Question for those who had PEONY bouquets...

[So_happy]

Hello there!

I wanted to get some sort of idea of how much you paid for your peony bouquet, professionaly done or DIY. If DIY, where did you find your flowers? I''m looking for prices that reflect bouquets done primarily to completely in peonies.

Thank you!

 

[labbielove]

Omg, I ADORE peonies,
unfortunately they are a no-go for my Sept wedding in the Northeast.....

but Jcrow had gorgeous peonies,

Also, did you check out the KNot? they have some great bouquet galleries.

 

[So_happy]

Date: 3/28/2007 10:41:54 PM
Author: labbielove
Omg, I ADORE peonies,
unfortunately they are a no-go for my Sept wedding in the Northeast.....

but Jcrow had gorgeous peonies,

Also, did you check out the KNot? they have some great bouquet galleries.

Labbie~ Yeah, I''m in the NE, too.....and getting married the end of August so I know that using them will require a special order. I just remembered that I started out loving them but everyone told me that peonies can''t work on my budget so I forgot all about them. Now, I''m just sitting here and I remember "hey, I need to see exactly how expensive that will be, darn it!!". So here I am

Since my bouquet and my FI''s bout will be the only thing at the wedding that would have them, I''m hoping it won''t be too bad.

So, I''m hoping some of you who have ordered and know the price of or already had your wedding and remember the cost of your mostly peony bouquet can give me a dose of reality

 

[Finding_Neverland]

We had tons of peonies at our last house. Deep, rich red ones and white ones with reddish pink edges on the petals.

Peonies are sorta like a bulb flower. Plant them, shallow, in the fall, to bloom the next spring. But they''re really a rhizome. Every year, the roots sprout new shoots that will form flowering plant stalks. Every so often, you need to dig them up, separate them out, and replant them. Just like bulbs divide and form new bulbs. If the roots over crowd themselves, the plants won''t bloom as well.

Ours bloomed late May to early June where we lived in Missouri, so I wondered if you could even get them for an August wedding.

I found a link for you with some current/recent pricing info and a mention of timing issues:

http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/03/19/les-fleurs/

Sounds like peonies are definitely something you wanna order now to try and actually get for an August wedding. And prepare for a back-up in case the wholesaler doesn''t come thru for you.

 

[neatfreak]

My mother said they are def. out of season in the US by August and if you can get them you would have to go through a good wholesaler who will likely charge an arm and a leg.

She didn''t know how much they would be off season, but said sometimes prices of flowers can go up 2-3x or more when they aren''t in season locally.

Good luck!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

My mother had a bouquet of magenta and light pink peonys at her wedding and I'm proud to say I made it myself. What I did was the day of the wedding I clipped a ton of blooms and stems with leaves and put them into buckets of water. I bought the bouquet base and some of that green foamy stuff that fit in the base. Soak the green foam until it's well saturated with water. I then took the leaf stems and inserted them into the foam at the bottom of the base, I made a solid ring of these. Then I started right above there with the blooms. I trimmed the stems so they were the correct length and inserted them into the base keeping them relatively close together (so all of the blooms touch) but not so close together that the petals were squashed. I kept adding blooms mixing the colors randomly as I went. After I had a solid bunch I took more leaf stems and inserted them here and there throughout for color contrast. The bouquet came out beautifully in the end and didn't take all that long to put together (maybe an hour?).

Lol, my mom was married in June, not August. Sorry about that!

 

[dtnyc]

I had a BIG bouquet that was mainly peones- also some verbenum (sp?) and Runuculas and it was 225.

I specified that I wanted a HUGE bouquet- because my dress was very tailored and form-fitting and I wanted a bouquet that would make me look tiny!

 

[jcrow]

i had a peony bouquet - and it contained only peonies. i don''t have the contract in front of me, but i think it was in the $300 ballpark.
i would caution against doing them yourself. i spoke to 3 florists about wanting a peony bouquet in november. they all thought i was a bit nuts. or rather, they were very usure that they could pull it off. anyway, the florist i decided to go with was able to get them in. however, he didn''t know until the week OF the wedding if he could. he also had to get them in earlier than most flowers b/c he wanted to be sure they opened in time for the wedding. they are a fickly flower, but never the less, gorgeous!!

 

[dtnyc]

Here''s a non-pro pic w/ my bouquet...

 

[akw94]

I love peonies! So pretty! I asked about them at Sommer Flowers and they were about $500 vs. the $100 for roses or other flowers, just to give you a feel for cost. Also, she said they prob. wouldn''t be available for my early Sept. wedding and August was likely the cutoff. But maybe you can call them to help w/pricing. She also said since they are so huge, you don''t need nearly as many as regular flowers.
http://www.sommerflowers.com/do-it-yourself-wholesale-wedding-flowers.html

 

[So_happy]

Dixie~ That''s a huge difference! I wonder if using really big open roses would create a similar effect? I don''t know what these kinds of roses are called though. Anyone know what I''m I talking about?

 

[akw94]

Definitely go to that site on the DIY thread b/c it has tons of types of roses. The very big, rounded, open ones are the ones I like too.

 

[blushingbride]

Date: 3/29/2007 10:19:51 AM
Author: jcrow
i had a peony bouquet - and it contained only peonies. i don''t have the contract in front of me, but i think it was in the $300 ballpark.
i would caution against doing them yourself. i spoke to 3 florists about wanting a peony bouquet in november. they all thought i was a bit nuts. or rather, they were very usure that they could pull it off. anyway, the florist i decided to go with was able to get them in. however, he didn''t know until the week OF the wedding if he could. he also had to get them in earlier than most flowers b/c he wanted to be sure they opened in time for the wedding. they are a fickly flower, but never the less, gorgeous!!

Jcrow is right about them being a difficult flower to work with. My sister had us carry them for her wedding which was April of last year and unfortunately it rained almost the entire day and was about 45 degrees - thank god she''s very easy going and didn''t let this get her down once! (not sure if I could handle myself the same way if this happens to me

) Anyway, because of the weather, the flowers barely opened! I thought they looked so cool the way they were, but they definitely weren''t the look she was originally going for. Here''s some pics

 

[blushingbride]

Here''s another shot

 

[jcrow]

Date: 3/29/2007 2:28:00 PM
Author: So_happy
Dixie~ That''s a huge difference! I wonder if using really big open roses would create a similar effect? I don''t know what these kinds of roses are called though. Anyone know what I''m I talking about?

garden roses?

 

[Trelala]

Peony like roses? I think you mean English roses? Some of them don''t do that well as cut flowers, they have heavy heads and spindly little stems. At least from experience, I find that the Kathryn Morely rose, Mr Fairchild and Jude the Obsecure are pretty delicate. Sweet Juliet, Mary rose, Othello and Benjamin Britten are more sturdy.
I''m comparing them to hybrid tea roses though.

I also adore English roses and would love to use them in my bouquet... They smell heavenly!

 

[jcrow]

here''s the link to my wed pics if you were interested in seeing my bouquet.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/jcrows-pro-pics.54377/

 

[Trelala]

Found a peony-like English rose. According to David Austin

We are always keen to develop large, peony-like roses with good shrubby growth. ‘Golden Celebration’ and ‘Brother Cadfael'' are good examples of such roses - and this is another.

The flowers of ‘The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild’ are in the form of deep cups filled with crisp, upstanding petals. The colour on the inside of the petals is a deep pink touched with lilac; the outside is of a paler shade.

dtnyc: Love your bouquet!

 

[sparkel]

If you are looking for roses that are larger I think that esperance roses might be a good option. They last a very long time so you could get the fairly early and let them open so that they have max impact. They would be good because they have the same full effect. The attached pic doesnt show them in the best light but they might be worth investigating.

Peonies are georgeous and I think they are beautiful but as others have said they can be really touch and go. Sometimes they can be like bullets so be prepared.

hth
Rebecca

 

[So_happy]

Oh my goodness, that Ingenious rose is so beautiful. Very peony like!

 

[Pandora II]

I am a huge fan of David Austin''s roses and I am already growing some for my wedding next year - specifically Graham Thomas and Molineux. In fact I started taking over my mother''s garden a few years ago and filling it with scented flowers I would want one day for this... I''m not sure she saw through my generous gestures

However...

Apart for the 4 new roses - Miranda, Rosalind, Juliet and Patience - they don''t have a long vase life - I rarely get more than a day where they look really good. The new four that are specifically bred for vases are not available to buy as rose bushes yet and the flowers are super expensive - around 90GBP for 20 stems last time I looked.

I also adore old fashioned roses - but again they are expensive, normally only flower once a year and hard to keep looking good.

Regarding peonies - I was advised to steer clear as they fall to bits so easily - shame as I love that blowsy look.

If any of you are ever in the UK in May/June/July and love plants - Sissinghurst in Kent has the most beautiful gardens with the world-famous White Garden, a fabulous herb garden and rose gardens that are stuffed with the most deliciously scented old roses. I always go round clutching my catalogue from David Austin and end up spending a fortune on new bare-roots roses.

 

[keepnit2gether]

Hi, I am ordering 600 peonies for my May 19th wedding and I have researched them quite extensively. When I inverviewed florists, I told them that I would have my own flowers, so they had to be good with it. I am paying my florist $1200.00 to arrange them including some filler and some bells of ireland.

I had a grower who was going to provide me peonies for less than a buck a piece, however there was a big freeze, so I had to go with another grower, I am still getting them for less than two a piece! This is unheard of with a florist because you have cut out the middle man and you are purchasing at their cost.

After the freeze, I was desperate because Peonies in the midwest are harder to come by, so hopefully this will help you. I have the name of one woman who may be able to get you late peonies. August is pushing it but she emailed me when I was looking and said she can sometimes hold them till mid-August.
Her orchard is in Northern Quebec Canada and she is very helpful and gave me the names of others since she harvests later than the states. pivoines capano. If you google her, you can view her website and email her or call and find out more info. She does speak English. I have no idea what she charges, but it''s worth a shot and she could refer you to others if she can''t help.

I will have pictures after the wedding if you''re interested..... It will be mid- June probably before I''ve recovered enough to send them out. I found that Peony bouquets, centerpiece pictures are very difficult to find, and I really hope mine will be gorgeous. I have purchased Urns for centerpieces, custom made beaded runners for the tables, rhinestone napkin holders, as well as gobs of other stuff. I figured I may as well buy the stuff rather than to rent them, then I can sell everything or do a fun drawing to give the urns to our guests at the end of the night!

Best of luck and please let me know if you have luck!

 

[So_happy]

Date: 5/6/2007 9:23:21 AM
Author: keepnit2gether
Hi, I am ordering 600 peonies for my May 19th wedding and I have researched them quite extensively. When I inverviewed florists, I told them that I would have my own flowers, so they had to be good with it. I am paying my florist $1200.00 to arrange them including some filler and some bells of ireland.

I had a grower who was going to provide me peonies for less than a buck a piece, however there was a big freeze, so I had to go with another grower, I am still getting them for less than two a piece! This is unheard of with a florist because you have cut out the middle man and you are purchasing at their cost.

After the freeze, I was desperate because Peonies in the midwest are harder to come by, so hopefully this will help you. I have the name of one woman who may be able to get you late peonies. August is pushing it but she emailed me when I was looking and said she can sometimes hold them till mid-August.
Her orchard is in Northern Quebec Canada and she is very helpful and gave me the names of others since she harvests later than the states. pivoines capano. If you google her, you can view her website and email her or call and find out more info. She does speak English. I have no idea what she charges, but it''s worth a shot and she could refer you to others if she can''t help.

I will have pictures after the wedding if you''re interested..... It will be mid- June probably before I''ve recovered enough to send them out. I found that Peony bouquets, centerpiece pictures are very difficult to find, and I really hope mine will be gorgeous. I have purchased Urns for centerpieces, custom made beaded runners for the tables, rhinestone napkin holders, as well as gobs of other stuff. I figured I may as well buy the stuff rather than to rent them, then I can sell everything or do a fun drawing to give the urns to our guests at the end of the night!

Best of luck and please let me know if you have luck!

Thank you very much for the lead. I appreciate it! However, I''m just too worried that they wouldn''t be available in the end. I decided on roses and orchids and I''ve asked that the roses be full and open. It won''t look exactly like peony, but it''ll give an approximation without the worry. In any case, I''m sure your information could help others who are want this flower My wedding is Aug 26 so I''m really outside the window of opportunity I think

Your wedding sounds like it will be absolutely gorgeous! Make sure to post pics!!!

 

[PDSALINE]

Someone in this thread mentioned the photos of peony centerpieces are hard to find. In researching peonies for my friends wedding I found some great ones at www.bridgewatergardens.com. They sell peonies at good prices and on their peony page they have great wedding flower ideas including photos of how to use peonies for weddings.

 

[mainemomof2]

I love peonies! My FI always brings me home tons in the summer from his Farm. He works (one of his jobs) on a high-scale horse farm. They have peonies that are so beautiful! I have no idea what time of year exactly it is that he gets them though. Does anyone know when they are open in Maine?