Cheap Wedding Flowers: What to Buy, Where to Buy It and a $325 Flower Plan for 100 Guests

The cheapest wedding flowers are hardy, in-season blooms like carnations, baby's breath, alstroemeria and chrysanthemums, bought by the bunch from a grocery store or wholesaler and arranged by you a day or two before. Add faux flowers for anything that has to be ready early, and a full set of flowers for 100 guests can come in around $325 instead of the $2,700 US couples spent on average in 2024 (FOX 5 / The Knot).

That gap can feel almost too good to be true, so here is the honest version: you trade money for a few hours of work and a little planning. Nobody is going to look at your tables and think "budget". They will see flowers.

Where wedding flower money usually goes

Florist quotes add up fast because every table, every buttonhole and every ceremony piece is a separate design with labor, delivery and setup on top. Standard florist centerpieces usually cost $75 to $150 per table, and delivery and setup alone are often $200 to $500 per wedding (Paperlust).

That does not mean you should skip the florist entirely. It means you choose where their skill shows most (often the bouquet) and handle the repetitive pieces yourself.

The cheapest flowers that still look full

Some flowers are simply better value than others. They are sold in big bunches, they last a long time in water and they forgive a bit of rough handling.

• Carnations and mini carnations. Ruffled, full and available in almost every color. Several blooms per stem on the mini ones.
• Baby's breath. One bunch goes a very long way as filler, and it dries well if you want to make things early.
• Alstroemeria. Lily-like flowers that keep for well over a week in water.
• Chrysanthemums and daisies. Cheerful, sturdy and cheap almost all year.
• Eucalyptus and other greenery. Greenery fills space for much less than flowers do. Paperlust notes that many wholesale florists sell large eucalyptus bunches for under $10 (Paperlust).
• Whatever is in season. The same source says in-season local flowers can cost 30 to 50 percent less than out-of-season imports. Sunflowers in late summer and tulips in spring are good examples.

Peonies, garden roses, orchids and anything flown in for a winter wedding are where prices jump. If you love one of them, use a few stems in the bouquet only.

Table flowers from the grocery store

This is where most of the savings are, because you have 10 to 15 tables and each one needs something. Our grocery store table flowers use three small bud vases with mini carnations and baby's breath for $16.37 a table. For 13 tables that is $212.81, against $649.87 for similar ready-made arrangements.

Small bud vases are kinder to a budget than one big arrangement. Three stems in a little vase look generous, while a large bowl needs dozens of stems before it stops looking empty.

Two more table ideas if fresh flowers worry you:

• Pampas grass centerpieces cost $4.90 a table and can be made weeks ahead, since nothing wilts.
• Floating candle centerpieces cost $11.59 a table and need no flowers at all. Paperlust estimates that non-floral centerpieces usually cost 30 to 50 percent less than fresh-flower ones (Paperlust).

The bouquet: fresh, faux or florist?

The bouquet is in more photos than any other flower, so this is the one place a small florist order can make sense. If you want to make it yourself, you have two good routes.

A faux flower bridal bouquet costs $30.06 to make, and you can finish it a month early and keep it afterwards. To be honest, a ready-made faux bouquet costs about $39.99, so the saving is under $10. Make it because you enjoy it and want to choose every stem, not for the money.

For bridesmaids, a few grocery store stems tied with ribbon look lovely and cost very little. Match the colors of the table flowers and the whole day looks planned.

Hair, ceremony and exit flowers

A fresh baby's breath flower crown costs $12.98 to make, where a florist charges about $78. Make it the day before and keep it cool overnight.

For the ceremony, altar flower swags with faux peonies and eucalyptus cost $32.43 for a pair. They survive sun and wind, and you can move them to the head table or the cake table after the ceremony. Moving ceremony flowers to the reception is one of the easiest savings there is, so ask a friend to own that job.

For the exit, lavender petal cones cost about 37 cents each, or $37 for 100 guests.

A flower plan for 100 guests

This plan uses 13 tables of 8 guests and the numbers from our guides, with prices checked on 26 October 2026.

Item	DIY cost	Ready-made	You save
Table flowers, 13 tables	$212.81	$649.87	$437.06
Faux bridal bouquet	$30.06	$39.99	$9.93
Flower crown	$12.98	$78.00	$65.02
Altar swags, pair	$32.43	$37.99	$5.56
Petal cones, 100	$37.00	$50.00	$13.00
Total	$325.28	$855.85	$530.57

The table flowers carry almost the whole saving. The bouquet and the altar swags barely pay off, so those are the two you can happily buy or hand to a florist if time gets short.

When DIY flowers are not worth it

• Big installations. Hanging clouds of flowers, full arches and long garlands need mechanics, ladders and experience. Rent or skip them.
• No time in the last 48 hours. Fresh flowers have to be bought and arranged in the two days before the wedding. If those days are already full, choose dried or faux for the tables.
• A hot venue with no cool storage. Flowers sitting in a warm car or room fade fast. Ask the venue where you can keep buckets overnight.
• When the stress outweighs the saving. If arranging 13 tables makes you anxious, order the bouquet from a florist and do only the tables. That split still saves most of the money.

About three weeks out, try a test run: buy one bunch of each flower and dress a single table at home. You will know exactly how many bunches to buy, how long one table takes and whether you like the look. After that, the real thing feels easy.