Should I Buy My Wedding Flowers from a Website?
Disclosure: Blooming Savvy (Forever Botanic LLC) may receive a commission or share of sales from products purchased using the links provided on this website and / or our social media profiles. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
In the past few years, DIY florals have become much more accessible thanks to online retailers. Instead of having to rely on floral markets, grocery stores, or craft stores, you can purchase a wide variety of real and silk blooms online. However, with online retail comes the risk of false advertising and scams. Here are our picks for trustworthy ways to procure blooms online.
Packages from DIY Floral Vendors (Real Blooms)
We’ve seen a few DIY floral companies pop up over the years offering flat fee packages of wedding florals. Offering a wide assortment of color themes and designs, these usually include enough materials to create a bridal bouquet, bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres, some centerpieces, and a few altar arrangements. Often, there are a few different package sizes where the amount of blooms and greenery can be used in different ways depending on your event. For example, with a certain package size, you can make one large bridal bouquet or create one medium bridal bouquet plus three mini bridesmaids’ bouquets. These sites come with a considerable amount of reviews, so it’s easy to be an educated consumer with these vendors. From the looks of it, the flowers and greenery are good quality. However, you may be disappointed in the volume each package yields. These online vendors are providing packages for DIY weddings and events. That is, you won’t be getting enough florals or greenery to create substantial arrangements. These services are going to yield modest centerpieces and simple altar arrangements unless you want to buy multiple packages to combine. Even with this, you’re going to have to know how to properly assemble these items to make photo-worthy arrangements. Professional florists have years of experience and trying to create what you’ve seen online is easier said than done. Have you ever used floral wire? Do you know what a floral frog is? Those really chic arrangements you see online aren’t using your standard block of foam to achieve that look. You may find yourself extremely frustrated and stressed trying to make your arrangements a day or two before your wedding when you have so many other things going on. Read more about this topic in our other article, “What Parts of a Wedding Can You DIY?”. Using this service for a baby shower, birthday, dinner party, or corporate event is a great idea, however. These events are not as high stakes as a wedding and you probably have more time leading up to the event to arrange the flowers when they ship to you.
Packages from DIY Floral Vendors (Faux Blooms)
In additional to real flowers, there are also DIY floral companies that offer flat fee packages of wedding florals. The difference is that these packages are faux blooms and greenery. You’ll face many of the same challenges mentioned previously, but you won’t be up against the clock. Faux florals allow you the ability to make mistakes and try again. Also, wire stems allow you to easily manipulate the floral into your desired configuration, something that requires serious technical skill when using a real flower. Our advice for these services is to be cautious with seriously cheap packages. Quality and realistic looking silk florals aren’t low in price. Look closely at the photos and materials used. Often, the petals are made from foam, which looks fine in photos. However, up close and in person, you can tell they’re made from foam.
Rental Packages from Floral Vendors (Faux Blooms)
If you’re not interested in constructing your own items or you don’t want to get stuck with a bunch of faux florals taking up space in your garage for the next 30 years, renting fake florals is also an option. The websites offering this service tend to have less diversity of inventory but have a solid selection of classic color themes. They also appear to have better quality faux blooms as compared to the purchase-to-own model previously mentioned. When renting inventory, the vendor can offer higher quality florals without having to transfer that entire cost to one customer. These services usually include the vase for the centerpieces, as well. The only additional step is the return shipping. You will be on the hook for any missing items, damaged inventory, and late returns.
Overall, what’s great about the three services mentioned above is that the colors, blooms, and greenery are already curated into a design that looks aesthetically pleasing. It can be difficult to select florals a-la-carte when you’re not used to creating floral arrangements. Let the experts handle the design planning and purchase a few additional add-ons if you want to create a custom look.
A La Carte Purchases
If you are feeling ready to take on the purchasing of individual blooms and greenery pieces yourself, there are some reputable online retailers that provide this service. If you’re looking to purchase real flowers, often you can buy individual stems from the same companies that offer the DIY packages. The same goes for the DIY packages for faux florals. You can also purchase real blooms directly from a supplier or broker, but you likely won’t be eligible for wholesale pricing without a resale license. When it comes to silk flowers, if you have the research bandwidth, you can also opt to buy from multiple online retailers. Often, the fake floral retailers will have items on markdown that didn’t sell well or are out of season, so you may be able to snag a great discount if these match your style. For example, the autumn colors will go on sale after Thanksgiving, so if you’re planning a fall wedding a year in advance, you can get your terracotta and deep red florals much cheaper. Check out our article, “The Case for Faux Florals” for more tips on purchasing faux florals. This includes helpful guidance on things to avoid and potential too-good-to-be-true retailer false advertising.
We’ve compiled some of our favorite Amazon floral products here.
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Disclosure: Blooming Savvy (Forever Botanic LLC) may receive a commission or share of sales from products purchased using the links provided on this website and / or our social media profiles. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.