Hello all, my name is Freddie (a.k.a Flower Funster on the blog).

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Enjoy!

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**UPDATE:  We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Arena and Pol Roger Caption Contest is Evelyn! Congratulations! **

Thank you to all those who entered and voted.

We have had many hilarious entries (145 in total!) for the Arena CaptionComp and we would like to thank every one who entered.  After much uhming and ahing, we have narrowed it down to a slender 10, which we think are the funniest captions.

Now please vote for whichever you think most aptly fits the image.  So here are the 10 best captions:

5. “The Coalition excites me, Pol Roger Champagne delights me, just hope the Lib/Con’s invite me”

6. “Never, has so much, been drunk, by so few, on behalf of so many”

7. “No 10 were playing it conservatively with a liberal supply of champagne”

8. “I think Mr. Brown might perhaps have preferred a Derringer to a Bollinger”

9. “Pol AND Roger?  Must be a coalition!”

10. “They hoped this would be the last Hung, Drawn and Slaughtered Parliament”

So there you have the final 10 captions. Just a little reminder the winner will win 2 bottles of Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill Vintage Champagne worth a whopping £200 in total!  Let the voting commence.

If you were lucky enough to make the final 10 then congratulations – but there can only be one winner.  Make sure you friends, relatives and even neighbours are voting for you.   Good Luck!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The voting will close at NOON on the 3rd of June, so you have a week to vote, but, well, …there’s no time like the present! :)

(Note:  Some people are reporting problems voting with Google Chrome. If this applies to you, then I’m afraid that you will have to use a different web browser to place your vote.)

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**UPDATE:  The Competition is now officially closed!  The Queen has just begun her speech for the opening of parliament. Hurray!  Thank you all so much for your entries, they have been great.  We will be posting a short list of some of the funnier captions, then the voting for the Arena Caption Contest Winner can begin.  Check back soon to see if yours made the short list**

Fancy winning not one but two bottles of £100 Pol Roger champagne?  Think you’re funny?  Feel like mocking our lumbering general election?  Read on.

Due to a hung parliament result in our recent general election, us Brits are now waiting for MPs to thrash out an agreement to decide who will govern for the next few months and years.  While the politicos strike deals in smoke filled rooms, we’re teaming up with Pol Roger, makers of Winston Churchill’s favourite bottle of bubbly (find out more here: Pol Roger tasting at Arena Flowers), to bring you some light relief from election campaigns and party coalitions.

We’re running a caption competition, from now up until the start of the Queen’s speech on the 25th May (hopefully we’ll have a new government by then).  The photo shows cases of Pol Roger being heaved into No. 10 Downing Street for the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill; we thought it rather apt given No 10′s current predicament.

We’ve put a starter caption of our own on there, but we are sure you can do much better.  Please enter using the comments field below.  The winning caption will win not one but 2 bottles of Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill Vintage.  The prize is worth a whopping £200.00 in value so please get your humour hats on and enter.

Once the competition closes, we’ll invite you to vote for your favourite (very democratic I hear you say).  The caption with the most votes wins, so make sure to get your friends and loved ones to come here and vote.

We are looking forward to all your entries – who says there’s no humour in general elections?! Good luck!

UPDATE: The game is up.  A government has, it seems, now been formed.  Arena Flowers doesn’t take sides and this is not a political blog.  The competition will remain open until the Queen’s Speech and entries so far have been very funny!  Please play nice and in the light hearted spirit in which this competition was intended.  Thanks! :)

UPDATE vol. 2: Wow!  What a great response. Thanks so much for all your entries. There are some REALLY funny ones in there. Already our office is debating who will and wont make the short list, it’ll be tight. But there is still time so please keep them coming!

One of the two prize bottles of champagne

Our Terms and Conditions:

1. This competition is open to all nationals (over the age of 18), however delivery restricted to the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands only.
2. Period of promotion: Nominations must be entered between Tuesday 11th May 2010 and until the beginning of the Queen’s speech on the 26th May 2010, inclusive, UK time.  Arena Online Ltd reserves the right to revise this date and extend the period.
3. The winner will be awarded two bottles of Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill Vintage.
4. The lucky nominees will have the caption submitted used on this site for purposes related to the competition, so please be happy with this before entering the competition.
5. If you have any questions or queries relating to this promotion, please contact our team via customer@arenaflowers.com.
6. If we believe anyone is abusing the promotion or seeking to defraud Arena Online Ltd we reserve the right, at our absolute discretion, to rescind this or any other offer without notice.  We believe in fairness.
7. The competition is as stated and there will be no alternative offer or cash substitute.
8. By entering the competition, customers will be deemed to be bound by and have accepted these terms and conditions.  Entrants must read and accept the website terms and conditions and privacy statement to be eligible.
9. By entering the competition you will automatically be signed up to the Arena newsletter, aimed at offering exclusive deals and promotions, we will not spam you.
10. English law applies and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any proceedings in connection with this competition.
11. Arena Online Ltd reserves the right to vary these terms and conditions in the event of circumstances arising beyond its reasonable control.

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We were lucky to have Cassidy Dart from Pol Roger spend some time at Flowers HQ for a tasting session of some of their Champagnes  (yep, it was a good afternoon!).  Champagne is available on Arena Flowers, so it was great to have Cassidy share some of his insight into production of Champagne and some of the anecdotes related to Pol Roger (traditionally, Wintson Churchill’s favourite Champagne).

Cassidy was kind enough to send over his tasting notes.

Both champagne and flowers have long been touted as the ultimate in celebration, thus it was about time that the Arena Flowers team have a little tutored Pol Roger Champagne tasting, as Arena Flowers has been a Pol Roger fan since they started back in 2006.

The plan was to taste three champagnes from Pol Roger; the Brut NV, Vintage 2000 and Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 1998.

After a little explanation of a few facts about the Champagne region (a total area of 35,000 hectares, which an annual total production of about 330 million bottles for the world) and a brief history of Pol Roger (one of the very few family owned Grand Marques left in Champagne) it was onto the most important part – tasting the Champagnes. Here are our tasting notes from the day:

Pol Roger Brut NV Champagne

Fresh, clean biscuity and apple nose – refined and elegant. It is dry, but not overly acidic, with a lovely interplay of clean fruit flavour, biscuity depth of flavour and a refreshing and long finsh. Extremely drinkable and enjoyable with balance and elegance being the defining features. So very easy to drink. Aged for at least 3 years before being disgorged.

Pol Roger Brut Reserve Champagne

Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2000

Immediate step up on the aromas; more brioche, red fruits and greater intensity. On the palate it is more biscuity, bready and much greater depth and flavour. Very long finish with the impression that it will keep over time. In fact it turns out that Pol Roger Vintage is in fact very long lived (1914 is a real favourite!).

Pol Roger Brut Vintage Champagne

Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 1998
This is the prestige cuvée from Pol Roger, their top champagne named after their most famous devotee (who reportedly drunk over 10,000 bottles of Pol Roger in his lifetime- though he would have drunk Vintage; with his preferred vintages being the 1921, 1928 and 1945). This is truly a wine of Churchillean proportion; lots of body, texture and real power to it. Complex, magnificent and very long – made in the style that Churchill himself preferred; robust, mature and one to age, or if enjoyed now with the finest cuisine (Lobster anyone?).

Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Vintage Champagne

Thank you Cassidy for coming over.  It was a very fine way to spend an afternoon at work – sipping Champagne. My favourite part was learning about the remuers who walk the Pol Roger cellars daily, turning each bottle a small fraction at a time.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

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Do you know a mum who would love to receive a free luxury Arena hand-tied bouquet plus a selection box of scrummy luxury handmade chocolate, all worth £100?

We’re searching the length and breadth of Great Britain to find Arena Mum of the Year 2010.

Nominate your mum (or someone else’s!) by simply submitting a (nice!) picture and supporting statement in the form below and you could make a mum’s day this Mothering Sunday with our gorgeous Mother’s Day flowers! But hurry: nominations end mid-day Monday 8th March! Public voting begins soon after with the winner announced Friday 12th March.

Having problems with this form? Email your nominations to customer@arenaflowers.com
See our full range of Mother’s Day Flowers & Gifts.

1. This competition is open to all nationals (over the age of 16), however delivery restricted to the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and Holland only.
2. Period of promotion: Nominations must be entered between Tuesday 2 March 2010 and Monday 8th 2010 12:00:00, inclusive, UK time.  Arena Online Ltd reserves the right to revise this date and extend the period.  Voting closes on Friday 12 March 2010 17:00:00.  The winner will be announced on Friday 12 March 2010.
3. The winner will be awarded a £100 to spend on ArenaFlowers.com.  The prize can be redeemed across the flower and chocolate range, in one order only and can only be for UK delivery.
4. The lucky nominees will have the pictures submitted used and published on this site for purposes related to the competition, so please be happy with this before entering the competition.
5. If you have any questions or queries relating to this promotion, please contact our team via customer@arenaflowers.com.
6. If we believe anyone is abusing the promotion or seeking to defraud Arena Online Ltd we reserve the right, at our absolute discretion, to rescind this or any other offer without notice. We believe in fairness.
7. The competition is as stated and there will be no alternative offer or cash substitute.
8. By entering the competition, customers will be deemed to be bound by and have accepted these terms and conditions. Entrants must read and accept the website terms and conditions and privacy statement to be eligible.
9. English law applies and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any proceedings in connection with this competition.
10. Arena Flowers reserves the right to vary these terms and conditions in the event of circumstances arising beyond its reasonable control.

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It’s a week since Valentine’s Day – a busy time for florists around the globe – and things have remained as exciting as ever at Arena Flowers.

Particularly exciting as we launched our new tool: Flowers & Fun (http://www.flowersfun.co.uk).  This is a completely free (and fun!) messaging service allowing you to send messages with a virtual bouquet.  Flowers & Fun is perfect for sending a quick note and provides something a bit different to a quick, one line email or tweet.

It’s simple to use; 1) Choose your message, write the recipient’s name 2) Edit the message and choose the bouquet. Then send!

Your messages can be easily sent by email, or posted to Facebook.  We’ve integrated it with Twitter too to enable you to quickly post notes celebrating Birthdays, achievements…and well, just about anything.

Flowers & Fun is particularly innovative because there’s some pretty clever technology running in the background that identifies people wishing one another a happy Birthday or sending congratulations through Twitter; our Flowers & Fun account (http://twitter.com/flowersandfun) sends a short message with a virtual card attached.

We wanted to create something innovative, surprising and something to make people smile. So far the community response to the Twitter messaging has been very positive.

Flowers & Fun for Twitter is the latest in technological gadgetry we are so passionate about developing at Arena Flowers. Our Flowers & Fun for Facebook application launched in 2007 and so far there’ve been 65,000 virtual bouquets sent via Facebook (try Flowers & Fun Facebook for free here).

Arena Flowers is developing a tradition of exploring the web’s capabilities and using new technology – not just to make fun tools – but also to enhance the customer experience.  We have a photo uploading service on Arena Flowers, allowing customers to add photos when they order our flowers for delivery.  Using our calendar service, you can create electronic reminders for key events to make sure you never miss someone’s Birthday and order your Mother’s Day flowers in good time.  Those who’ve used our flower delivery service will know of our SMS delivery messages to let you know when your orders have been delivered.

Coincidentally (and very timely), we were proud to have been announced as one of Smarta100, an award which celebrates dedication to innovation in small business. See our Smarta100 award here.  We are pleased to have been awarded and see this as an acknowledgement of our passion for using technology to create a great user experience and to engage new customers.

We love feedback, if you have any for us about Flowers & Fun (or anything at all), email feedback @ arenaflowers.com or follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/arenaflowers).

Many thanks to Marc G. Smith for helping us build Flowers & Fun and for being a good friend of Arena Flowers.

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It was my pleasure to be at Small Business 2.0 this year; an even greater pleasure to take part in the SEO panel and SEO forum session.

There were some interesting speakers there from BT Tradespace. Ivan Croxford had sage advice and hilarious anecdotes about managing reputation via the BT Tradespace platform and social sites more generally. Arena Flowers has long been an advocate of BT Tradespace, so please feel free to join our network there, or to watch our very own technical whizz, Sam Barton here talking about BT Tradespace and social networking for businesses, a very hot topic at Small Business 2.0.

Other presenters included Microsoft, with a focus on their search marketing offering with search engine/ decision engine, Bing. One of my favourites was friend of Arena Flowers, Dan Wilson, giving a very candid forum session on social media and some of its uses and pitfalls.

I’ve put up the SEO presentation I gave here, in case anyone is interested. I really enjoyed all the questions on the day and feedback about the panel and forum session. Thank you to everyone who attended.

For other resources, you can see Will’s post Arena Flowers at Small Business 2.0 from 2008 or have a look at our other posts about marketing and setting up an online business.

Thanks for asking us along, Dan. We already look forward to the next one!

P.S. Valentine’s Day is just over two weeks from now! Have a look at our Valentine’s Day Flowers for inspiration.

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2010 is no different as the BHF recently launched their fund-raising pack for Red for Heart campaign, which includes  National Wear It Red Day on 26 February,  and – if you’ve received a delivery from us over the past week or so – you may well have noticed their flyer distributed with our flowers & gifts.

In the New Year we’ll be revealing our special BHF Valentine’s Day bouquets, exclusively available from the BHF Flowers website. But Arena Flowers aren’t the only ones going Red for Heart for National Heart Month this February, so don’t be surprised if you see people sky diving in top-to-toe red.  Or wearing their red pyjamas to school. It’s all in aid of the British Heart Foundation. And we’d love you to join in as National Heart Month is the time to think about your heart and help us fight the UK’s biggest killer.

Be part of Red for Heart by doing anything you like to raise money. Challenge your office to wear to a wear red day – the boldest outfit wins! Bake red cakes. Paint your face red. The only rule is, you’ve got to have fun. So apply for your free fund-raising kit, full of great ideas, by clicking the banner below or call 0845 241 0976 and be part of Red for Heart.

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This is my third post on Flowers…uncut, but my first as an Arena Flowers employee.  I’ve been a friend of the company since the early days and have written some guest posts on brand reputation and making the most of off-line advertising.

The temperature in London has dropped; it’s started snowing, however things are definitely hotting-up at Flowers HQ.

It’s just over a week until Christmas; we’re busy and bustling, getting out flower deliveries.  We know you are all in full swing too with Christmas shopping and Christmas parties.

This can be a stressful 10 days coming up and we at Arena Flowers want you to feel good this Christmas, so we’ve put together a Top 10 Guide to survival over the next week or so:

1) Going to a Christmas party and hoping to meet Mr. or Miss. Right? Well, you are clearly going to need some mistletoe.  The tradition of kissing under mistletoe is believed to have originated in Scandinavia where mistletoe is associated with peace and love.  Mistletoe is also thought to promote fertility…so use wisely!

2 ) Hosting a Christmas party? Why not coordinate your floral arrangements with your decorations? The Christmas White Bowl is a fantastic table piece. Made with white roses and white candles all kept in place with wonderfully fragrant pine fronds and cinnamon bundles (it almost smells as good as it looks). Our florists also add pine cones and waxed apples for a traditional Christmas touch. This all sits in a wonderful glass bowl wrapped inside with aspidistra leaves.

3) Recovering from a party? Try a lavender and vervain tea with some honey for sweetness. Vervain is known for its soothing effects and lavender for relaxation.  The honey should give you a natural energy boost.

4) Spending Christmas day with family? Why not send them flowers in advance? A lot of effort goes into making Christmas day magical, how best to show your support if you can’t help in person than by sending Christmas flowers in advance?  Try the Festive Fun bouquet. The bright gerbera and traditional warm tone roses contrast with sparkly silver thistles. With just the right amount of greenery, this is a beautifully balanced bouquet.

5) Are you hosting the family Christmas? Dr Edward Bach was one of the pioneers of homeopathic medicine and he championed the use of flowers as natural remedies in his very famous Bach Flower Remedies, still popular today.  Why not try Bach’s Hornbeam remedy? It is used to combat feelings of tiredness before a large task ahead.  A perfect boost on Christmas day morning.

6) Entertaining kids over Christmas? Children love Christmas and there seems to be no limit to their energy. Why not take advice from the Victorians and get the kids’ creativity flowing by having them make some paper flowers? There’s a great video guide and some step by step instructions from the BBC and don’t forget to send us photos of your paper roses so we can compare them with the real thing!

7) Room for more? Complement a hearty Christmas meal with some refreshing mint chocolates and you don’t get any more fantastic than the Prestat mint chocolate box.  Plenty to choose from with peppermint creams and coffee mints.  These are truly luxurious, but don’t take our word for it, Prestat has been awarded the Royal Warrant by Her Majesty The Queen.

8) Saying thank you? What a better way to thank your hosts than to send them some cheery flowers.  The Yuletide gift wrap is a wonderful, vibrant bouquet of gerberas, lilies and our grand prix roses.  Or try any of our Thank You Flowers as a perfect way to show your appreciation.

9) Cheering up left overs? How about making some flowery garnishes to cheer up those inevitable turkey sandwiches and brussel sprout salads?  It takes no time to carve carnations from carrots or turn cucumbers into chrysanthemums.  We liked this handy guide to flower garnishes.

10) Treating yourself? Christmas is about receiving as much as giving and it’s important to put your feet up and relax in preparation for the new year ahead.  Why not treat yourself to this Christmas Faerie bouquet?  It’s an unusual and very elegant bouquet.  The dusty pink roses fit perfectly with the alstroemeria (also called the Peruvian Lily).
With a touch of festive decorations such as cinnamon bundles and sparkling thistles it’s really stunning.

Happy Christmas from all of us at Arena Flowers!

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Just a quick note to say that deliveries of gorgeous flowers from Flowers HQ to all our UK destinations (and indeed to all the European destinations that we cover) will NOT be disrupted by the Royal Mail strikes now or in the future.

Our deliveries, whether they’re made by our own full time drivers (such as Bart, pictured below with our 35 red, orange and yellow roses bouquet – on “Special Offer” at time of writing, bargain fans) or by one of  our two partners, are totally independent of the Royal Mail network so will be entirely unaffected by the strikes, however long they last.

Bart with 35 Red, Orange & Yellow Roses

Here’s hoping that the dispute is soon resolved to the satisfaction of both sides, and that ecommerce and online confidence get back to normal quickly; there’s no doubt that the words “postal strike” do strike (excuse the pun) a bit of fear into heart of consumer confidence and that’s good for no one.

Anyway, whilst the nation awaits a (hopefully) speedy resolution, we’ll keep doing what we do best.  Making beautiful bouquets of stunningly fresh flowers, as demonstrated by Judith, who’s also our head weddings florist, here:

Judith Luxury White Bouquet

Some more normal flowery posting next week (we know we’ve been a bit quiet – we’ve been busy beavering away on exciting projects!). More to follow.

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They have been working hard to develop their new website to support charities and good causes by putting them in one handy place where individuals or organisations can donate to vetted grassroots charity projects in over 70 countries directly, while staying in touch with their progress through a range of handy web2.0 tools – truly bringing fund-raising into the 21st century.

By visiting their portal on ArenaFlowers.com, we will donate 15% of your order of flowers, gifts, drinks and chocolate towards the work of GlobalGiving.co.uk – with donations divided equally between three featured charity projects which will be rotated each month to give a range of projects – large and small – a fair chance. Most of the projects on GlobalGiving.co.uk are in the developing world where a small amount of money usually goes a long way.

We will be supporting a variety of charity projects, so browse our current supported projects and track your direct impact on communities by sending your flowers and gifts with Global Giving in partnership with ArenaFlowers.com.

If you would like to learn more about our work with charities, you might like to see our posts about good causes and fund raising and you might also enjoy our posts about ethics and the environment.

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Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday Arena Flowers, Happy Birthday to us! Yes, believe it or not but Arena Flowers turns 3 years young today – and to celebrate, our Head Florist Andrew has created us this super-dooper birthday cake made from flowers!

Consisting of our ethically sourced Grand Prix roses, our signature Cherry Brandy roses, yellow and orange spray chrysanthemums, eucalyptus and creamy white hydrangea (all topped off with oranges, limes and kiwi fruit, making this a truly edible cake!), a celebratory flower cake has now become a tradition at Flowers HQ since our 1st birthday back in 2007.

Of course, there’ve been a lot of changes since those early days of Arena Flowers, and these ‘Then and Now’ pictures tell only half the story and make an interesting trip down memory lane:

Since our last birthday we have vastly expanded our product range and bespoke portfolio, partnered with an increasing number of charities and expanded across Europe with our international sites. And that’s all in just the past year!

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal customer base and friends for your continued support, custom and feedback to enable us to expand and establish ourselves as the UK’s leading, fastest-growing online florist in the UK and beyond…

If you’d like to learn more about how it all began, you may like to read this, this and this blog post.

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Although couples are insisting on committing to their 2009 wedding plans, the economic downturn has nonetheless brought with it a whole gamut of challenges for those intending to marry this year. Partner up the recession with the fact that the average cost of a British wedding topped £20,000 for the first time in 2008, shows that deciding when to scrimp and when to splurge on a such a monumental day isn’t going to be easy.

As the wedding season has approached, we’ve seen a significant increase in wedding flower enquiries in recent months, and with those we’re seeing more emphasis laid on price: “We’re looking for something cheap…” , “Could you advise us on the cheapest flowers…” etc. This nature of enquiry can automatically put any florist into defence mode, as any floral designer worth their salt knows that “cheap” is a relative description and doesn’t normally equate for very good (or even appropriate) flower arrangements.

Wedding Flowers on a Budget

If there is a budget involved (see below for more advice on setting wedding budgets), a wedding florist can then easily come up with flower choices and designs that will fall within that budget. According to last year’s figures, the average cost of wedding flowers in 2008 reached £381, accounting for just 2% of the overall average UK wedding budget of £20,000 (Source: Sky News, November 2008). But in most cases, wedding flowers normally take up 10-15% of the final wedding bill – thus proving every wedding is different with an array requirements and preferences.

The task of choosing wedding flowers is a personal, expressive and emotional experience, which is why we always recommend brides drop into Flowers HQ for an informal chat to discuss their requirements in person with our wedding florists, who will source the right wedding flowers for you – not only suiting your pocket but also of exceptional quality too.

Credit Crunch Wedding Flowers

While 10-15% is a good estimate for your wedding flowers bill, you can modify many floral elements to determine the actual amount you will spend on your wedding arrangements. Factors such as whether or not your preferred flowers are in season, the number, size and complexity of the arrangements all influence your final cost estimate.

In economically hard times, creativity comes to the fore, as brides are find ways to spend their wedding budget more wisely, and discovering “cheap” wedding ideas that help them save money. Here are just a few budget-friendly ideas to help you on the way to beautiful, economical wedding flowers that won’t cost you a king’s ransom.

Easy Peasey. Flowers in season are often less expensive and easier to source. For a list of common flowers for each season, visit our wedding flowers tips page for our guide to seasonal flowers. Don’t forget that flowers over peak / holiday periods such as Valentine’s, Christmas and Mother’s Day will cost more.

Simple things. Because the time taken to create your flowers will be factored into your wedding flowers bill, go for less elaborate bridal flowers which are less labour intensive.  For instance, a hand-tied or free form bouquet takes less time to create than a wired or teardrop one. For extra savings, bridesmaids can carry a single flower in a flower wand instead of a bouquet.

Filler thriller. Use more, cheaper foliage and greenery, baby’s breath, wax flower, soft ruscus etc which will pad out flower arrangements. Use flowery blooms as an accent to the arrangement rather than the main ingredient.

Bargain hunt. Shop around for end of line / discounted glassware in charity shops and budget household stores for vases. This way, for the price of renting / paying deposit on breakages, you can keep, sell on or recycle. The Christmas sale period is the perfect time to purchase candles, fairy lights and other decorations at huge discount.

Let’s go outside. Find a venue such as a park or garden that is already lush and beautiful – a springtime wedding in a garden will require little in the way of floral arrangements, while a traditional church may be breathtaking on its own. Also consider that many venues come ready decorated in the lead up to Christmas, so holding an earl-mid December wedding may provide you seasonal flowers for free.

A problem shared. Find out from your venues whether any other weddings are scheduled for the same day. If the two events can share decorating expenses, you’ll save a lot of money.

Recycle arrangements. If you can’t share your arrangements, transfer the flowers from your ceremony to your reception. Save more money on head table decoration by displaying the bridal bouquets on the head table.

Don’t Do it Yourself!

Floristry looks easier than it really is, so if you really can’t afford a florist, make sure you find someone with at least some skill and experience with flowers. We can provide flowers wholesale at discount prices for brides wishing to create their wedding flowers ‘in house’, but don’t forget you’ll need somewhere cool to store them safely and keep them fresh.

Making of the arrangements should be left to the very last minute, so best not leave them to a stressed-out, sleep deprived bride-to-be! If you don’t know what you are doing and don’t enjoy working under pressure, don’t try this – even if the temptation of saving some money is far too much to resist!

A good budget compromise would be to ask your florist to create the key arrangements such as the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets which are important to get absolutely right, then purchase additional matching stems for your own vase displays and other ad hoc uses such as buttonholes, hair flowers etc.

Jilted at the Alter?

With sterling still relatively weak against the euro (therefore inflating wholesale prices) as well as diminishing footfall, local independent florists are increasingly falling victim to the economic downturn, leaving distressed brides empty handed for their big day with little time to make alternative arrangements.

If your wedding florist goes bust, first off – don’t panic. Most florists will be able to stock your wedding flower requirements within 4-5 days, depending on how often they visit their wholesalers. If you are based in the London area (and your wedding doesn’t fall on a holiday / event day such as Mother’s or Valentine’s Day) we’ll be more than happy to pick up your order (we get fresh flowers in direct from the Dutch auctions nearly every day).

In many cases we’ve been known to slash existing quotes, and can sometimes provide wedding bouquets with just a day or two’s notice. So, even with times as they currently are, there are good deals to be found by the frugal bride. If you’re just starting to plan your wedding, our short list of 5 steps to a debt-free wedding might just be of some use…

Easy Steps Towards Recession-Proofing Your Wedding

1. Establish Your Wedding Budget
Choose a reliable method to keep track of all expenditures – there are now lots of websites that offer free budgeting services. If possible, keep your wedding fund separate from your personal accounts, so you can easily determine what’s being spent on the wedding. Don’t forget to call in all those favours: contact old mates, colleagues, family members and even the bloke down the road who you lent that jump lead to last winter, who may be able to offer their services.

2. Wedding Wedding Gifts.
Continuing from the above, barter your way to the wedding you want by asking wedding guests to offer their skills and services as a wedding present. If there’s a hairdresser or keen photographer on your guest list, time to bend their ear and put them to work! Chances are they’ll probably bring you a pressie anyway on the day, too… ;)

3. Beware Hidden Costs
Set aside 5% of your budget for those extras that are bound to sneak in one way or another. If you absolutely cannot exceed £20,000, aim to spend £19,000. When last minute costs such as VAT, fees etc come up (and they will), your reserve funds will save you from debt. Similarly, look out for deals and discount rates often offered during low season, midweek or during the day which can trim significant costs from your wedding bill.

4. Super Skinny Me
Serve three courses instead of five (saving on catering and waistlines). Have two bridesmaids instead of four (saving on dresses). Invite 100 guests instead of 200 (saving on just about everything). If you’re struggling with whom to cut from the guest list, cut out children and anyone you don’t know personally, and you’ll see that guest list rapidly streamline itself!

5. More Wine, Madame?
Don’t crack under pressure of the up-sell! That diamond-encrusted designer dress, the fancy five star hotel suite, the vintage champagne – they might seem like good ideas at the time, and it’s easy to get carried away, but they all add up. It’s important to understand which details are truly most important to you.  Be strong, prioritise what you want beforehand and you’re less likely to face a nasty surprise later.

Similar Posts: If you liked this post you may find our credit crunching post Lessons From Flowers – Tulips & the Economic Crisis interesting as well as our oodles of wedding related posts!!

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

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I tried to avoid the totally obvious and compiled a list of the ten issues (good and bad) that we hadn’t really expected when we set up our little online flower shop nearly three years ago.  If interested, head on over to the post to have a look at the Arena Flowers post. (PS Trevor promises he’ll fix the typos I made shortly!)

If you enjoyed the post, you may also enjoy some of our other posts relating to the early days of Flowers HQ.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

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