Chances are you’ve heard the saying, Whole Paycheck, in reference to the high-end supermarket chain Whole Foods. But believe it or not, when it comes to wedding flowers the word Wholesale is more like it.
Not that there’s NOT a markup on their wedding flowers—there definitely is!—but compared to how much wedding flowers cost on average, they’re actually not too shabby.
How Whole Foods Flowers Work + Cost
I recently spoke to a super nice florist at a major Whole Foods in the U.S. to find out if they offer custom floral arrangements for weddings and events, how the process worked, and how much they cost. Here’s what she said:
Timeline: She suggested you order your custom flower arrangements 6 months to one year in advance.
Design: The more inspiration you can show them, the better. The Whole Foods florist suggested creating a Pinterest mood board to show them so they know exactly what you’re talking about. While they can stick to the inspo you give them for the arrangement as well as the type of flowers that will be used, the only thing that can’t guarantee is color. This is because they don’t always have the ability to customize their orders.
Cost: While flower cost will vary by location, the price for custom floral arrangements comes down to a simple formula:
Retail Flower Cost + Vase (if using) + 20% labor + Tax
Amount: The store can generally accommodate small weddings to larger weddings around 125 (about 10-15 tables you would need centerpieces for) but too large and it becomes a bit trickier. You’ll want to know the number of bouquets and/or centerpieces you’ll need in advance so they can get your order together.
Setup: You will have to pickup the flowers yourself. The florist said they try to make the packaging as safe and sturdy as possible for transport.
Check out the prices from Reddit user Laur371, who wrote about her experience with their floral department:
I first heard about using them from weddit but have had trouble finding prices on the internet. I wanted to share my experience (I have booked with Whole Foods).
For reference: I am having a medium size traditional wedding in the NorthEast US.
I have found the florist at my local WF to be friendly and down to earth. She has a little office within the store to discuss things with, but yes, you are still in a supermarket. Her job is exclusively to do wedding flowers.
Rates are extremely reasonable for my area. She is charging $65 per centerpiece, which is a 5×5 glass vase with in season flowers for my wedding (roses, hydrangea, dahlia). She is providing the vase for me to own, but you are able to provide your own and she will take $$ off the quote.
My bridal bouquet will be $60 and bridesmaids will be $30. She told me both will be “standard size” and the cost savings is because I am using in season flowers.
I also saw a story from another bride who got her bridal bouquet, six bridesmaids bouquets, two corsages, and three boutonnières from Whole Foods for $330 after tax.
I called the floral department up a couple months in advance and found out what time their florist would be in the store, so I could come in and meet with them in person. I went in with a few example pictures and basically explained that my budget was $500 and this is what I wanted. I had to no idea if that budget would even be possible, but they came in well under it!
The only direction I gave them was white/ivory/blush was okay and that I wanted greenery but no eucalyptus.
I called the store up a week out and confirmed everything was still good and what time I could come in to pick everything up. They brought everything out fully arranged and wrapped in ribbon, in buckets with water that had flower food in it and we loaded the buckets up into the trunk of my car. We picked them up the day before the wedding and the recommendation from the store was to keep them as cool as possible.
They held up pretty well if I do say so myself!
Now keep in mind that Whole Foods prices will vary across the country (but not by that much) and it will all depend which type of wedding flowers you want and if they’re in season or not. Below is Whole Foods wedding flower pricing I found for two stores, the first in Raleigh and the second in Charlotte.
Do All Whole Foods Stores Offer Custom Arrangements?
While the pricing for Whole Foods flowers is pretty great, not all locations offer the service. In fact, I spoke with five other large stores across the country and they no longer offered custom floral arrangements. They said it was hard to find florists to accommodate large weddings and events so they no longer provided the service.
In that case, if you wanted to buy Whole Foods flowers for your wedding you would have to DIY the arrangements yourself.
Whole Foods Flowers Pros and Cons
If you’re looking for custom floral arrangements and pretty decent prices (about half of what you would spend on a traditional wedding florist) then I would definitely check to see if your local Whole Foods offers custom arrangements. Most brides are thrilled at the way their arrangements turned out from their Whole Foods florist. Unfortunately, the majority of stores I spoke to no longer offer this service due to staffing shortages and resources.
If that’s the case and you’re going to have to DIY your arrangements, I likely wouldn’t go with Whole Foods, since you can find better prices at stores like Trader Joe’s and Costco. For example, a dozen roses at my local Whole Foods in Miami are $14.99 vs. $9.99 at Trader Joe’s.
You could also consider going with an online DIY resource like Flower Moxie, who sends you all the supplies you’ll need for arrangements and bouquets (including flowers).
If you have a Whole Foods in your area and are looking to save money on your wedding flowers (and really, who isn’t) I would definitely give them a call. And we’d love to hear from you when you do! Let us know how much they quoted you in the comments section below.
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Marcella from WholeFoods in Middletown, NJ did an absolutely amazing job for our wedding this past September. After hearing my “vision”, Marcella knew exactly what I wanted, more so than I did. She went above and beyond throughout the entire process (and I can be persistent bordering on annoying with details :)). Everything, from the bouquets to the boutonnieres to the centerpieces to the breathtaking Chuppah were more than we could have dreamed.
Many of our guests could not believe WholeFoods was responsible for our arrangement, and that it wasn’t DIY! The prices are as amazing as the flowers (Former brides, including my sister-in-law, were a bit jealous that our flowers cost less than 1/3 of what theirs did :)) I will always recommend Marcella and team (or a local WholeFoods) for any event in need of flowers!