Fake flowers vs. Real flowers

Hi Caitlin! Faux flowers can sometimes be more affordable since you can generally purchase them from your local Costco, WalMart, Michaels, or order them from Amazon. Some people take this route if they are planning on arranging their own bouquets and want to forgo hiring a florist. The cons with fake flowers might be their durability, as they can sometimes lack quality. On the other hand, some individuals prefer the feel, smell, and authenticity of real flowers and will sometimes turn to a florist to bring their floral vision to life. The cons with real flowers might surround the cost or relate to personal preferences. I've actually seen some people opt for faux flowers due to allergies with real ones. The choice will depend on what think will work best for you! You should also check out this Fake vs Real Flowers Discussion for more insight! Good luck!

This is just my personal list that helped me choose, it might be different for others.

FAKE FLOWER PROS:
- can be cheaper
- can make out of season flowers accessible
- don't need to stress about delivery on wedding day (or arranging the night before if DIYing) because you can take care of it all well in advance

FAKE FLOWER CONS:
- sometimes hard to determine quality when buying online
- don't usually look as elegant

We decided to use fake flowers for the wedding party bouquets, including mine, because I view them as a prop. But we will be using real baby's breath as our centerpiece flowers, since those are in people's vision all evening.

I've never liked faked flowers in weddings. You're spending all this money and you can't get real flowers? That's how I have always looked at it. I've been to a wedding with both.

You can definitely tell when flowers are fake, they look fake.

Real flowers just look better to me, and they photograph better.

Those rubber stems kill me :X

This thread has been created quite a few times on this forum. It's really personal preference and/or budget. Here is my take on this topic

Real Flowers are beautiful, nothing like God's creation.

Pros

Real flowers photograph really well vs artificial flowers

Real flowers definitely lend a certain beauty to the event

It's a standard practice to use real flowers for weddings

Cons

-Many floral designers do not have their own nursery, they have

to buy the flowers just like you, so this makes using real flowers expensive

-Floral designers add on excess delivery and service fees to the bill

again making the use of real flowers very pricey

-Some florals are expensive if they are out of season during the time

you are getting married or it's considered a pricey floral like peonies,

so you may have to settle for a floral you really didn't want.

-You may not be able to have the arrangement or size you want if

it brings the cost up, so you may have to settle for a smaller arrangement,

maybe less flowers and more greenery.

-Not easy to diy, tons of prep work and preservation has to be done in order to

keep flowers looking robust.

-Short life span of product so only 72 to 48 hours to arrange flowers before the wedding

(if diy) is critical, vs months in advance for artificial

-Dies in a week after spending thousands of dollars, expensive to preserve afterward

-Can not be resold to recoup cost

-You don't have much control over the process, you have to wait on your

florist for everything. If they are non-responsive to your request for

updates, changes, etc this could cause you anxiety during the planning

process.

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Artificial Flowers

Pros

Better quality artificial flowers are available today including real touch.

-More fabrication choices, Real Touch (latex, foam) Satin, Sola Wood flowers,

dried flowers

-Cost significantly less than real flowers if bought in bulk or on sale

-Easier to diy and arrange as product is less delicate and more robust

-Great options for bride and guests who have sensitivities / allergic reactions to real flowers

-Arrangements can be completed months in advance and put away

-Never dies, flowers can easily be kept as a keepsake

-Arrangements can be resold, able to recoup some of cost.

-Low maintenance, easy to transport, does not require delivery or setup by

a floral professional

-Can use any flower you want whether in-season, out-of-season, can custom

color flowers and use any type of flower without any additional cost.

-Can create a larger arrangement for the same price of a medium to small arrangement

using real flowers.

-If DIY, no florists, so no extra fees, no dealing with an extra vendor and you have control over final product

-Tons of tutorials on youtube on how to diy artificial and real floral arrangements for weddings.

Cons

-Does not photograph as well as real flowers can be very flat or one dimensional in
pictures (except real touch) photographer would have to be told to try to get the best lighting and avoid shadows.

-If you use someone to arrangement the flowers or buy already completed, it could be as much as real flowers or close to it

-Faux florals can also be expensive if bride does not do her research on how to buy in bulk or on sale

-If DIY, will need to invest time in learning how to diy these arrangements via youtube, can

create lots of trial and error and potential waste of product and money if tutorials are not viewed

-If faux florals are not arranged properly it could look very amateurish and bride might not be

happy with the final results thereby wasting money

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Regardless of whether the flowers are real or faux. The couple should do what is within their budget, every bride has their own personal preference, no option is really better than the other. Its what they want to get out of the product at the end of the day, Either option is fine in my book.

I did my own flowers and everything came up to $500 for all the floral supplies. I used artificial flowers because I want to rent or resell my final product to recoup some of my money. Also did not like the idea of spending thousands of dollars with no tangible product left at the end of the day. If someone is coming to your wedding to judge your wedding decor or see if your flowers are real or faux, in my opinion that's an extremely shallow, judgmental person, who you might want to rethink their invitation. Like who wants that type of negative, petty, unsupportive energy at their wedding.