If you’re a floral-loving bride looking to make the most of your wedding day flowers, I’ve got some advice to share with you on how to do just that! We love a good floral design, but the best designs aren’t just pretty, but are also functional and multipurpose. Here is our top secret to maximizing your floral budget when planning your northern Virginia wedding!

Our Top Secret to Maximizing Your Floral Budget: Repurpose!

We’ll say it until we’re blue in the face – repurpose your wedding flowers! You’re spending a lot of money on those flowers, so make sure you can get the most out of them. Many of our couples will spend anywhere from $5k-$10k+ on their wedding flowers, and you can be sure we’re going to strategize about how to get them seen by your guests for as long as possible!

Transitioning Flowers from Ceremony to Reception

You might be hesitant to spend money on ceremony flowers when your ceremony may last anywhere from 15-30 minutes. If you’re getting married outdoors in northern Virginia, we’d suggest playing on the already naturally beautiful setting of your venue and adding in ceremony flowers to supplement in the space. 

From rolling mountain views to intimate garden settings, historic manor houses or the backdrop of a modern barnhouse, northern Virginia is full of gorgeous venues that don’t need much enhancement to their ceremony spaces! Focus on the areas that will be highly photographed, i.e. where you’ll be standing during the ceremony!

4 Easy Tips:

1. Go big on the ceremony arbor or any florals that will be used to decorate the space where you’re standing. When really trying to maximize your floral budget, we always recommend trying to focus on 1-2 key areas where you’d like to make a big impact during the wedding. The ceremony is a top choice because you’ll have so many photographs taken with those flowers and it’s an area that literally all of your guests will sit down to see.

2. Make as many pieces of your ceremony florals reusable as possible. Repurpose your entire ceremony arbor to go behind your sweetheart table or just the ceremony arbor florals and place them on top of your sweetheart table. Reuse your ceremony aisle arrangements to place on top of elevated stands for your reception tables. Many northern Virginia venues have wine barrels as part of their in-house inventory, and if not, it’s a staple of many rental companies in the area. Use two wine barrels as an alternative ceremony set up to frame you as a couple, and then reuse those barrels and floral arrangements to sit on either side of your sweetheart table or as extra decoration to define your dance floor area.

3. You can take candles used to line the ceremony aisle and use them again on reception tables or on any accessory tables like cards/gifts, dessert, memorial tables etc. that will be within the reception area.

4. Look to your floral designer as the expert they are and give them the freedom to get creative on how to help you maximize your floral budget! Clearly communicate you’d like to repurpose as much as possible so they can be thoughtful about how to assemble arrangements so they can easily be reused. They are the pros, so trust them and their recommendations!

Reuse Personal Flowers

Our team is always on hand ready to grab these from the bridesmaids right before the reception starts so we can add some extra florals to cards/gifts and guest book tables, bar areas, as a row of flowers on a head table, or dessert tables. We make sure to place the vases on the tables in advance so we can quickly pop in the bouquets before getting the wedding party lined up for reception introductions. You can even ask your floral designer about renting some additional decorative vessels to make the bouquet look like a whole new arrangement!

Personal flowers are those flowers that are given to your wedding VIPs to either wear or hold. These include the bride’s bouquet and bridesmaids’ bouquets. Once the ceremony is over and all of the wedding party photos have been completed, have designated locations throughout the venue where you can repurpose these bouquets. 

Take Home Centerpieces for Post-Wedding Events or Donate

If you’re having a farewell brunch the morning after your wedding, or any other post-wedding gatherings, you’ll maximize your floral budget even more if you take home your centerpieces to reuse! Any flowers that can be used again would be perfect to take with you for your next event. It may require asking your floral designer for permission to rent the arrangement vessels for an extra day or two, and may be your responsibility to return to the floral designer after the wedding. Or you can simply take the arrangement only and set them into your own vases. 

Be sure to ask your floral designer if they could leave behind boxes at the venue when they deliver all the flowers so you have boxes to pack all your flowers in at the end of the night. You’ll also need to designate a friend or family member to take these florals home for you! If you’re not planning any extra events where you’d need flowers, you can also reach out to your local community to see if any organization or nursing home would accept floral donations. We’ve loved working with Petal Share, a charitable organization based in Washington, D.C. that shares recycled flowers with individuals in nursing homes, hospice, battered women’s shelters and homeless youth shelters.

Post written by: Christina

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