How to do cheap wedding flowers
Weddings are a big deal, and of course you want yours to feel special. But that doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune—especially when it comes to flowers. With a bit of planning (and a realistic view of what’s involved), there are ways to do beautiful wedding flowers on a budget.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the lower-cost options, along with a few things to consider before you dive in.
Be realistic
First, let’s get real: if you want something elaborate - like floral arches, lots of bespoke arrangements, or specific flowers out of season - you’ll need a full-service florist, and that will cost. There’s no getting around it. If you’re around Wiltshire and Hampshire, take a look at the wonderful work of Milston Flower Barn or Featherstone Flowers.
But if your wedding is more relaxed and you’ve got some helpful friends or family, doing some or all of the flowers yourself can be a great option.
That said, it’s worth thinking it through. You’ll already have a lot going on in the days before your wedding. If arranging flowers sounds more stressful than joyful, it might not be worth the savings.
1. Wedding collection services from a flower farm
Some flower farms offer a kind of “pick and mix” wedding service. You choose from a set menu of arrangements—say, a bridal bouquet, six buttonholes, and three table arrangements - and they make it up for you.
These are usually cheaper than hiring a traditional florist because:
There are no consultations or custom design work.
You’ll collect the flowers yourself (usually the day before or morning of the wedding).
The flowers are seasonal and chosen by the grower, usually based on a colour scheme you select.
It’s a great middle ground—less DIY, but still budget-friendly.
2. DIY using mixed flower buckets from a flower farm
Many flower farmers sell buckets of mixed flowers, often including a mix of focal blooms, fillers, and foliage. You get the raw ingredients and do the arranging yourself.
Pros:
Very cost-effective.
Beautiful seasonal flowers, often freshly picked and grown locally.
Things to bear in mind:
You won’t get to pick specific varieties.
You may need to condition the flowers yourself: remove lower leaves and place the stems in cool water (with flower food if possible) for at least half a day in a dark, cool spot. This helps them rehydrate and last longer.
To find local growers, check out Flowers From The Farm, a directory of UK flower farms.
3. DIY using wholesale flowers
If you want more control over the exact flowers you use, wholesale might be the way to go. You can order specific varieties in the quantities you need—but it’s still up to you to do the arranging.
Most flower wholesalers ask you to prove you’re a florist before they will give you an account. But not all. Those that don’t tend to sell varieties in large enough quantities and at a slightly higher cost to make it worth their while.
Costs vary by variety, seasonality, and stem length (the longer the stem, the more expensive it is). Focal flowers are likely to be around 70p to £2.00 a stem, filler flowers and foliage around 30p to £1.00 a stem. Normally the prices you see online are without VAT, so 20% will be added when you check out, along with a delivery charge.
If you don’t mind imported flowers try Triangle Nursery . They have a lot of great advice about wedding flowers, including a stem calculator.
If you only want seasonal British flowers, try Evolve Flowers , or Flowers by Clowance.
4. Grow your own, sticking to easy to grow sunflowers
If you're getting married between July and October and can plan a few months ahead, you could grow your own flowers. It's not for the faint-hearted, but it can be done—especially if you stick to simple, reliable flowers like sunflowers.
Sunflowers come in more than just bright yellow. There are soft lemon tones and beautiful dusky plums too.
I like the Procut as they’re pollenless (so won’t shed pollen on your clothes or surfaces), have a single flower on a stem (as opposed to branching varieties with multiple stems and flowers). For seeds sown in the spring, these take 90 days to flower. If sown in May and June, it can be more like 70 days.
Seeds are cheap. 150 ProCut Plum from Moles Seeds is £6.70, so just under 7p a stem. At that price, you can afford to sow a lot and waste any you don’t use. Just Seed are also good.
So buy four 84 cell plug trays for about £6.00 each. Buy a 40L bag of compost for about £6.00. Don’t buy any old compost; it really makes a difference. Try and get Melcourt Sylvagrow Peat Free and, ideally sieve it, before you use it in a plug tray.
Work back 13 weeks before your wedding and plant up one tray, one seed per plug. Do the same every week for the next three weeks. The seedlings you planted first will then be ready to plant out, and you can keep on planting and sowing seeds for a few more weeks.
Doing seeds weekly is simply to hedge your bets as to when they’ll flower and be more certain you will have some for your wedding.
If you’ve grown them inside, harden them off before planting them out. Just leave them outside for a while each day, initially a few hours and increasing the time each day for a few days
You can cram about 36 seedlings about 15cm apart (close together to keep stem length shorter) into a square metre of raked ground. You don’t even need great soil. Just remember to water regularly and at least twice a week.
You can of course, sow direct into the ground, 15mm deep.
Fast growing foliage
If you want some foliage to go with your sunflowers, Persian Cress is fast growing and prolific.
Again, starting nine weeks from your wedding, sow one or two seeds per plug. You don’t need as many so just do four rows of the plug tray. Do another four rows the following week, and the final four the week after that.
Plant them out when they’re about 5cm tall. You will need to stick in some posts and pea netting to keep them upright as they grow.
That will give you some lovely wedding flowers for about £50.
A few final thoughts
Doing your own wedding flowers can be fun and rewarding - but it also takes time, organisation, and a few extra hands. Whether you grow your own, collect from a flower farm, or buy from a wholesaler, it’s all about keeping things as simple, seasonal, and stress-free as possible.
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