Wedding on a Budget: Do you dare use grocery store or Costco type of Flowers or Cakes?

Question

I want to have a ceremony and reception, but am on a tight budget.

Does anyone have any experiences with grocery store florists or bakeries? Was it really good? Did it save a lot of $?

Answer 1

Here's the question - think of the last five weddings you attended.

What did the flowers look like? The bouquets, the boutenierres, the centerpieces....

Now, what did the cake look like? What flavor was it? Was it good? (Did you even have any?)

My point. Nice flowers are nice flowers. No one's going to know (or care!) if you spend $300 or $30,000 on them. Same with the cake.

I would advise talking to the florist/baker about what you want. Perhaps make a trial arrangement and order a small cake in what you're thinking of to test them out first.

Best wishes to you!!

Answer 2

Hi and congratulations!

Good for you for sticking to a budget!! My advice to many brides has been to seek our florists and bakeries in grocery stores!!

I love the cakes from Walmart...although I have never had a wedding cake (just birthday, etc.) Some others on here say they have and they are good....others say "no." I don't live by a Costco, but I heard their cakes are really good too! I'm sure you have other "local" grocery stores too...not all "chains."

As far as florists go...those in grocery stores are trained floral designers....or someone with LOTS of experience! All the flowers I see in grocery stores look GREAT!

You should go and meet with them. Ask questions like
~ When will the bouquets be made up?
~ When will the cake be made...Is it a frozen (yuk!) cake or is it made fresh for my wedding?

Ask questions....and by all means...go for it! You will save LOTS of $$$$$!!

Good luck and I hope you have a beautiful wedding!

Answer 3

I bought my cake from a bakery in a grocery store and their cakes are very good. Sure not all these grocers have the fancy designs or flavors like the professionals do, but they are equally as beautiful and tasty. I have been told that, if you have a Walmart Superstore nearby, that they make delicious and beautiful cakes for half the cost of a professional bakery.

My cousin and his fiance bought their flowers from a grocery store, and they got a great deal and the flowers were beautiful!

Here are a couple of tips for flowers:
-We bought real flowers only for the couple and attendents, and all the other flowers we used were silk. We bought them off of Ebay and got over 150 red and white roses for under $20! Plus anyone who receives the silk flowers will be able to keep their flower as a favor!
-If you know someone who does floral designing, see if you can find a wholesaler and buy the flowers straight from them. You will be able to get a large number of flowers for next to nothing!
-Figure out what you would like in your bouquets and bout.'s and call around to all the area florists and ask for pricing. You will be able to find the best deal for what you want. I did this with my flowers, and I ended up savings $30 on my bouquet!

Best of luck!

Answer 4

I don't see any problem with it. My fiance wants to have cupcakes at the wedding, and my favorite cupcakes come from the local grocery store, so that's where we're getting them. We could pay more elsewhere for ones we don't like as well, but that just doesn't make sense. And, who's going to know they came from the grocery store bakery rather than a fancy bakery?

I checked a grocery store for our flowers (we're having only two bouquets and about eight corsages and boutonnieres, so not a lot of flowers). They actually were more expensive than the same thing at a small, independent florist in the neighborhood. So, do shop around a bit, and don't assume the grocery store will be less expensive.

Answer 5

I ordered mine from Sam's Club. I went to the florist there and explained that I'd like to order an in-season flower they normally carry, but I wanted to make sure they had enough of them. She put in the bulk order for me, for the day mentioned, and gave me a discount for buying the whole....I forgot what she called it, but a whole case. The day before we went to Sam's Club and picked them up. The boxes keep them well packaged, and we took them to the reception hall to arrange them myself. They looked great!

They were fabulous--multi colored glads which was just what I wanted. Gave it a real tropical flair and most tropical flowers are very expensive. Plus glads have multiblooms per stem, which means I didn't have to order as many to get a lot of blooms.

It was a great experience and saved a LOT. I decided to have a florist make the bouts instead of making them myself (simply to save the time), but if money was a huge consideration--making your own bout isn't hard at all.

I looked into having a bakery make my cake as well. I ended up finding a bakery in the area who did desserts but not wedding cakes for a living. She was just starting out with weddings and gave me a great price. She didn't charge a different price per each layer and already had several cake displays/stands to chose from.

Email me if you want some more suggestions on how to plan a wedding on a tight budget. I'm getting rather good at it--I planned my wedding, my sisters, a good friends and a cousin's all within the last 2 years.

Answer 6

I haven't had experience with the flowers but we had a baby shower cake made from the grocery store bakery and it was delicious, we told our friends about it and that is where they got their wedding cake from. It was beautiful, so good and very cheap. I would ask to see pictures and try the cake before making a quick decision. You could also purchase flowers from the grocery store and make your own bouquets, people do stuff like that all the time. Good luck!

Answer 7

I don't know if this will help or not but . . .
I bought my cakes from one of the best bakeries in town, they decorated it custom to match my wedding dress, and I had a total of 5 different sized cakes (1-12",2-10",1-8",& 1-6") enough for 200 ppl and it cost about $250. When you order the cakes seperately, not tiered a lot of bakeries will just charge fo the cost of a decorated cake not by the slice. I bought wedding cake risers on line and it made a really nice cascade look. Huge savings.

Answer 8

we do not have publix where i live but I hear they have really good cakes and they look really nice. Do not assume that flowers will be cheaper because they are from a grocery store. The flowers at Costco cost much more then the ones I got from a local florist.Do your home work and do whatever is best for you and your budget. It does not matter where you buy anything from....Who said expensive = better?

Answer 9

I wouldnt dare get a cheap cake, or worse, a sheet cake hidden in the back. No one will say anything, but they will KNOW. If on a budget, I would just get a more simple or smaller cake, but still a Real Wedding Cake.
The flowers, hey flowers are flowers. If you have the time to shop around, why not save a few? But again, I would rather have fewer Real Flowers than lots of silk flowers or cheap carnations.
Good luck!

Answer 10

Costco has beautiful flowers! I'm sure you could make them work for your 'wedding on a budget'. Maybe you could speak with the manager to let them know you will be buying out what they have ahead of time, so that they would possibly order you some more (if you need more than the bunches they usually have there. I think if you spend the time to display them nicely, that will work out beautifully!

As for the cake, they have nice cakes there, I used them for my husband's 30th birthday. Sometimes what people do is have a big elaborate cake for display & then they serve just a sheet cake. OR maybe they could make you 1 or a few really nice "white on white design cakes" that you could display on taller servers like this :

http://www.redfishlake.com/images/wedding%20cake%20tier.JPG