What wedding flowers cost in Ireland

Wedding flowers in Ireland come in at 1,500 to 3,000 euro for a simple or intimate wedding and 3,000 to 6,000 for a full party with both the ceremony and the reception dressed. Against a typical Irish wedding budget that works out at roughly 8 to 10 percent, which is the number to hold in your head when a quote lands.

This page carries no shop links and recommends no supplier. It exists to tell you what the line items cost so that you can read a florist's quote and know whether it is normal.

What the individual pieces cost

Season moves all of these. A bouquet built on peonies in May is a different number from the same shape in ranunculus in March, and imported flowers out of their season carry both a price and an air miles problem.

Where the money actually goes

Most couples arrive expecting the bridal bouquet to be the big line. It is not. It is one item, and even at the top of its range it is a fraction of the total.

The money goes on repetition. Twelve tables at 90 euro is 1,080 euro before anything else has been made, and the centrepiece decision is therefore the single biggest lever in the whole budget. Ten tables of mixed foliage, three stems and a group of candles will come in around a third of what ten massed arrangements cost, and at eye level across a room it reads as generous either way.

The second big line is any installation: an arch, a hanging piece, a flower wall, a staircase garland. These are labour as much as flowers, they take a team a morning to build, and one of them can cost more than everything carried down the aisle put together. They are also the most photographed thing in the room, so if you want exactly one extravagance, this is the defensible one.

The four cuts that do not show

Move the ceremony flowers. Pedestals and altar arrangements sit in an empty church from about two o'clock. Ask your florist and your venue what it costs to move them to the reception, and compare that with buying a second set. It is almost always a saving, and it is the most common thing couples do not think to ask.

Share the church. Irish parishes frequently have two weddings on the same Saturday. Ring the sacristan, ask who else is booked, and ask whether they would split the cost of the ceremony flowers. Both couples pay half for the same arrangements. Nobody advertises this because there is no money in it for anyone.

Drop the aisle ends. They are behind everyone during the ceremony and in front of nobody during the photographs. Twelve at 40 euro is 480 euro spent on the part of the church people have their backs to.

Buy the month you are in. Irish-grown and in-season flowers cost less and last better, and the difference is not small. There is a month by month picture on the in-season page, and it is worth reading before you fix a colour scheme rather than after.

Where not to cut

The bridal bouquet is in every photograph, in every hand, all day. It is the one item where the difference between a good florist and a cheap one is visible to people who know nothing about flowers.

Setup and takedown is also not a place to save. A quote without it means someone in your wedding party is carrying pedestals out of a church at four o'clock in good clothes.

Doing some of it yourself

Splitting the job works better than doing all of it. Buy the bouquets and the buttonholes, which are skilled and time-critical, and do the tables yourself if you have three or four willing people and somewhere cold to keep the flowers overnight.

Be clear about the cost of that in time. Twelve tables of jam jars is a full day of stripping stems and cutting to length on the day before your wedding, which is also the day of the rehearsal, the deliveries and everyone arriving. Plenty of couples do it and are glad. Plenty wish they had paid the 900 euro.

Reading a quote

Ask for it itemised, with quantities. A single figure of 3,400 euro tells you nothing, while a list tells you where the money is and which line you would happily halve.

Ask what happens if a flower is unavailable, and what the substitution is, in writing. Ask whether the price includes vases and whether they have to come back. Hire glassware is often a separate line and a surprisingly large one.

And check the total against the 8 to 10 percent rule. Well above it means either you want something specific and expensive, which is fine as long as it is a decision, or the quote is padded with items you have not thought about.