It appears that supermarkets are catching on to the trend of thrifty brides purchasing more things for their weddings at supermarkets. They’ve long sold cakes etc, but now are attempting to make a do-it-yourself wedding a little simpler. I played around with Safeway’s “budgeting tool” and found it very intuitive to use. On their website they have cakes, wines and flowers available for budgeting and shopping. I had been eager to see what types of flowers and wines they’d have at different price levels but it turns out that it’s more budgeting and less shopping than I thought. Once you use the tool they ask you to visit your nearest Safeway with the printout to discuss the details. You can see the actual pictures of the cakes and pricing per person which is extremely helpful. I wish they had that feature for the other two areas.
I also found the prices quite high for Safeway. Although the cake prices seemed ok, they weren’t all the much cheaper than one of my favorite bakeries in downtown Seattle known for their wedding cakes. The flowers were also way overpriced. The option for a boutonniere was $50?! To be fair, the option for a bridal bouquet (usually fairly expensive) also started at $50. If the boutonnieres truly are that expensive you’re better off going to a florist. I also wish the floral area showed you the type and quantity of flowers that you get at each price level so you could see the value for your money rather than randomly marking what you want to spend on each bouquet. I have the same complaint about the wines. The site takes the headache out of calculating the number of bottles per guest at each event: cocktail hour, reception, rehearsal dinner and even bachelorette party! However, if you choose $10, $20 or $70 wine per bottle it doesn’t give you and example of what you get in return. It could be Chianti in a basket or Brunello and you wouldn’t have an idea of the quality. I’m assuming all of those answers are solved by taking your budgeting results to the store.
Bottomline: Do-It-Yourself brides are still better off doing the research themselves for quality and prices as Safeway doesn’t shed too much light on prices for their flowers and wine. I recommend comparing a couple of different supermarkets if that’s all your budget allows. But, if you need help with a budgeting tool give it a whirl.
For more information on Seattle Wedding Flowers visit: www.AvantBride.com
