Flowers: Real vs Artificial

Oops, don’t know what happened to my comment. Let’s try this again LOL


I’ve always had an eye for detail, so I can usually spot fake flowers immediately, even in photos. So because of that, I knew we had to have real flowers. Also, the colors of fake flowers are never quite accurate, and I’ve seen way too many times it lead to guests immediately touching the flowers to see if they are real. And I know it shouldn’t matter, but seeing peoples’ reactions when they touch the flowers and inform everyone that they are fake has always left a really bad impression. Plus, I just love the smell of fresh flowers! I love the idea of smelling that beautiful aroma from my bouquet as I walk down the aisle, and my guests having that lovely smell at each other tables.

Hi Michelle! There are some really gorgeous faux flower options out there - but sometimes they can get just as expensive as fresh flowers!! 💰

Here are a few forum helpful discussions you should check out where other brides have weighed the pros & cons and shared their tips and recommendations:

Real vs Fake flowers

Where to get Flowers

Fake Flowers?

Real flowers or artificial flowers for wedding?

Real or Fake Flowers?!

View Quoted Comment My experience is the same. You can not replicate the scent and texture of real flowers. In our research of pricing out fresh vs faux, we were surprised to learn that fresh is nearly always cheaper unless you want exotic flowers or something out of season. In order for faux flowers to look remotely real, you pay more per stem for the flowers from Michaels than you would for a fresh exotic flower.


Plus we don’t have plans to display a faux bouquet or let it collect dust in a box when photos are forever and a fresh bouquet is biodegradable compared to plastic that is not.

View Quoted Comment Oh wow, very good point about fresh being biodegradable vs plastic further polluting our landfills (because let’s face it, faux flowers always end up in the trash eventually)! I never thought about that before!

Convincing faux flowers are probably just as expensive, if not more so, than real flowers. If you'd still like to go that way, I suggest silk over cloth or plastic.


Also, personal reason I went with real: I'm a very sentimental person and knew if I had fake flowers I'd keep them around the house forever, and where am I supposed to put a giant bouquet? When my bouquet dried, I threw it away and felt good about doing so, lol

A lot of people are saying that real flowers are likely not much more or even cheaper than fake flowers, but that really depends on the flowers and location. For me, I am having a July wedding in Alabama, getting ANY flowers to stay alive the entire day would cost a fortune in the special treatments and such that would need to be done to prevent wilting and dying.

I am using sola wood flowers. They are not easy and definitely take time, but I am creating my own cascade bouquet with the wood flowers and filler from Ling's moment (craft store greenery is not always the best quality) and it has cost me a total of $150 so far, and I have enough flowers and greenery for all the bridesmaid bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, etc. The best part too is that the flowers I haven't dyed to my wedding colors look completely natural from a distance. Up close if you know what you're looking for, you can tell they're wood, but I think they are nicer than any silk/cloth/plastic fake flower out there, and real flowers just wasn't an option I considered very long.

I think the right artificial flowers absolutely look natural! There is a sola wood floral company on Etsy called Evergreen Bride that has extremely natural looking bouquets, some of them even come with real greenery that has been preserved so there are some fully natural elements!