Flowers for bridal party

I was in a similar situation when I started looking at flowers. I was originally going to settle for fake flowers but decided to make an appointment with a local florist just in case. My best advice to you would be to go to a local florist for an initial consultation and tell them your budget up-front and ask what they would be able to provide within your budget.

Another option is to only purchase your bouquet and FH's boutonnière to be real flowers and then get fake flowers for the others. The bridesmaids might enjoy being able to keep their bouquet. Hope that helps!

I knew before we ever even got engaged that I wanted real flowers when I got married so once we did get engaged we researched the average cost in the area we got married for a florist and included the cost within our budget so there was never a question as to whether we would have real or fake flowers. The only fake flowers at our wedding were in the water fountain. I didn't think it was necessary to have real flower petals that were just getting wet so I was fine with them being fake. Otherwise, the rest of the flowers were real.

If you use glycerine for the sola flowers it makes them softer and less brittle. You can also spray scents on them that you like! I"m using Sola, because then I can dye them how I want and I'm allergic to real flowers.

I feel the same way - I love the look and smell of real flowers, but the cost made me rethink! I decided I really wanted real flowers and knew I'd be too particular if I tried to arrange my own bouquets and boutonnieres, but I was able to find an affordable florist in my area and am ordering all the personal flowers through them. For centerpieces, I bought bud vases and will order flowers from fiftyflowers.com and arrange them myself (much less daunting than a bouquet!). Only downside to this plan is I'll need to pick up and transport everything and have my venue's DOC decorate, but it's worth the savings to me!

I agree with PP. Can you do real flowers for you and fake for the rest? There is no beating real flowers in your bridal bouquet, and let's face it--that bouquet will be in nearly all of your formal photos. But honestly, if you did fake flowers for the rest, I don't think anyone would notice. My advice would be to splurge on the real deal for yourself and don't worry about getting real flowers for the others if your budget doesn't allow it

From what we looked at, fresh flowers are actually cheaper than silks. Whether you go through the local grocery store, Costco.com or fiftyflowers.com