Flower help!!

lizroling

Hey ladies, 

I am completely on the fence... I don't know if I should use silk flowers or real flowers. Either way, I am planning on making my own bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. I bought silk flowers from Michaels yesterday and made a bouquet (picture below) and from far away it looks nice, but when I am holding it, it's obvious the flowers are fake. Has anyone had good experiences buying silk flowers and having them look really nice and authentic? Or should I just go for the real flowers? ( I will be buying in bulk). Has anyone used afloral? What was their quality of flowers like?? 

Thanks so much for the help, ladies!

jaypie09

I'm actually wondering the same thing as you! From what I've learned from other people, there's some major pros and cons to both. For silk flowers...true they're not fresh, but especially if you have the help of someone who is good with arrangements, they can be made to look pretty good. I've heard they're a great option for boutonnieres, since the guys might take off their jackets and throw them over a chair. In this case, silk will withstand all of that. Silk flowers are also way cheaper than fresh...about 50% of the cost of fresh in my dilemma.
If you do go with fresh flowers, be careful about which flowers you choose, since some (like hydrangeas) don't do well being out of water. I've talked to some brides who could definitely notice a droop/wilt by the end of the day with their's.
That's all I know on the topic, but if anyone else has other ideas/suggestions, I'd also be happy to hear them! If I find out anything else, I'll be sure to post :-)

Sue-n-Kevin

I'm using fresh flowers, and in fact find them to be cheaper than silk. I want to be able to use the same flowers in my centerpieces and bouquets, so will be ordering from costco.com. If you go to their website and click on floral at the top, they have links for wedding packages as well as bulk flowers. The testimonials on the white rose package are great guidelines. They have a video online to show how to unpack them.

They have other packages for calla lillies and sunflowers and other colored roses. They sell bulk flowers too, so you can get those for your cenerpieces.

I wanted to try this out to see if I was happy with the product, so ordered 100 various colored roses for my mom's birthday in January. They arrived on time, and we followed the instructions in the package. Most of them still looked good for 10 days afterward. The tracking info showed they shipped from Ecuador 3 days before she received them. Pretty fresh!

Another alternative if you have a Costco store near you is to go in and peruse the flowers they have in arrangements. The local one near me just started selling bulk flowers not in arrangements.

I understand Sam's Club has similar quality, but I have a Costco membership

Good luck.

jagore08

I really hate the look of silk flowers.  And depending on the flowers you use, fresh flowers are usually the same or cheaper than silk.  If you go through a flower wholesaler you'll be able to get flowers for a really reasonable price.  

To address the flowers out of water deal.  I had hydrangeas and some other frail flowers and they did well.  My wedding was outdoors in Florida, beginning of sumer, 90 degree weather with 95% humidity (it was raining up until 20 minutes before the ceremony).  It was HOT.  My flowers lasted for DAYS (no really, they lasted for three good days before I noticed any drooping).  We kept them in water until we were ready to do pictures before the ceremony and they didn't go back into water until after the reception in our honeymoon cottage.  

It's really up to you but in my opinion, you have one day.  The pictures will last forever and I usually (about 98% of the time) can tell if the flowers are fake.

[Deleted User]

I am a floral designer so I have a very strong opinion when it comes to this question.

Some silk flowers (like the ones from craft stores, no offense) look very fake. However, you can find ones that look real even from close up. You can find them at the local flower/floral supply wholesaler, or get them online. They are pricey though. Even more pricey than most real flowers. So, if you want ones that look real up close, you may just be better off getting real ones.

I am in the beginning stages of planning my wedding and I will be using silk flowers, but only in the tossing bouquet, that way, whoever catches it can take it home and keep it as memories.

kimbo1120

There are flowers called real touch flowers... I got my bouquet with these flowers and they actually look and feel real.   I went on etsy.com and got all of our flowers for the girls and guys and parents for less than $1,000.  They are really nice and I felt like it was the best option for me but if you do them yourself I feel like you can do it a bit cheaper by purchasing flowers from a whole sale source like fiftyflowers.com.  GREAT SITE with lots of options!