Floral Arrangement vs. HSB Favor Centerpiece: A Cost Comparison

You’ll hear us talk a lot about our centerpieces. When Sue George came up with the concept a couple of years ago, she had no idea that it would catch on so quickly. The eye-catching stacks of boxes seem to really make people’s eyes light up. When they come to realize that they get to take home one of the colorful boxes, and that it’s filled with delicious baked treats, some folks have been known to clap and giggle with glee.

One thing you haven’t heard us talk about much is exactly how much more affordable our centerpieces are than standard floral arrangements. When you add together the cost of favors for each guest and floral arrangements for every table, the combined cost can soar to heights you never would have dreamed of when you put together your wedding budget. It can be a real heart breaker. By combining the cost of both of these necessities into one line item on your budget, you can save hundreds of dollars with this one choice, and make sticking to your budget one step easier.

According to theknot.com, favors can cost as little as $1 per guest and can climb up to $20 per guest, and wedding flowers can eat up 8-10% of your total wedding budget. While it would be difficult to give an exact cost comparison, since the range of types and costs of both favors and centerpieces varies so widely, we can, at least, share an example using some commonly available cost points we researched at top wedding sites online:

ftd-flowers EXAMPLE #1: You have 100 guests, who will be seated in groups of 10 at round tables. You are getting married in the Boston area in September, and you are thinking about using a low arrangement of seasonal flowers in the center of each of the tables, like calla lilies, roses and hydrangea–perhaps something like this simple, clean style from FTD, which costs about $140:

For your favors, you were thinking of doing a sweet treat, like candy or cookies, packaged in a little box and placed at each person’s place setting. You want the favor to be in your wedding’s colors, and the treat inside to be tasty. You decide on sugar cookies from a local bakery. You’ll place two of them in a simple white box and tie it with some colored silk ribbon. It’s kind of generic, but it still looks quite pretty. When you add up the price of 200 cookies, the white boxes and the colored ribbon, the favors end up costing a total of $4 a piece. You didn’t keep track of how much time you spent searching for each of the individual elements of the favor, but at least you were able to be resourceful and keep the cost down. You’re proud of your selections, and know they’ll look great on the tables.

Total price tag for this scenario: $1800

EXAMPLE #2: You realize that your budget for flowers and favors is going to have to be slashed, but you’re not willing to compromise style or quality. You decide to use your favors AS your centerpiece–you clever little bride! If this works out, you might just start a trend in Boston…

So, knowing that you still want to do the cookies in cute boxes with ribbons, you turn to Sue George at Harvard Sweet Boutique (how green of you to stay local!) Sue does some research and finds some adorable gold boxes for you that will work perfectly with your theme of gold and roses. The silk ribbon and tulle she ties around them is so elegant, it makes you want to weep with joy. The six handmade cookies you select to put inside are so mouthwatering, you’re not sure you want to even serve cake!

Sue suggests placing the boxes in three stacked circles in the center of the table, with the bows all facing out. Five on the bottom, then a group of four, then one on top, like a cherry. She says it will create just enough height for some color, texture and pop, without keeping your guests from seeing one another across the table.

Total price tag for this scenario: $800

Wow. You saved $1000! You’re feeling so good about it, that you’re thinking of buying 100 red roses, and laying one at each person’s place setting, to REALLY jazz it up. Why not? You’ll still be spending hundreds less than in the original scenario, and you know it will be one of the most memorable table settings your guests will have ever seen.

Tags: brides, Centerpieces, custom packaging, Favors, wedding

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Favors, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.