Are you doing real flowers or artificial.

T&D0707

What do you think about artificial flowers? Is anyone doing artificial flowers? I would love to do real flowers but I can't help to think of the potential savings with fake flowers

FutureMrsPrice2013

My bouquet will be real flowers. My bridesmaids bouquets will be fake.

ktappa

I am doing fake flowers for the bridesmaids and centerpieces to cut down on the price. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for my bouquet yet... Our chuch will have real flowers because my fiance's mom wants to take care of that for us. Here is picture of my bridesmaid bouquets.

ashlidie

ktappa, those look great!

Well, flowers is the part of the wedding my father offered to pay for since his friend is a florist, so naturally I am not using fake flowers.  However, I've seen lots of people use fake flowers mixed with real flowers in centerpieces to save money, or if you do the submersible-type centerpiece you often can't tell if they are real or not, particularly since you can't touch them.

Now I personally was (prior to dad's offer) just going to order them and arrange the centerpieces and pew decorations myself from sam's club or BJ's because they have great prices for bulk flowers.  Those two settings are supposed to look like someone just picked the flowers and set them in various jars/bottles.  I was only going to use a florist for the bouquets and bouts.

bar10521

I'm probably going to use real flowers for the bouquets, bouts, and corsages. But I don't plan on having a lot of flowers anywhere else. I'd like to use candles or maybe floating candles as centerpieces rather than flowers to save some money.

cnf2013

We're doing some of both. My mom has a close friend who was a florist for many year and she's going to do silk arrangements for the ceremony and silk bouquets and bouts for the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Myself and FI will get real flowers. I'll probably get fake for the centerpieces too. I only care that I have real flowers. And since my mom's friend will do them for free, it just doesn't make sense not to take her up on her offer. I actually think I may see her next weekend about it. 

ktwed1

I'm doing real flowers. All I need are my bouquet, 2 bridesmaid, bouts, corsages, and cake flowers. My venue supplies all the centerpieces and I'm really really lucky because they use real flowers. When I toured the venue they were setting up for a wedding and I was pleasanty surprised at the centerpieces they were full and very beautiful.

Although I have heard sometimes fake can get just as expensive as real so it's a good idea to shop around. Many girls in the Dallas area will use Central Market, Sam's, Costco for flowers and often do the arrangements themselves. I know with Central Market they will arrange you just have to pick them up. Don't forget about grocery stores such as Kroger  or Tom Thumb and in the Midwest there is HYVee which is where my SIL got hers several years ago.

Klyn1983

Since my bouquet will be a brooch bouquet, and we aren't having flowers for a centerpiece we are using real flowers for the BP. The chapel is already decorated so we don't have that expense!  

kellyeliz

I'm also not doing many flowers. My centerpieces are really simple. I am doing a shallow vase with glass beads and a floating flower surrounded by candles. I am using real flowers for everything.

Bar - I don't know if you started looking into florists yet but my friends all recommended that I go to Stop & Shop! They have all used Stop and Shop for their wedding and no one ever knew! The flowers were gorgeous, fresh, and saved them THOUSANDS! Plus their delivery fee is only based on miles and considering there is a Stop and Shop every few miles the rates are really low! (sorry if you already have a florist I'm just really excited about how much money I'm going to save haha)

emilyb213

I'm with Bar & Kelly, I'm only using real flowers for wedding party flowers, and I'm planning on doing glass vases/candles for centerpieces, unless I can get an amazing deal on real flowers. If that's the case, I might incorporate them into the centerpieces. I've found that good, high quality fake flowers can be just as expensive as real flowers.

SusieSunshine2

I'm using both.  The centerpieces at the reception, which is part of the package, are fake.  I'll be using fresh for the wedding party, parents, and the church.
I didn't know that Stop and shop delivered the flowers too, I'm going to have to look into that.  Thanks!

bar10521

Kelly, thanks for the tip on Stop & Shop. I didn't realize they delivered. I've seen people talk about using Costco or Sam's or a grocery store but I thought it was just for bulk flowers. I'll have to look into them. Did they do the bouquets too or just arrangements? My mom loves Flowers by Darlene in Salem and may pay for them if I use her so if that's the case I'll go with her, but if not I'm all for using stop & shop especially if others have and liked it.

kellyeliz

Stop and Shop has full wedding packages with bouquets, corsages, etc.

I was at a wedding on Saturday and had no clue they used Stop and Shop until the next day.

iloveu4ever

Maybe I should do that.

smmessinger

 I am using fake flowers. I like them better and you don't have to worry about anyone being allergic to them.

T&D0707

I think I am going to start shopping around for a florist. It looks like high quality fake flowers might cost just as much as real flowers. I will have reall simple designs for everything but my bouquet. So maybe I could look into doing them myself. 

Meghannsix

We are doing real flowers.  I was on the fence for a while until I found a great florist with very reasonable prices, and since we're only having flowers for bouquets, corsages and bouts, the budget will not get too out of hand.

htracy18

I am doing real flowers but I'm DIY the arranging and the bouquets to save money.  And ordering the actual flowers on the internet which is a great deal.  I have a great family/friends to help so that's always nice too.  I've also heard that with good looking fake flowers they can be just as expensive as real ones.  Real flowers don't last forever but they do smell great:)

blferguson1s

I've been thinking about this recently. At first, I just assumed I would do real flowers, but I don't see a reason not to do fake. Unless I can get a deal on real ones for cheaper, I think I'll be using mostly fake with maybe real for a few things.