer to $1,500. Still over budget, but in reality, I think we definitely under-budgeted for flowers from the start not having much knowledge about the costs of flowers, let alone the cost of flowers on a Hawaiian island. I naively thought that native orchids would be cheaper, but I was very wrong.
With the wedding over, I can say that I was really pleased with the bouquets. We purchased flower leis for the wedding party and our parents which were so beautiful. The leis for the men were in lieu of boutonnieres. During the ceremony we took part in the Hawaiian culture by having a lei exchange which essentially symbolizes our eternal love for one another.
The flowers at the tables for the cocktail hour and reception turned out quite nice given our budget. The florist was able to incorporate some of the flowers I had originally envisioned which was a pleasant surprise.
Because this was a destination wedding, and we communicated with the florist via our wedding planner, the only way I was able to share our vision was with inspirational photos sourced from Pinterest and the internet. There was no swinging by a shop and seeing a mock-up of an arrangement. While I have a tendency to be Type A, I didn’t have any problem letting go of control over the flowers since they really weren’t important to me. At first I was on a mission to purchase my own vases, but when my wedding planner said that the florist would provide them, I relinquished control and rolled with it. I didn’t even ask about the vases they would select. Why? Because it really wouldn’t matter all that much. Up until the the wedding day, I had no idea what arrangements or flowers I would be getting.
My advice to anyone planning a wedding, is to let go of control over something that is not of great importance to you. Let someone else handle it, and if that person happens to be a vendor, then even more reason to let their expertise guide them. This will allow you more time and energy to focus on what really matters most to you.
All photos were taken by Jessica or Tara of Anna Kim Photography.
