High-End Style on a DIY Budget

Wedding flowers can be one of the biggest expenses when planning a celebration. But with a little creativity and the right materials, it is entirely possible to achieve a high-end floral look without the traditional florist price tag.

More couples are now discovering the advantages of buying wholesale dried flowers and designing their own wedding arrangements. Dried botanicals offer flexibility, creativity and long-lasting beauty, allowing couples to create professional-looking designs in advance of their wedding day, removing the time pressure that comes with fresh flowers.

One of the greatest advantages of dried flowers is flexibility. Bouquets and decorations can be prepared in advance giving couples time to experiment with designs and refine their style.

At Barn Florist, we specialise in supplying premium dried flowers to both professional florists and DIY customers. Our website is designed to help you easily navigate a wide range of botanical materials and narrow down your choices.

Below we delve into everything you need to know about buying wholesale dried flowers and creating your dream wedding décor.

Why Dried Flowers Are Perfect for DIY Weddings

Dried flowers are particularly well suited to DIY wedding styling.

Unlike fresh flowers, dried botanicals:

  • can be arranged in advance
  • require no water or refrigeration
  • travel easily to venues or destination weddings
  • maintain their structure throughout the day
  • can be reused afterwards as keepsakes or home décor

Because there is no last-minute preparation required, couples have the freedom to experiment with designs and perfect their arrangements at their own pace.

Professional Quality with No Minimum Order

Many wholesalers require a trade licence or minimum order value, which can make DIY wedding planning difficult.

At Barn Florist, we believe premium florals should be accessible to everyone planning their own event.

  • No minimum order value– whether you need one bunch of dried lavender for a trial bouquet or fifty bunches of pampas grass for a venue installation, you can order exactly what you need.
  • True wholesale pricing– access wholesale unit prices without committing to large quantities immediately.

This allows couples to experiment with styles and colours before committing to larger orders.

Protected Transit and Conditioning Your Flowers

Dried stems are naturally delicate and require careful packaging during transit.

For this reason, we apply a £4.50 packaging charge which covers the cost of our specialist heavy-duty protective boxes designed to keep flowers safe during shipping.

When your flowers arrive, they may benefit from a simple preparation process known as conditioning.

Conditioning dried flowers means preparing them for arranging by:

  • removing packaging and unwanted leaves
  • trimming side shoots
  • separating stems
  • gently opening grasses and blooms

This helps flowers look fuller and makes arranging easier.

Real-Time Inventory; What You See Is What You Get

Fresh flowers are often ordered based on seasonal availability.

Barn Florist operates differently.

Our website reflects live warehouse stock, meaning the items you see online are physically available.

If an item can be placed in your basket, it is in stock and ready for rapid delivery.

This removes uncertainty when planning wedding flowers.

Strategic Savings with Tiered Discounts

Wholesale buying becomes particularly valuable when decorating larger venues.

Barn Florist offers automatic volume discounts for example:

  • 3–8 pieces – Save 5%
  • 9–19 pieces – Save 9%
  • 20+ pieces – Save 15%

We also offer basket discounts which apply automatically:

  • £200 – 5% discount
  • £300 – 6% discount
  • £400 – 7% discount

These savings make Barn Florist especially popular for larger installations such as ceremony arches, floral clouds and table displays.

Design Like a Florist. Shop by Form

Professional florists design arrangements using different types of flowers to create depth, texture and structure.

The Shop by Form navigation on the Barn Florist website mirrors this process.

Tall & Linear Botanicals

Flowers that are part of our tall and liner botanicals range offer height and structure, and are used to create movement and vertical interest.

Preserved Flower Heads

Individually preserved flower heads and blooms are perfect for wiring work, crowns and buttonholes.

Extra Large Blooms

Extra large blooms are excellent statement flowers that immediately attract attention.

Focal Flowers

Focal flower are the main flowers that create the centrepiece of an arrangement.They are the main flowers that draw the eye to the bouquet. 

Secondary Flowers

Supporting blooms or secondary flowers add volume and colour around focal flowers.

Small Blooms

Small blooms are flowers that help shape arrangements.

Mini Flowers

Tiny or mini flowers add delicate detail to your floral arrangement.

Filler Flowers

Light and filler flowers that fill the gaps and soften the design.

Cascading Elements

Trailing, draping or cascading elements are stems that create natural movement.

Foliage & Greenery

Leaves, greenery and foliage provide structure and balance.

Grasses & Seed Heads

An excellent option for adding architectural structure and textures that adds interest, grasses and seed heads are a popular choice.

Fluffy Grasses

Soft, fluffy grasses such as bunny tails and pampas that add volume.

Flower Seed Pods

When considering to add unique botanical textures and shapes, many florists opt for flower and seed pods.

Loose Flowers & Sprigs

Individual, loose flowers and sprigs are regularly used for detailed styling.

Shop by Colour Palette

Colour coordination is an important part of wedding styling.

Our website allows you to browse flowers by curated colour palettes such as:

  • White ~ Ivory ~ Cream
  • Pink ~ Dusky ~ Blush
  • Peach ~ Salmon ~ Coral
  • Lilac ~ Mauve ~ Lavender
  • Blue ~ Aqua ~ Turquoise
  • Brown ~ Rust ~ Nude
  • Yellow ~ Ochre ~ Gold
  • Grey ~ Silver ~ Black
  • Naturals – No Dyes or Preservatives
  • Mixed Colours
  • Sparkles and Metallic

This makes it much easier to design arrangements that match your wedding theme.

Helpful Planning Tools

The Barn Florist website includes several tools to help simplify the planning process.

Compare Feature

Allows you to compare flower varieties side-by-side to help narrow down your search for the ideal blooms and bouquets.

Wishlist

By adding items to your Wishlist, our system creates a shortlist of flowers, which are saved to help you build your wedding design.

These tools are particularly helpful when coordinating ideas with planners or venues, or show casing your vision.

Planning Quantities for DIY Wedding Flowers

Dried flowers usually create less volume than fresh flowers, typically around one third smaller. This is because the drying process removes the water, making them lighter and takes up less space in your bouquets.

To avoid any gaps in your bouquets, we suggest allowing for a few extra stems to help arrangements appear fuller. Below we have designed a guide to help you see roughly how many flowers you will need per arrangement.

Typical quantities may include:

ArrangementApprox stems
Bridal bouquet20–30 stems
Bridesmaid bouquet15–25 stems
Buttonhole3–5 stems
Table arrangement10–20 stems

These numbers vary depending on design style and flower types.

The 10 Most Popular Dried Flowers for Weddings

Some flowers are consistently popular in wedding designs because they combine beauty with durability.

These include:

Pampas grass
Gypsophila (Baby’s Breath)
Bunny tails
Preserved roses
Hydrangea
Eucalyptus
Strawflowers
Statice and Limonium
• Ruscus
• Natural grasses and cereals

Sola Wood Flowers – Perfect for Colour Matching

Sola wood flowers are an excellent option for couples who want to colour match their wedding palette.

These handcrafted flowers are made from the soft wood of the sola plant and can be dyed to almost any shade.

Barn Florist offers Sola flowers in a range of shapes and sizes including:

Because they can be dyed easily, they are perfect for achieving precise colour matching while keeping wedding flowers affordable.

autumnal dried flower wedding bouquet
Autumnal dried flower wedding bouquet

A Simple DIY Wedding Bouquet Formula

Florists often build bouquets using a simple structure.

A balanced arrangement might include:

  • focal flowers
    • secondary flowers
    • filler flowers – these are the flowers which fill the gaps
    • foliage elements, leaves and ferns
    • texture elements such as grasses or seed heads

This simple formula creates depth and balance while still allowing plenty of creativity.

Wedding bouquet Sola Flowers and Preserved Florals

 

Example Wedding Flower Combinations

Boho Neutral Wedding

Texture Elements
Stipa feather grass
Pampas grass
Bunny tails

Focal Flowers
Sola wood roses and dahlias
Preserved Roses

Filler Flowers

Foliage
• Bleached ruscus and Mountain fern

 

 

romatic pastels dried flowers wedding concept
Romatic pastels dried flowers wedding concept

Romantic Pastel Wedding

Focal Flowers
Preserved roses
Preserved hydrangeas
Sola wood peonies

Filler Flowers
Gypsophila
Rice flower (Ozothamnus)

Mini Flowers
Glixia (Brazilian Star Flower)

Foliage
Eucalyptus
Cascading asparagus fern 

 

Rustic dried flowers bridal bouquet nancy's tales
Rustic dried flower bridal bouquet by Nancy’s Tales

Rustic Meadow Style

Focal Flowers

Larkspur
Strawflowers

Filler Flowers

• Statice, Limonium or Baby’s Breath

Secondary Flowers

• Celosia and Strawflowers
• Rhodanthe or Acroclinium daisies

Texture Elements

• Bunny tails
Phalaris
Oats

Additional Detail

Corncockle Seed Pods
Bubble Flax

 

Ready to Start Your DIY Wedding Flowers?

Designing your own wedding flowers can be one of the most enjoyable parts of wedding planning.

With wholesale access, professional-quality botanicals and powerful navigation tools, Barn Florist makes it easy to create beautiful arrangements while staying within budget.

Explore our Wedding Collection today and discover why Barn Florist is trusted by florists, designers and DIY couples across the UK.

To find out more about using dried florals, see our guide on how long dried flowers last.