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Personally, I don't mind them in things like pomanders, etc. but for bouquets I prefer the real thing. Maybe that's because I haven't seen any that are realistic enough. If you get them so that they look really realistic, that's a different story.
I much prefer real, despite the added expense. Fake flowers look really cheap to me. I agree that they look fine in things like pomanders, though.
I vote for real. Is your venue kind of a blank canvas or does it already have a lot of life (aka you wouldn't need to invest tons in flowers anyway)?
I recently posted about this as well. I personally decided to go with fake. If you get the quality fake ones, you cant tell, they still look great in pics, people cant tell unless they really are checking it out and examining the darn things, and you get to keep your boquet and put it in your house or whatever. I am going to have a way more detailed boquet with going fake then what I would have been able to do with real! I know some people are particular on flowers, but for me I would rather cut cost there then on the bigger things like food, DJ or Photographer which are the things that people are REALLY going to remember, not your flowers!
I went with fake for my bouquet and the pomander. I had real ones made for the bridesmaids and my bouquet looked so much better. If you get nice looking fakes and spend the time making it look nice, I think you'd be really happy with the outcome.
I love real flowers!! It just makes everything even more beautiful, fresh and classy!!
Personally I would not use fake. I would prefer to use a cheaper type of flower( carnations, babies breath,etc) and keep them simple vs using fake flowers. I think you can always tell when they are fake. Everyone has a different opinion, so its just what works for you.
I think its all a matter of personal preference. I do know from personal experience...I have 3 of my 7 kids getting married within a year! One wedding down, and two to go. First one was my son, so his wife made the decision to go with real. Since my other daughter in law and I do wedding planning, we took care of everything. We were doing all of the bouquets and decorations for the church on the morning of the wedding. We waited to cut the flowers until the last moment possible. Thank God the wedding was at 5:30 pm. It all turned out gorgeous, but this is my suggestion. If you are hiring a florist, by all means go with real. If you are not able to afford a florist, and are DIY'ing them, then use silk. Trust me, you don't want to even think about putting bouquets together on the morning of the wedding...and the longer they're cut and out of water, the worse they're going to look. The budget compromise to this is to go with silk for the decorations in the church/venue and reception, and get all of the bouquets and bouts for the guys in real. It's not nearly as expensive and all you have to do is pick up or have your bouquets delivered on the day of the wedding. Everything else can be done a month beforehand!
Here are some pictures of the flowers we did for my son's wedding September 26, 2009.
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@cpmathis - Those flowers are beautiful!
I prefer the real thing. I thought about doing fakes for my centerpieces but I found out that it would be more expensive than ordering the real thing online. I went to buy fake orchids at Michael's and they were $3.99 and $4.99 a piece! I can get real roses or tulips for half that online.
Personally, I prefer real over fake. I just don't like the look of fake flowers. I know you can get fake flowers that look real nowadays but I would prefer to get real flowers and use less expensive real flowers instead of using fake flowers.
Personally I like the real thing. Plus, I'm not sure what I'd do with all those flowers once the wedding's over.
A friend of mine had them at her wedding & she ended up spending more on them. Be careful & do your research too & make sure you love them. The centerpieces looked great in person but sometimes pictures taken up close you can really tell that they're fake. Here's one of the better pics from her wedding. She made the bouts.
Silk flowers are beautiful if you purchase the high quality silk. And you can order real flowers online that are likely slightly cheaper than silk; but, online flowers are not always as fresh as getting them from a florist the same day. So, to each its own. I like some sytles of silk flowers and others I prefer the real thing. It all depends on the type of flower.
Maybe go and do a dry run and make a silk flower arrangement and one real flower arrangement and see which one you like best.
whoops - let's try that pic again:
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if you do silk make sure they will save you money bc if not, go for the real thing. i went with silk and only spent $60 on all my wedding flowers! That would have cost me almost $100 for real....taht is savings that is worth it to me. If you are using a florist...go with real.
good luck :)
I think there are a lot of factors you have to consider.
1. Are you able to afford a florist that could assemble the day of? If not, then go with a fake because dealing with fresh cut flowers the day of will not be fun.
2. Can you get QUALITY fake flowers (not Michaels, but better)
3. Do you have experience arranging either fake or real flowers? To do it right, it takes a lot of practice.
4. What types of flowers are you looking for. Some real flowers look fake, so the fake ones look like better quality. Some real flowers are harder to get quality real looking fake ones.
I love real touch flowers. I got mine from Jennifer Gibbs, Details by J.Lynn on Etsy. They are a bit more expensive than traditional faux flowers but definitely not as expensive as real, and practically no one can tell that they aren't real unless you get really close to them and feel them. Jennifer did all of my flowers including the alter pieces. The only place I used real flowers was at the reception because we only used rose petals with a bunch of candles. The best part about getting real touch is now I have my bouquet displayed in a vase that I can look at everyday! Plus I was able to have orchids and peonies in my bouquet in October without breaking the bank.
I actually went the fake route and do not regret it at all. It was what was in my budget and I didn't even have to put them together. I actually hired a Silk Florist who did all the work for me and it was relatively inexpensive and I had the flowers 2 weeks in advance.
I think if you have quality faux flowers they can look real but they should also be prepared correctly too.
I went with fake Michael's flowers and they were not "cheap" or tacky looking at all! In fact people were coming up to me and going "oh your flowers are pretty" and then going, "omg those aren't real!" So there =]. I have TERRIBLE allergies and I did NOT wanna deal with real flowers. While pretty, they would have just wilted and been a sorry mess with all the humidity. My friend did real touch and they looked great. Personally, I feel like my $200 floral budget was a million times smarter than spending $1200 on real flowers that would die and make me all watery and puffy anyways. I just kinda felt like it would have been a waste of money. I dunno, I'd rather scale back on florals and put some money towards my bridesmaids...i was at a wedding once where they spent tons and tons of money on floral centerpieces and everything and then chintzed out on their bridesmaids.
Fakey Fakey!
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Oooo pretty flowers EJS!
I agree, I couldn't justify in my budget to spend 1K for real flowers when I got what I wanted and needed for approx. $250, even if they were faux flowers. If it works for you then great but it wouldn't have worked for me.
@ejs4y8: those seriously look real! All from Michaels?? What brands??!
@ejs4y8: Love them. We are going the Michael's route because even though I'm sure there are better fake ones online somewhere, I'd rather see them before I buy them.
For me it has to be real flowers, you just can't beat them! But it's all about personal preference and if you're not a big flower person, going the faux route wouldn't be a big deal for you. Each to their own.
I carried a faux bouquet as maid of honour at my friend's wedding recently and it just wasn't the same- for me that is. I also think they tend to look more fake when photographed.
However, at my cousin's wedding last summer I was convinced the bridal party had faux flowers but they were actually real, so go figure!
fake all the way, purely for ease, cost and fun of doing it all myself! here are my mock up centerpieces, had such good fun making these and best of all i have time to fiddle and change things if i want!
here it is , ignore the red candles there not meant to go with it!
good luck with what ever you decide xx
I think it depends on the type of flower. Some fake flowers look really real, while others look like they came from grandma's house.
And it is surprising that fake flowers, the quality one, can actually be more costly than real.
I am going all my centerpieces, 9 bouquets, 8 bouteneers(how do you spell that?), 4 corsages and 2 flower girl baskets. All real. For a spring day you can't beat a fresh flower!
I'm going with real for me and my girls and groom. Fake for everything else. Perhaps real in the centerpieces.
@daniellealys: where did you buy your silk flowers from??
Real. They are so romantic. If you must do fake, I would rather see obvious fakes—paper flowers or wooden flowers or something rather than the fake "silks."
I bought these silk rose bouquets for my bridesmaids....i love them, and they only cost me £5 each.....i needed 4. i added crystals to them, and i am also going to wrap the stems....(yet to do)
I'm not a big fan of silk flower unless they are hand made. You could always try an alternative, like buttons, felted flowers etc I used feathers for mine:
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I'm having trouble deciding between fake flowers and real ones. I like the idea of getting fake ones because they'll be cheaper and we can make the bouquets ahead of time instead of having to wait until the last minute like we would with real flowers. But what do you guys think about having fake flowers? Will that be such a big deal?