Fresh flower money saving tip: Ask what is in season at the time of your wedding. In-season flowers will be considerably cheaper than out-of-season flowers.

Local Charleston Florists

The following florists have exhibited extraordinary creativity and great flair. Their floral design are fantastic, and their websites are exceptional (or pending exceptional, such as Charleston Flower Market, which has potential).

Tiger Lily Florist. Charleston, SC. This is the finest in Charleston, folks. They have a special "weddings only" division, below.

Tiger Lily Weddings. I would talk to these people FIRST. Then go shopping.

Flowers & Events by Margaret & Perry. Charleston, SC.

Celebrations by Appointment. Charleston, SC.

Buy the Bunch. Mount Pleasant, SC.

Charleston Flower Market. Charleston, SC.

I have grouped the following florists together because, although I am sure that they all provide excellent service and uncompromising quality, I couldn't help noticing a dreary "sameness" to all of their websites. I am sure this is because they are all FTD Florists, which is fine, but they are all designed the same and show the same products.

Bird's Nest Florist North Charleston, SC.
Blossoms & Stems Charleston, SC.
Creech's Florist. Charleston, SC.
Cameo Florist Goose Creek, SC.
Charleston Florist Charleston, SC.
Carolina Florist North Charleston, SC.
Seithel's Florist. Charleston, SC.
Flowers by Blanche Darby. Charleston, SC.
Ginia Ginn's Florists & Gifts. North Charleston, SC.
Belva's Flower Shop Mount Pleasant, SC.
The Florist of Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant, SC.

Internet Silk Flowers

As I am someone who is a firm believer in 1) saving money at every given opportunity, 2) getting a good value, 3) keeping your flowers FOREVER and only throwing a tiny, inconsequential bouquet, I give you 2 of my favorite resources, and the ones I would be using the most if I didn't make my own:

My Silk Wedding Flowers Great site, reasonable prices. Good option for the budget-minded bride. * * * * *

Budget Bride Lots of discount bouquets and accessories. Also, instructions for making your own bouquets. Brilliant site.*****

A-Floral Silk flowers, accessories, great prices, and How-To's

Floral How-To's
(Just do a simple search on what you're looking for: "floral arrangements" -- "bridal bouquet" -- "floral centerpieces" Whatever.)

About Dot Com. Don't stop with this page, do a search and find the millions of resources for everything to do with your wedding!

Great basic guide.

Tons of resources.

Save-On This one is for corsages, but they have everything you can imagine.

Monkey See How-To's for everything. I found excellent floral videos.

Make a boutonniere.

AllCrafts Fantastic resources. Every wedding craft you can imagine.

Wedding Flowers & More OR Avente These are the same company. Silk and Fresh. Beautiful stuff, very reasonable prices, huge selection of florals, accessories, and other stuff for your wedding.

Links2Love A respectable assortment of how-to's.

Silk Specialties Lots of beautiful flowers and accessories -- but NOT CHEAP! You may just want to use the site for inspiration, like I do!

YouTube Yes, I know, it's YouTube. But do a search on "wedding flowers" or "wedding crafts" or "wedding bouquet" and you will come across some great stuff.

Expert Village Lots of good wedding crafts, some really nice floral bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres... You name it.

Internet Fresh Flowers

*2G Fresh Roses*

I used them for a December, 2006 wedding. VERY SMART MOVE! You can order online or by phone. The flowers are fresh and direct from the growers. Fantastic savings.

Check this out: On Tuesday, Dec. 5, I called a local florist (NO names, I will not defame a Charleston business) and asked about a calla lily bouquet for a small Saturday wedding. They made a big fuss, had to see if they could get the flowers on the truck for Thursday. Called me back. They say: We can. I say: I only needed 6 flowers, you know. They say: Do you want us to make those into a bouquet? I say: Yes, thank you, a bouquet of 5 stems and a boutonniere. They say: Okay, that'll be $10 for the boutonniere and $80 for the bouquet... I say: **nothing** I think I stopped breathing. NINETY DOLLARS for SIX FLOWERS? I came back to my trusty website and clicked on FreshRoses.com and looked them up. Guess what? I can get a bundle of 10 - count 'em - TEN calla lily stems for $25 at FreshRoses.com! (Plus shipping, which AIN'T cheap, but it aint't $80, either!) So guess what? Yep, I ordered a bundle of 10 stems. But I didn't do it online, cuz the website's a little klunky and I couldn't find a place to order (what's up with that?), so I finally found a phone number and called them. Got voice mail. Guess what? They called me back within 15 minutes!! I placed my order! They said that the flowers will be here Thursday! I believe them! (I'll report on that later.) What's more, I paid $25 for 10 stems, and $20 for overnight shipping, a total of $45 for flowers that will be here on Thursday (DO THE MATH! THAT'S HALF WHAT THE LOCAL FLORIST WANTED!) I will tie the flowers together myself and make my own boutonniere. (I've done it many times, it's simple -- you can do it, too.) This is a great deal, Gentle Reader!!

Thursday, Dec. 7: I received the flowers on time and as promised. They were well wrapped and in a sturdy box, with a plastic-baggie-chilly-freezer-thingy to keep them cool. They came with very good instructions on caring for the flowers. All in all, I have to say that the service was excellent, I received a very good product and everything was in order. This is a great company, and, YES I recommend them! FIVE STARS ***** ADDENDUM: The Bride LOVED her Gladys-made hand-tied Calla Lily bouquet!

***I recommend doing a Google search on "fresh flowers wholesale," or "silk flowers wholesale," or whatever you're looking for. These sites go up and down every few months, and there are many changes from one month to the other. Worth spending some time doing, as flowers are such a huge expense.

Flower Growers Beautiful fresh selections, not the cheapest.

Blooms By The Box Prices vary, but the selection is fantastic, and they offer DIY how-to video and lots of good advice.

Rose Source Bulk Roses and every other kind of flower under the sun, apparently, from Ecuador; FedExed all over the universe to arrive fresh to you. Take a look.

Cut Flower Wholesale Nice site; came up when I was searching for wedding flowers at Google, but I can't find a section for weddings at the site. However, they DO have an excellent resource that is not yet complete, but worth looking out for. Click on the "What's available now?" link and it takes you to a page which tells you just that. Also, the index page has a paragraph with a link that says, "on our website." This takes you to another incomplete page, which looks like it will be great when done. It's the Flower Gallery. You can fill in the color you want and the month of your wedding, and it comes back with the flowers that are in season. I think this is a great idea for early prospecting. I hope they finish it soon. For they moment, they only get: * *

C.O.D. Wholesale Okay, this is the ugliest site I have ever seen. But they have everything for making personal wedding flowers at very good prices. I don't see actual FLOWERS, though. For other stuff, like bouquet holders, ribbon, water tubes, candles, etc., you just have to really, really rummage around their ugly site.

Links2Love's The Meaning of Flowers. A fun page. In fact, do a little run around Links2Love's site. There are some good resources there for brides. There is also some hilarious stuff -- like the crazy "Build your own bouquet online with magnetic flowers." You can kill half an hour there doing nothing of any value whatsoever -- other than, perhaps, letting off some of that pre-wedding stress. I just love the Internet.

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