By Tim McVey, Director of Floral Design — Perennial Gardens Bedford
Couples researching wedding florists in Westchester often arrive at their first consultation expecting a menu. Tier one package: $X. Tier two package: $Y. Tier three: $Z. Something predictable that slots the wedding florals into a budget framework with clean categories. We don't work that way, and most of the wedding florists whose work is actually worth hiring don't either. Our floral design workshop scopes every wedding custom, to the specific venue, palette, season, and guest count. This guide walks through why, what the proposal process actually looks like, and how to think about wedding floral budget when you can't anchor to a package price.
The Short Answer
Wedding florals aren't a product — they're a scope of work that changes meaningfully based on what you're actually asking for. Two couples could have nominally identical bridal bouquets and pay different prices because one wedding is in June (peonies at regional peak) and the other is in October (no regional peonies available, imports add cost and compromise). Two couples could order the same number of centerpieces and pay different amounts because one wedding's tables seat 8 and the other's seat 12 — the same centerpiece looks under-scaled on the larger table and needs different material.
Package pricing requires standardization. Wedding florals resist standardization because the inputs are variable: flower availability by week, vessel selection, installation complexity, venue constraints, guest count. Every attempt to standardize produces a menu that either overcharges smaller weddings (to cover larger ones) or undercharges larger weddings (to match the package). Neither serves the couple well.
What Drives Wedding Floral Cost
Rather than a package, wedding floral cost is a function of six specific inputs.
1. Season and flower availability
The single biggest variable. A June wedding with peonies costs different than an October wedding with dahlias that cost different than a February wedding with amaryllis and forced branches. Each season's material has its own wholesale cost structure, its own supply availability, and its own design implications. See our wedding flowers by month guide for what's regionally available when.
2. Scale (ceremony + reception scope)
Ceremony florals, bridal bouquet, bridesmaids' bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, flower girl petals, altar or ceremony installations, aisle markers, cocktail-hour arrangements, reception centerpieces, head or sweetheart table, bar arrangements, powder-room pieces, take-homes. Some weddings want all of these; some want six of them. Scope scales material and labor.
3. Guest count
More guests = more tables = more centerpieces. But not linearly — a 200-person wedding isn't twice the floral scope of a 100-person wedding. Guest count drives table count, and table count drives centerpiece count, with some non-table scope constant (ceremony installations, bridal party bouquets don't change with guest count).
4. Venue
Commercial venue with established rhythms (Crabtree's Kittle House, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, hotel ballrooms) = more predictable logistics. Private estate = wider design freedom but tighter logistics (access, grounds coordination, multi-day install). Tented wedding = structural rigging considerations. Each venue type creates distinct labor and material factors.
5. Design complexity
A simple arrangement of a single flower variety is less expensive than a multi-material arrangement with varied stems, greenery, and structural elements. Cascading bouquets take more time than compact posies. Suspended ceiling installations require engineering not present in floor-standing pieces. Complexity translates directly into labor hours.
6. Installation and strike
Load-in windows, on-site installation team hours, strike at event end, transport between ceremony and reception if different locations — these are labor inputs that scale with wedding complexity and venue distance from the workshop. Our coverage across Westchester County includes weddings at varying distances, and installation labor reflects the drive.
How the Proposal Process Works
Our wedding proposal process runs through four phases.
Phase 1: Initial consultation (phone or in-person)
A 30–45 minute conversation. We learn the basics: date, venue, guest count, palette direction if you have one, references (Pinterest boards, previous weddings you admired, aesthetic directions). You learn how we work, our approach to seasonal sourcing, what's achievable in your month, and whether the aesthetic match is right. No pricing yet — we're figuring out whether the fit makes sense.
Phase 2: Site walk (for estate weddings and complex venues)
If the wedding is at a private estate or a venue we haven't worked extensively before, we walk the property. This usually happens 4–8 months before the wedding. We see the ceremony site, reception space, access points, staging areas, and existing landscape. Site walks inform palette decisions (what's blooming on the property in June?), scale decisions (how does the ceremony space read?), and logistics (where does the truck park?).
Phase 3: Written proposal
4–6 months before the wedding, we send a detailed proposal. It lists every element of the wedding's floral scope with description, approximate quantities, and a total. Everything is itemized. You can see exactly what's included in each line — bridal bouquet (described: approximately 7 stem peonies, 5 stems garden rose, trailing greens), rather than just "bridal bouquet." Proposals are editable — couples adjust scope (remove an item, add a different one, scale centerpieces up or down) before signing.
Phase 4: Final sign and deposit
Scope locked, deposit paid, schedule confirmed. Adjustments after this point are possible (weather contingencies, last-minute scale changes) but rarer.
Why Not Just Publish a Menu?
A few reasons published menus don't work for custom wedding floral work.
The math doesn't actually protect the couple. A published menu has to build in margin for every variable that could push actual costs up — out-of-season flowers, unusually complex installations, larger guest counts, longer drive times. A couple whose wedding is simple pays more than their actual scope warrants to subsidize the couple whose wedding is complex. Neither is served well by the averaging.
Every wedding is different. The Society of American Florists industry guidance reflects that custom floral work is fundamentally bespoke. Package-pricing frameworks work for commodity flower delivery (Teleflora, FTD) but misrepresent what custom floral work actually is.
Honesty about what you're paying for. A custom proposal shows the couple exactly what's going into their wedding. They can trade one element for another, reduce scope where they don't care, increase scope where it matters most. A package locks them into predetermined ratios.
Seasonal honesty depends on flexibility. Our practice of designing to what's actually at regional peak that week (see our peony wedding article for the framework) requires the ability to redesign elements as the wedding approaches and supply picks clarify. Packages don't accommodate this.
How to Think About Budget
If you can't anchor to a published package, how do you budget for wedding florals? Three principles.
Start with total wedding budget proportion. Industry benchmarks put wedding floral spend at roughly 8–12% of total wedding budget for full-service weddings in the Northeast. So a reasonable first move is to define your overall wedding budget, then set the floral budget as a percentage of that total. These are orientation benchmarks, not rules — some weddings allocate more to flowers and less elsewhere; some the opposite.
Have an honest number when you consult. Come to the initial consultation with a budget range you're comfortable with. Not a ceiling — a working range. That lets us scope appropriately rather than designing something outside what you're actually comfortable spending.
Prioritize within the scope. If bridal bouquet matters more than aisle markers, say so. If ceremony installation is where you want to invest and cocktail hour can be minimal, say so. Custom pricing rewards prioritization in ways package pricing doesn't.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County publishes guidance on regional seasonality that can help you understand what's at peak in your month and how that affects both aesthetic and cost decisions.
Working with Us
For couples evaluating wedding florists, see our guide to what to ask. For our wedding floral scope and process, see our weddings page. The starting point for any wedding consultation is our contact page — a phone call or email to schedule the first conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you give a ballpark number before a full consultation?
Yes, with caveats. If you share date, venue, approximate guest count, and budget range, we can usually indicate whether your wedding's scope aligns with the range in our experience. Actual proposals require the full scoping process.
What's included in a wedding floral proposal?
Every item: bridal bouquet, bridesmaids' bouquets (count), boutonnieres (count), corsages if applicable, ceremony installation (described), aisle markers (count), cocktail-hour arrangements (count), reception centerpieces (count, with dimensions and material direction), head or sweetheart table, bar arrangements, any additional scope. Each line has description, approximate material, and cost. No "package fee" or unexplained lump sums.
Can we adjust scope after signing the proposal?
Yes, within reason. Adding scope requires confirmation that material is still sourceable; reducing scope is almost always possible. Significant changes (cutting 30% of the proposal after the 3-month mark) may affect our ability to reallocate the freed material.
Why do some florists publish packages if they don't work?
Some do for simplicity and volume. For high-volume production florists (Teleflora, FTD networks, certain large studios), packages make operational sense even if they don't serve every couple well. For bespoke custom work — the kind of floral design that reflects the couple's specific wedding — custom scoping is the only honest approach.
For a custom wedding floral proposal scoped to your specific wedding — venue, season, guest count, palette, scope — Perennial Gardens' wedding floral practice is where to start. Reach us through the contact page to schedule an initial consultation.
