Flowers-real or fake?!

AlexaF2014

Right now I'm planning on doing half-real, half-fake for my wedding. The bouquets and corsages will be real, but anything decorative will be fake (centerpieces, anything in the church). I'm signed up for e-mail promotions from Jo-Ann fabrics, and regularly get 40-50% off one-item coupons, or 20% off total purchase. Michael's also has pretty good deals on fake flowers. I was worried about it "looking fake" but I saw a picture of silk flowers in water as a centerpiece that looked amazing and I'm going to try that.  

Maggie0829

AlexaF2014 said:

Right now I'm planning on doing half-real, half-fake for my wedding. The bouquets and corsages will be real, but anything decorative will be fake (centerpieces, anything in the church). I'm signed up for e-mail promotions from Jo-Ann fabrics, and regularly get 40-50% off one-item coupons, or 20% off total purchase. Michael's also has pretty good deals on fake flowers. I was worried about it "looking fake" but I saw a picture of silk flowers in water as a centerpiece that looked amazing and I'm going to try that.  

You do realize that the water wasn't really water right?  It is actually an acrylic-like clear mix which cures and hardens the flowers into the vase.

Here is a link to what you will need: http://www.save-on-crafts.com/quicwat12ozs.html

andreaseebol

There is a Whole Foods in my area that is letting me order "mini-bouquets" for $9.99 each. The florist at the Whole Foods said I could call her a month before and email a picture of some of the mini-bouquets that I've seen and liked. She said she will do her best to have them replicate what I liked and they will hold the flowers in the back for me when they arrive. I thought this was a pretty great option for my bridesmaids. I'm probably going to DIY my own bouquet with flowers that Whole Foods has for sale when I pick up the bridesmaids bouquet. I'm going to order dried-flowers from etsy for the boutonnieres. Maybe one of these ideas would help you? good luck!

mel&josh2015

My fiance is allergic to all the flowers that I like. He swells up! Not only will fake flowers prevent this but they are less expensive, I can make them in advance, they will not rot, turn brown, leak water or wilt as the day goes by. I don't have to worry about delivery, either. I can keep them if I wish or craft them into something else after (like a hair clip).

For us it's just more practical. Plus in a picture I can't really tell if it's real or fake.

BethyBirdie

We are doing a combination of fresh and silk. 

Ordering fresh from costco for the centerpieces (since they will be seen more up close and the smell should be lovely) and then found a floral designer on Etsy to arrange silk flowers for the attendants. They are seen from afar and people will only see them for the ceremony. The woman I'm working with on Etsy is great and has reassured me that she will work with me to get exactly what I want. We are spending under $300 for high end silk bridal bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, 3 bouts, and 1 wrist corsage. She offered lower end for $230. The shipping is $15. I feel like this is a good compromise.

FutureMrsShovlin2014

I am doing fake flowers... I have already gotten them and they are absolutely beautiful. everyone i show doesnt believe me when i tell them that they aren't real. But there is a huge difference between silk, and "real-touch silk" flowers. Real touch are realistic while the silk tend to look stiff and well, fake. i bought mine on etsy.com and couldn't be more happy with them! and i bought my bridal bouquet as well as 2 MOH, and 4 BM bouquests all for less than $600 including shipping. Which is a steal compared to regular flowers. Plus they make a great keepsake since they will never die!

dodger911

Check with your venue to be sure you can use silk flowers. My venue was very specific that no fake flowers of any kind were allowed to be used on site.

esthergreene9

I'm planning on doing fake flowers also. Our wedding is going to be book themed, each table is going to be a book that either myself of my FI love, the flowers for each table are going to be made of pages of each book. When I make my brides maid's and maid of honor's bouquets, I am going to write them a message and use that paper for the flowers. 

For my bouquet I am going to write a letter to whomever catches the bouquet.

I am also on a super tight budget and I figured that paper would be so much cheaper and last a lot longer.

Alh728

candace4erich said:

We're also on a super-tight budget! I decided to go with fake flowers. I'm not a super flowery person, so we're going very minimal on flowers. I got some beautiful latex "real feel" flowers from afloral.com. I spent a total of $94 on my bouquet, bridesmaid's bouquets, mother corsages, and ceremony decor. We're doing non-floral centerpieces.

I would say it ultimately depends on how important the flowers are to you. If they aren't terribly important, they you can definitely find lovely fake flowers. If flowers are very important to you, then you definitely can't beat the vibrancy of real flowers.

Yea this is mainly due to budget reasons that I am asking-since we aren't doing floral centerpieces either that thankfully saves me alot! I am just trying to be senseible and the idea of spending hundreds of dollars on something that will die/is only involved for about 15 minutes it just doesn't seem worth it. For my mothers wedding (backyard wedding) we made her bouquets by going to one of the higher end grocery stores with a big floral department, got several bouquets and then broke them apart to put our own together and they came out lovely! I think we might try it again for my wedding but IDK why I feel like it iwll be more of a challenge at a venue? It was very convienent to do last minute at home... so I guess well see. In the meanwhile i am going to take other poster ideas and go to local florists and ask about in season flowers to see what they are priced at.

Alh728

anjuli116 said:

I'm doing fake flowers, and I do recommend it. The ones that look and feel real are pretty amazing. I think they're called "true touch". You wanna go that route. I had the flowers for my bouquet out in vases before I assembled the bouquet, and when I people over for a game night, they asked me how my flowers were surviving so well without water. I made my bouquet using  hydrangeas and roses, matching a pictureI had seen before I flipped out at the florist's prices. They had quoted me at $150 for the bridal bouquet, and I made mine for $35. You just have to look out for the times when the hobby/craft stores have their 50% sales on all flowers.

On top of saving money, other pros, in my opnion: 1. I get to keep my bridal bouquet, in the condition it was in on my wedding day. My friend keeps hers on the table in her entryway, and I always thought it was a sweet. 2. The bouquet assembly was a good way to get all my bridesmaids together early on. I made them lunch and they helped me with their bouquets and hashed out showeer/bachelorette dates. 3. You can get the flowers out of the way early, so there are no last-minutes surprises.

Some cons: 1. A lot of work. You've got to track down sales, know in your head what you want, and be willing to assemble it all yourself or find willing help. 2. You have to have a place to store all those flowers. 3. Vases - I also found those on clearance, plus my FMIL had some leftover from FSIL's wedding. These are still a cost for centerpieces with real flowers, but it's still something else you have to think about. 4. I know at least one aunt that will make a comment about the flowers being fake. But you can't please everybody, right?

with every comment yall have me bouncing back and forth on which to do!! LOL!! Anway this was GREAT information-and we have a longer engagement ahead so we have time to play around so perhaps this will be the route we take. Thankfully my mother is super crafty so thats a plus!

alexandrastengel

I am doing both real & fake for my wedding. My ceremony flowers (bouquet, flower girl petals, bridesmaid's bouquet, boutonnieres, & altar flowers) are all going to be real, and my centerpieces are going to use fake.

Why did I choose to go this route? Think about when you go to a wedding. What do you normally do when you look at the centerpieces? You either look at them and say, "Ooohhh look how pretty" or say, "Ew, not my style". Then, you move on 30 seconds later to conversations with family and friends, dinner, and dancing. People are not staring at the centerpieces all night saying, "Oh, these are just so lovely I can't take my eyes off of them!"

For that reason, I could not bring myself to spend an enormous amount of money on flowers that were just going to die in a few days. So, I purchased high quality fakes, and they look just fine. You just need to be careful of which ones you pick. If people don't like them, who cares?! It's your day, and it's about what you want. Different strokes for different folks. If people are going to be negative and judge you and your wedding for using fake flowers, they are jerks and need to start worrying about more important things!

If you are on a strict budget, did you ever think of nixing flower centerpieces all together? I've seen some really awesome centerpieces on Pinterest that people did that didn't include flowers at all! Honestly, I thought they looked a lot better than most floral centerpieces I found!

Good luck and happy planning

booboolr

Hi, In regards to your question comparing prices of live or fake flowers. My son got married on February 8,2014, after checking the price for the bride and bridesmaids bouquets there was no doubt in my mind that fake was the way to go.I started shopping around,Hobby Lobby,Micheals,and the internet for high quality silk flowers. I was able to do the brides flowers for twenty five dollars and the bridesmaids for a little under twenty dollars.My boutiners where a single purple rose with a white orchid,about three dollars to make,my corsages for the mothers and grandmothers where one white rose bud,a open white rose,and a purple rose bud.I added pearls and tulle to each one,They cost about six dollars to make.I had to have arrangements for twenty four tables so I bought some long branches from the christmas stock that looked like they had crystals on them and cut them to fit my vases,added a long stem of orchids and a mardi gras head and mask on a stick with lights in the bottom of my vase and those gel beads.It all turned out beautiful and under $325.00.I hope this helps you to decide.Beauty is what you make it.Good Luck Lenita Reeves

Fairyjen1

     If we were doing a larger, local wedding I would have went with fake flowers except for our moms. I know my mom would prefer her corsage to be real, although she doesn't care about the rest of the flowers. I've seen some beautiful silk arrangements and in the end we will still be just as married. Now that we have decided to get married at Disneyland, flowers are included with the wedding package so we will be having real ones. 

   I did have one friend tell me if I had fake flowers it meant I didn't take my wedding seriously enough. I just rolled my eyes. 

thisismynickname2

My venue includes small bud vases of real flowers for small centerpieces. Our venue's walls are glass windows so the views are what people will be looking at, not centerpieces.

On a related note, the bouquets will be fake. My opinion is that you can't tell the difference in professional photos (aside from the close-up photo everyone gets in their collection) and we'll be holding them for all of 20 minutes. FI doesn't want flowers for himself or the groomsmen. My mom is super crafty and the first thing she did after my engagement was start playing around with fake flower bouquets. My bouquet will be fake white hydrangea with pearl and crystal beads. 

Finally, we don't have a large budget for our metro area, and all our money is being funneled towards food, booze, music and photos. I don't give a fig about flowers for my wedding because I never gave a fig about flowers at other weddings, so why spend the money? 

Bottom line, each couple should go with their own taste, preferences and what budget allows for. "Haters gonna hate" no matter what we choose. 

carliealissa

For those of you who are vehemently anti-fake, how would you feel about bouquets/centerpieces that are entirely real except for one specific type of flower (I'm thinking anemone) that would be fake due to difficulty procuring fresh blooms?  Would your opinion change, would it be harder to tell that it's fake?  Or would you choose a different flower, even if you had your heart set on that one?

Maggie0829

carliealissa said:

For those of you who are vehemently anti-fake, how would you feel about bouquets/centerpieces that are entirely real except for one specific type of flower (I'm thinking anemone) that would be fake due to difficulty procuring fresh blooms?  Would your opinion change, would it be harder to tell that it's fake?  Or would you choose a different flower, even if you had your heart set on that one?

I would go with a different flower.  I worked in a floral shop as a florist for 8+ years.  I can tell the difference and I would think that it was weird if all your flowers were real except for one.  And honestly a real anemone and a fake anemone look completely different because no real flower is ever that "perfect" looking.

grumbledore

KeepMovingOn said:

Maggie0829 said:

I agree with doeydo.  I hate silk flowers and any florist you go to will be happy to work within your budget to create something beautiful.

With fake flowers, I'll be able to make myself a big, beautiful bouquet for under $40 and my bridesmaid's bouquets for under $25 each. I've yet to find a florist that is happy to work within that budget to create something beautiful. 

I agree.  I'm not willing to spend hundreds on flowers - I can do my bouquet and some small simple ones for my bridal party for under a hundred dollars total.  It's just not on my list of priorities.

grumbledore

I'll add, we're not doing floral centerpieces or ceremony decorations, so the only flowers will be carried by our wedding party - they are the only ones who will touch them and see them up close.  To me, it just doesn't matter enough to spend the money.