Platinum Wedding Floral Arrangement Ideas You Can Replicate on The Cheap

Many of the over the top items you see on TV shows like "Platinum Weddings" that are so over the top - such as when a couple spends $150,000 for flowers - is because they are imported and they require labor intensive work to prepare at the last minute . Some of these ideas can be easily replicated by you, your friends, or a florist if you alter the idea just a bit.

Many arrangements seen at weddings that are the six figure wedding budget are actually many small arrangements of expensive and imported flowers. You can replicate this look much cheaper will local and inexpensive flowers by presenting them in unusual ways to make them look exotic. The simple inexpensive large dahlias or the peonies or roses from your grandmothers' backyard garden can look entirely different if displayed correctly. A common trend is long tall clear funnels filled with water with arrangements inside the vase. This allows for hydration that last several days, so these can be done well in advance for flowers like lilies, peonies, and delphinium and foxglove. Many standard garden flowers take on an ethereal dimension when displayed in water. Pair these with short compact arrangements for maximum floral impact. Expensive weddings often have lighting schemes with overhead spotlights highlighting the floral arrangement, a similar look can be done with votive candles from below which will add more dimension and depth to the arrangements.

Consider looking for silver mint julep cups at tag sales and from eBay and fill them with wholesale roses on tables, food, ceremony, etc - if the mint julep cups are engraved, turn away engraving to wall or group them together to conceal the engraving if possible, or line them along a shelf or wall. Wholesale roses are available from Sam's Club, Costco or similar large wholesale online resources like JRRoses or Rosesource.com. Flower costs get so out of control because often flowers are out of season and often imported. Try to be flexible on the exact shade of the flower (allowing for several shades that would coordinate with your look) and pick a readily available flower but display it in a different way - such as daisies and carnations are very cheap, but if you cut the stems to just an inch or two, and display them all tightly packed into a low open vase or flat box vase so that you just see the heads, you see the flowers in a new way that looks much more expensive. If a base low arrangement of a bed of flowers is done with colorful or textured but cheap flowers packed into the base then a feature flower such as an orchid or lily can be placed on top as a focus. This allows for getting just one or two expensive flowers per arrangement and filling the rest with cheaper flowers. Try to pick a rich color like the Moonbeam carnations that are a jewel tone purple, or a two toned or medium frilly pink looks like double peonies when packed into an arrangement this way. A bed of cheaper filler flowers with one feature flower takes on a whole new look and looks much more decadent than a standard vase with cheaper flowers with one feature flower. Carnations, asters, dahlias, orchids, roses and other flowers will last this way for several days if kept well watered. Flowers from your garden or even wildflowers such as Queen Anne's lace, ferns, textured leaves or herbs can be incorporated into the base to place the feature flower on top of the base. The photo shows a low framed box filled with roses, this type of box or frame can be found at craft stores to replicate this arrangement that would sell for hundreds of dollars at a florist shop. Insert a plastic bag at the bottom to absorb any moisture, put a foam block into the squares and wet it, you can insert stems directly into the wet flower foam or use the green floral tubes filled with water and insert those into the foam and it will last a few days.

While white pastel and soft pinks are beautiful and traditional, they are also very expensive and unpredictable. It also takes lots of them to make a visual impact. Any brown spots are more apparent which means it is harder to find a good bunch - making them more expensive. It is better to stick to vibrant shades that have more impact per bloom and add in lighter shades of flowers for visual contrast.