ANYWAY. When I last wrote, I had addressed our plan for minimal floral, and what Disney was quoting us. The biggest chunk of change was in the personals, which is the one area of floral/decor where we are allowed to use an outside vendor.
At first, I thought- "Do I really want to incorporate two different florists? Is it worth the trouble?" Because Disney would still be providing ceremony/reception floral, no matter what. After some light research and quick calculations, though, I found that I could save myself around $500 by working with another florist for personals. So, um, yeah. IT'S WORTH THE TROUBLE.
Remember, this is the main inspiration:
CHOICE #1
Greenery Productions
$200 bridal bouquet
$95 bridesmaid bouquets (6)
$12.50 boutonnieres (11)
$30 Corsages (3)
After tax and service charges, the total came to $1,177.29. Disney's floral was $1,635.50, for a savings of $458.21. After inquiring about sending someone to pick up the floral in lieu of delivery charges, my contact person kindly lowered the delivery charge, so my total ultimately came to $1,132.29. He also offered smaller bridesmaids bouquets at $75 each instead.
Greenery Productions responded quickly, was prompt and polite via e-mail, called me to verify some of the flowers in my pictures, and was ultimately a great experience. They are also a larger company that does larger events - in fact, some of the DISbrides were surprised they would even do such a relatively small order.
CHOICE #2
Lee Forrest Design
$225 bridal bouquet
$70 bridesmaid bouquets (6)
$20 groom boutonniere
$13.50 - $16 boutonnieres (10)
$35 corsages (3)
After tax and service charges, the total came to $1,114.52, for a savings of $520.98. Lee Forrest is a little bit smaller of business, and the communication was a little different - they were available via e-mail and such, but really could not provide me with a budget breakdown until after I had had a phone consult with Lee. The soonest we could come up with a mutually agreeable time was a few weeks out, so that was a little annoying. I wanted to make the decision!
Going into the phone call a few weeks later, I thought I'd be going with Greenery for that reason - they just seemed to be better at communication. However, after spending some time on the phone with Lee, I realized how valuable actually TALKING (and not typing) your plans out was. I really loved Lee; we just clicked. And that's what a lot of his reviews said - that Lee himself is a doll and his brides adore him.
While on the phone, we also came with the idea of what my "House Party" should do for the ceremony: they will each have a a few stems of a particular flower, and they will walk down the aisle in a line, together. There will be a vase at the altar, and they will, together, construct a centerpiece by putting their stems together, then seat themselves. This way, that gives them something specific to do that is distinct from the bridesmaids. Lee quoted this at $20 per "bunch," which added $100 to my total cost.
In the end, as you can probably tell, I ended up with:
So, while it's not going to alter my entire wedding budget, I am happy to have found an outside florist to help save around $500. Every little bit counts, right?