Your Bridal Bouquet

I get a lot of questions on the bouquets and I have to admit, the answers are a little confusing. Unlike florists in the mainland, our local florists do not have a local flower market that they can attend and pick out the flowers that they want for their shop (have you ever been to a flower market? They are pretty cool). And, because we are a tropical island out in the middle of the Caribbean sea...ALL of our flowers are flown in, three or four times a month. Unlike your local florist that can get next day delivery on a flower order...our shops have to put in their order at least two weeks in advance.

I work directly with my brides on their floral order - this actually helps to keep the price of your flowers down, as the florist gives me a special rate on the flowers because I simply submit my order and save her time. I can spend two weeks and 20 emails going back and forth with a bride just discussing her bouquet...this is a job that I save my florist from doing and since I'm saving her time, I'm saving you money!

There are a few different price structures in bouquets - I'm going to do my best to describe them here, along with examples of recent weddings we have had.

We changed our packages in August of 2011 so that all packages that include flowers will include a full sized bridal bouquet & boutonniere (the florist includes the boutonniere at no additional cost, so there is not a price decrease if you don't want it). The bouquet below shows the size of a full sized bridal bouquet.

There isn't a magical formula for the size but this is pretty standard - sometimes they are slightly smaller and sometimes they are slightly larger.

Maids bouquets are always smaller. Please be sure to read our Bridesmaid Flowers Blog for details on the sizing & pricing. Below is an example of a bridal bouquet next to the "small gathering" option.



The bouquets in our packages are "color choice" only bouquets. The florist will use her judgement and stock to choose the type of flowers, but you are guaranteed the colors you choose. Here are some examples from recent weddings:

Bride J requested "purples and ivories" for her bouquet, which was included in her package. This is the bouquet that our florist made for her:



With just the simple request of ivories and purples, we received a bouquet of roses, dendrobium orchids and peonies. Now, here's the kicker...if the bride would have asked me to order lilac and ivory roses with peonies and purple dendrobium orchids...this bouquet would have been an additional $110 to her package price. This is because the flowers above are what the florist happened to have in stock when it was time to make the bouquet. She knew a month in advance that she would need these colors - but she was able to adjust her order so that she'd have these colors while still keeping other orders in mind. If the bride was specific on the type of flowers used, then the florist would have adjusted her order to make sure these specific flowers were in stock and by doing that, she would have had to increase her order...therefore increasing the cost of the bouquet.

Let's keep going...Bride A sent me this picture and said "I like this - something like this would be great":



She didn't really care if other types of flowers were used, just that it had a similar look and feel. This is what she received:



Pretty good, right?? And at no additional cost. You have to be flexible with the type of flowers and you can get a really gorgeous bouquet (do not fret, our florist NEVER uses carnations).

You can get a bit specific on things you like, as well as things you do not like, but these are never guaranteed unless you are paying a higher price. Bride D asked for: pinks, oranges and yellows. NO gerbera daisies. Likes: lilies (orange & yellow), orchids (green cymbidiums, blue & purple dendrobiums), gloriosa lilies, roses...lots of color. Boutonniere to be an orange flower. Here is what she received:




Now, the first thing the bride said to me was how beautiful the flowers were...the second thing was, "where are the green orchids?". That's the thing about color choice only...you are not guaranteed any certain type of flower unless you pay extra for them. While we did have it on the order that the bride liked green cyms, they, as well as the blue orchids, were left out. If you have your heart set on a particular flower being included, there is an additional charge.

For customized bouquets where you can specify not only the colors but the type of flowers used, the pricing starts at $150...here are some examples of recent upgraded bouquets.

Bride L asked for everything to be "fluffy and ruffly". She wanted a romantic bouquet in soft colors with peonies, anemones, ranunculus and roses. She wanted blush tones with soft lilac and a deeper pink accent. She also wanted a "mushroom cap" which makes the bouquet larger in size. Her bouquet was $225. Here is what she received.



You can see here, the bigger size.



Now, you may be thinking, I LOVE this bouquet but $225 is out of my budget. That's ok...there are options. Another bride received this bouquet:



Her order? She paid a slightly higher fee, just $40 more than her package price, to get a slightly larger bouquet with upgraded flowers. She did not specify what flowers she wanted, just hot pinks, bright greens, bright oranges and NO gerbera daisies. We let the florist know that she liked orchids, anemone, ranunculus, ruffled roses, hydrangea, peonies, green viburnum, orange roses, and arum/calla lilies. The florist has freedom to use those colors and knew that the bride was paying slightly more so she tired to use as many of the requested flowers as she could, without guaranteeing anything. The bride was thrilled with her bouquet. The boutonniere was pretty cute too.




You don't have to upgrade your flowers to get exactly what you want, most of the time, the florist can accomodate, but it just can't be guaranteed and without an upgrade, you have to be willing to go with the flow. We had a last minute wedding recently and the groom ordered his bride a red & white rose bouquet. I told him because we were being so specific, the bouquet would be $175 but if he wanted, we could just ask for a red & white bouquet and let the florist know that the bride preferred all roses (but they would not be guaranteed) with no upgrade fee. He decided to go with the flowers in the package. Look what we picked up from the florist that day:



Just what he wanted at no additional fee! The florist is definitely not "out to get you" on the cost of flowers. It's a difficult job for being so remote out in the ocean! They take every measure they can to make my clients happy and that's why we use them. Bride E wanted all an all hot pink rose bouquet. I explained the pricing and she decided to go with an all hot pink bouquet instead. This is what she received:



Gorgeous! The bride loved it, way more than she thought she would love an all rose bouquet.

What about boutonnieres? How do those get ordered? Easy! The florist will simply select a flower from your bouquet to make the boutonniere. Again, they are happy to take requests on the color and even can often times take flower type requests at no additional charge as well.

Maids bouquets? They are slightly smaller than the brides bouquet and can be made smaller versions of what you will receive or something completely different altogether. Here are some recent photos of maids bouquets next to the brides so you can get an idea of the size difference. You can also do something smaller for your maids, like the very first photo in this blog post.





And don't forget - all of our bouquets came with a special gift for you! It's not an Island Bliss Wedding without our signature seahorses!



We update our photo albums monthly with photos of bouquets our florist has created. Check them out in the Bouquet Album for inspiration (please do not send us a number of the photo of the bouquet you like, but copy and paste the URL instead - since we update the album so often, the numbers do not always match up).

Are you cruising for your wedding? Don't fret, you CAN bring your flowers back on the ship with you. Some cruise lines won't let you take them OFF the ship, but you can bring them on. And sneak them off....=)

I hope you have found this blog post helpful in answering your questions! But if you are still a bit confused, that's what I'm here for - shoot me an email and let's discuss!