Megan | Scottsdale, AZ Floral Designer | Fleur de Vie Studio
Bridesmaid bouquets and boutonnieres are two of the most consistently over-budgeted items in wedding florals and two of the least impactful. Here’s the honest case for skipping them.
Do bridesmaids need to carry bouquets?
No. It’s a tradition not a requirement. Bridesmaids carry bouquets for roughly 30 minutes during the ceremony and then set them down and forget about them. The budget spent on eight bridesmaid bouquets often does significantly more for your wedding in other zones.
What can bridesmaids carry instead of bouquets?
If they MUST have something, a single meaningful stem is great, or a very petite posy bouquet at most. Or nothing at all and they just get to be your people without managing flowers all day.
Are boutonnieres necessary for a wedding?
Not at all. A groom can have one if he wants, but the rest of the wedding party and extended family doesnt need one. For the record, it is almost always wilted or destroyed by cocktail hour.
What are corsages and are they worth it?
Corsages are traditionally worn by mothers and grandmothers. They come off within an hour because wearing something on your wrist at a wedding is genuinely uncomfortable. A small wrist or pin corsage is a sweet gesture but it’s another item that has a very short window of visibility.
Where should wedding floral budget go instead of bridesmaids bouquets?
Your ceremony space, your sweetheart table, your welcome moment, your bar design. These are the zones that transform the atmosphere and show up in every photo. That’s where the money does real work.
Okay. I’m going to say the thing.
Bridesmaid bouquets and boutonnieres are two of the biggest budget drains in wedding florals and honestly? They make the least impact of almost anything on your list. I will die on this hill. Respectfully. With full love for everyone involved.
But we need to talk about it.
Let’s start with the bridesmaids
You have eight besties. Love them. They’re your people. And you want them to hold flowers because that’s what bridesmaids do, right?
Here’s what actually happens. They carry those bouquets down the aisle for maybe 30 minutes if we’re being generous. Then the bouquets get set on a chair. Dropped under a table. Handed to someone’s mom. Forgotten entirely by the time the dancing starts. And because they were made specifically for being held as a front facing design for your ceremony, and have been out of water for at least 4 hours by the time pictures and the ceremony is actually done, they can’t be repurposed anywhere else in the design. They just… exist for a minute and then become a thing nobody knows what to do with.
Eight bridesmaid bouquets at even a modest price point adds up fast. We’re talking a thousand dollars plus depending on the size and varieties. Sometimes way more.
And I genuinely loathe making them, I’m just going to be honest with you. Not because I can’t, but because there’s nothing special I can do with them design-wise. There’s no moment. No concept. No creative freedom. They’re just… bouquets. Held for 30 minutes. Trashed. Your bridal bouquet is THE MOMENT, main character energy, a literal vibe. Bridesmaids bouquets aren’t even like co-actors, they aren’t even “Barista #1” in the credits, they are just, there, like the Starbucks cup that got left behind in the Game of Thrones set during filming. (If this is news to you, look it up, it actually happened.)
Ahem anywayyyy, where were we…oh yes, the cost of bridesmaids bouquets.
That same budget? Could deck out your entire ceremony space so much more. Could upgrade every guest table arrangement. Could add a welcome moment that your guests feel the second they arrive, and sets the tone for the entire space they are about to enter. Could do something that actually gets remembered.
Now about the boutonnieres and corsages, attention please
Watch what happens to a boutonniere over the course of a wedding day. It gets pinned on slightly crooked because nobody actually knows how to pin a boutonniere correctly, not even the people who’ve done it a hundred times. Then it shifts. Wilts a little. Gets squished during a hug and bro chest bump. By cocktail hour at least half of them have been quietly removed and abandoned on a cocktail table somewhere. By reception they’re fully gone and not a single person noticed.
Corsages are no different, they are worn for photos and that’s it.
Grandma and Mom are overstimulated with this thing hanging on their wrist and its the first thing that comes off.
You know when you get home after a long day and you immediately want to take off your bra? Yeah… that’s the corsage, after about 1 hour of wearing it. It’s getting ripped off and yeeted across the table the second they sit down for dinner.
You are spending real money on something that has maybe a two hour window before it disappears into the void.
I’m not saying never. If your partner genuinely loves a classic boutonniere moment or it’s meaningful to your family, okay, we can do something beautiful and intentional. Something that actually photographs well and doesn’t fight with the lapel. But the full wedding party situation where every groomsman and grandfather and ring bearer has one, and every important woman has a corsage? That’s a lot of dollars going somewhere that makes zero impact on the atmosphere we’re trying to create.
Here’s where that money actually does something
Your ceremony space is where you’re standing. It’s in every photo from the most important moment of your day. It’s what your guests see when they walk in and feel their heart do a little thing.
That’s where impact lives.
So is your sweetheart table. Your welcome arrangement. The moment your guests enter the reception and their eyes go wide because the room feels like something. Those are the zones worth investing in. Those are the things people remember and talk about and show up in the photos your photographer can’t stop taking.
A boutonniere that’s been sideways since the first look does not make that list. Heck no it does not.
What I actually suggest instead
For the bridesmaids, a single meaningful stem if they really want to hold something, maybe 3-5 stems just because one might not be enough. But honestly, I vote for nothing, and your girls just get to show up and be your girls without managing a bouquet all night.
For the guys, let them shine in their dapper ass suits. They really don’t need the florals.
And for the budget you just freed up? Let’s put it somewhere it genuinely moves the needle. I promise you will not miss the boutonnieres. I promise your bridesmaids will not miss carrying flowers for 30 minutes. But you will absolutely notice the difference when your ceremony space is fully, intentionally, beautifully designed.
That’s the trade I’m always going to suggest. Every single time.
If you want a florist who’s going to be straight with you about where your budget actually matters, that’s exactly how I work. Let’s talk about your wedding and figure out where the magic really lives.
Want to work together? Let’s connect.
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