Deluxe
The yellow garden roses and agapanthus are the "high rollers" here. Garden roses are more expensive ($4 to $8 per stem) than mass-produced roses but are worth the extra money because "they’re larger and lusher," says Fletcher. "Some almost look like peonies." Agapanthus "is one of the few flowers that are a true blue," she says, "and in this design, I wanted to use the prettiest blue blooms I could get my hands on."
Price: $200
Affordable
Instead of yellow garden roses, Fletcher used mass-produced yellow spray roses (99 cents per stem). She also relied on lemon leaf to fill out the bouquet, as "using more greenery than blooms will lower the price dramatically," she says. She also skipped the agapanthus, and used delphiniums and lisianthus instead. Both are comparatively inexpensive, but take the bouquet in a more purple-y direction.
Price: $81
Deluxe
The most expensive flowers used here are the cymbidium orchids, hellebores and lilacs, and the silk ribbon alone costs $20. "I used white lilac in this bouquet because it has a ‘drippy’ quality that other blooms can’t replicate," says Yumiko Fletcher, of Hana Floral Design, hanafloraldesign.com, "but, like other blooms, its price spikes during the off-season."
Price: $275
Affordable
Fletcher’s first cost-saving move was to use dendrobium orchids instead of cymbidiums (the latter bloom is 20 percent more expensive). Then she replaced the pricey hellebores with white lisianthus. "They both have fluttery, ruffly petals," says Fletcher. She also incorporated inexpensive but good-looking greenery as well
as a standard-issue satin ribbon.
Price: $95
Deluxe
This bouquet, designed by Amy Gardella of Seaport Flowers, seaportflowers.com, is exceptionally large—12" in diameter. "The sheer magnitude of this bouquet determined its price," says Gardella. The pale-pink water lilies she used were also a contributing factor. "They can cost as much as $15 per stem, because they’re so rare, but they’re worth it."
Price: $300
Affordable
By scaling back the bouquet to about 8" in diameter, Gardella was able to use most of the flower types used in the larger version—such as the white anemones, pink sweet peas, Mystic roses, pale-pink nerines and Majolica spray roses—just not as many. However, she nixed the water lilies, a decision that knocked $100 off the total price.
Price: $150
Deluxe
A coterie of posh flowers—Yves Piaget garden roses, purple clematis and phalaenopsis orchids—contribute to this bouquet’s haute price. "Phalaenopsis orchids are pricey, but if your color scheme has hot pink, it’s hard to resist using them," says Gardella.
Price: $300
Affordable
Instead of fancy orchids and clematis, Gardella gave hot-pink anemones and dark purple tulips pride of place. Used sparingly, the lush Yves Piaget garden roses really stand out and allow the overall feel of the bouquet to remain luxurious.
Price: $150
