DIY florals review - Whole Blossoms, Flower Moxie and Costco
Hi everyone! I DIY’d the florals for my April wedding and wanted to share my experience. I ordered flowers from three providers. My wedding was a two hour drive from my home, so I also transported the flowers and finished building arrangements at my AirBnb.
Cost breakdown:
Whole Blossoms: $1,955.59. I purchased the majority of my florals from Whole Blossoms. While their website says they’ve been awarded The Knot’s “Best of weddings” award, I was a little anxious about ordering from them. I hadn’t seen many reviews on Reddit, and they use a lot of AI images on their social media and website. Ultimately, I was pleased with the flowers I ordered from them.
Flower Moxie: $586. I placed a smaller order from Flower Moxie for flowers that were not sold by Whole Blossoms.
Costco: $71. I only ordered white hydrangeas from Costco. They have great prices, but a much more limited selection.
Supplies: ~$600. I purchased floral shears, foam, tape, wire and vessels for my various arrangements including glass vases, Lomey dishes and foam trays and bud vases. For hydration and floral prep, I purchased small and large sterilite bathroom trash cans and a large collapsible trash can, which was clutch in our AirBnb. I also purchased a Flower Moxie Floral academy membership; it was $45 and I felt it provided a lot of great instructional videos and resources.
Prep:
I decided I wanted to do my own florals over a year in advance. This gave me plenty of time to learn about floral design and care. I watched a ton of YouTube videos and even read some floral design books. Flower Moxie videos were my favorite; they explain things well and showcase a lot of different designs.
Delivery:
I set a delivery date of three days before my wedding (Wednesday) for all orders. Only the Costco flowers and half of the Flower Moxie flowers arrived on time. All the Whole Blossoms flowers arrived on Tuesday, and the second half of my Flower Moxie order arrived Thursday. The early Whole Blossoms arrival wasn’t an issue; if anything, it gave me more time to prep and build arrangements, and the flowers stayed fresh. The delayed Flower Moxie order was frustrating, and I didn’t use many of the florals from that order in my arrangements.
Floral quality:
Many of the blue hydrangeas I ordered from Whole Blossoms were partially brown and smashed on arrival. Thankfully, we were able to revive the majority of them by removing browned petals, dunking their heads underwater and cutting their stems. The spray roses I ordered from Whole Blossoms didn’t open up much by our wedding day. All other flowers looked great after hydration.
Timeline:
Tues / Wed / Thurs: I prepped the flowers as they arrived. For most of them, I gave the stems a fresh cut at a 45 degree angle and placed them in water
Wed: I made 12 vase-based centerpieces, 6 bridesmaid bouquets and 2 nosegays
Thurs: Transportation day. We consolidated florals in their hydration buckets, packed up our floral supplies and loaded the already made arrangements and bouquets in two SUVs. After we arrived at our AirBnb, my sister and husband helped me green out our floral foam-based arrangements. We hydrated the foam, taped it into the appropriate vessels and added moss and greenery to the arrangements.
Friday: Before our rehearsal and welcome reception, we continued working on our foam-based arrangements. We made 12 double-brick foam tray arrangements, 2 urn arrangements, a ground arch consisting of 4 Lomey dish arrangements, 2 back of ceremony ground arrangements and a welcome sign arrangement.
Saturday morning: I woke up early to make my bouquet, assemble bud vases and do finishing touches on all other arrangements. I added ribbon to all bouquets in the bridal suite at our venue.
Venue transportation and set up:
Venue logistics were stressful. Our venue didn’t have space to store florals and didn’t allow access to the reception space until 3 hours before our ceremony start time. We delegated set up to our groomsmen and family members, and when they arrived to set out flowers, the reception tables weren’t set up. Florals from the previous wedding were still in the ceremony area as well. Thankfully, our wonderful family and friends figured it out for us. Our groomsmen also moved florals from the ceremony area to the reception area during the cocktail hour. DIY florals aren’t possible without a big support system!
Value:
DIY-ing your flowers can be a huge cost savings. I spent $3200-3300 on florals and supplies. Our flowers turned out beautifully, and I believe a professional florist would have charged us between 7-10k for our florals in our HCOL area (Orange County, CA). I loved learning about floral design and choosing the exact florals I wanted. However, DIY is extremely time consuming, and I will always remember my wedding week as a time when I was exhausted, stressed and wishing I had more time to spend with my family and out-of-town guests.
TLDR; DIY florals are much more affordable, but require a lot of work and flexibility. If you decide to go the DIY route, I highly encourage you to involve your friends, family and bridal party in the process. Thinking through transportation, understanding your venue’s restrictions and asking for help building your arrangements should make the process more enjoyable.
I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about cost, the process, resources or anything else!