Real VS Silk Flowers?!

I am personally not a fan of silk flowers. If I used them I would only want the ones that really look real and would be better off just buying real ones. I actually do love candle centerpieces. They are romantic and beautiful. Make you could do real bouquets and bouts and candle centerpieces? That would save money.

I used silk flowers and it was totally worth it. I used the site: http://www.budget-bride.com/

Their flowers are amazing!!! I had a couple people come up and smell my bouquet because they thought it was real.

I don't have any pictures of my flowers, but look up the burgundy collection on that website. Their flowers look the same as they do in their pictures.

I know you are asking about silk and not dried, but I thought this may be worth mentioning. It seems like not too many people use dried flowers, but I love the look. On the other hand, I think some of the photos of silk flowers in the thread did turn out nice, but they are not my favorite for myself. I went and looked at a bunch in person (may be a good idea to do that?) - it probably does depend quite a bit on the specific flowers.

I decided to use real flowers for bouquets/corsages and dried flowers for centerpieces. I liked that with dried flowers, I could make the centerpieces in advance and not have to worry about anything wilting. I like the rustic type look from dried flowers as well as the price! I am spending about $80 for all flowers for centerpieces.

I've also seen dried flowers used for bouquets as well.. there are some cute options on Etsy. Plus, dried flowers would keep well in your bouquet. I think you could also dry the bouquet yourself (if you chose real flowers) to preserve it, if you wanted to do that.

I'm using silk because for the look I want, it would cost a LOT to use real in the fall. Also, I really can't stand the smell of some flowers, and there are lots of allergies in my family. Basically all the same reasons everyone else said =) And I'm able to work on them bit by bit ahead of time.

I am using silk. I purchases my flowers from a store. I plan on having my florist use the left over flowers to make me a nice arrangement for my desk at work. That way when people walk by and compliment me on my flowers I can say, these were made from my bridal bouquet from my wedding!

Real is beautiful and so can silk flowers. I ended up going with real flowers because I didn't want the stress of making my own centerpieces. But other than that I was going to have silk flowers. Check out the site http://www.budget-bride.com/ I found some beautiful affordable bouquets on there and they can customize them as well. At the end you will make the right decision for your wedding. Good luck!

We're not having any flowers. I can't stomach the idea of spending all that money on something that will die and be thrown away. Do what fits you.

All of our bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages are coming from Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/nicolasacicero?ref=l2-shopheader-name). Our Center pieces will be lanterns that each of our families will take home, and the arch will be decorated with Christmas lights. All keepsakes :-) Helps me feel like I'm not wasting so much on items we will only use once.

(Forgot to add the picture)

@Alaina - WOW!! That is GORGEOUS! I never knew those existed!!!

For serious!! And, it doesn't get thrown away. Not cheap by any means, but all of our decorations that were going to be flowers ended up being cheaper than the flower estimate. So, it's a win :-)

I thought about doing silks to save money, until I found out that the silks that don't look fake cost almost as much (or even more). I thought about doing paper flowers, but they seemed so labor intensive.

So, i went back to real flowers. I wanted tropicals, but the florist was just too expensive. I threw caution to the wind and decided to make my own arrangements with the help of my Mom and family.

I went online and bought real flowers from Global Rose (roses and carnations) and Sam's Club (Tropical flowers), and all the accessories from Amazon. We made my 15 centerpieces, my bouquet, 3 BM bouquets, 24 pew decorations, 2 extra-large alter decorations, 4 mini-bouquets for the Moms and readers instead of corsages. The bouts were made with fake cala lilies from efavormart.com

The quote for the fake flowers was $700. I spent $500. The most stressful parts were waiting for the flowers to arrive and transporting them to the venue.

Have you thought of dried flowers? They are pretty awesome too!

My sister had fake at her wedding, no one said a word about it being cheap. I still have my bouquet in a vase on my bedside table and the throwing bouquet on my FH's side table (lo and behold, I caught the bouquet and I'm the next to get married). I fully intend on doing fake at my wedding- my mom and sister did the designs for hers together at night while drinking champs about a month before the wedding. My mom still has all the centerpieces and uses them around the house as decorations. Sis spent about $200 (8 bridesmaids, 8 groomsmen, 4 parents, 4 grandparents, 12 centerpieces) with the awesome Michael's coupons and sales.

SO glad you posted this! This is my question too. BTW: we have the same wedding date

I am going with silk flowers for my center pieces & the bouquets. Here is a picture of the centerpieces, it look nice & I'm happy with it. I have not started my bouquets yet. Ultimately you have to be happy either with real or silk. I am also with you on being able to keep your bouquet which is why I went with silk

I went with buying silk for my wedding, and so INCREDIBLY grateful I did, because my husband passed away 9 mo later, and I have a lot of my flowers around the house. I'm on here for my mom's wedding - she's the one that made everything for my wedding, and now we are buying fabric (silk & organza so far) and using the burning method to make each flower. It's a lot of work, but I am making all the flowers and once they are done, my mom will make them into bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages. Then she hasn't decided if she wants to use paper or fabric for decorations. She's thinking paper for the decorations but hasn't made a 100% decision yet.

I would recommend silk flowers to anyone who is willing to DIY their wedding and wants to save money. Real flowers can be a real hassle since they will wilt and may not come out the way you would expect them to, and you pay double or triple if the flower you want is out of season. With silk flowers you know your bouquets and centerpieces will be beautiful because you can make them ahead of time. The quality of today's faux flowers is really amazing, you often can't tell they are not real. Check out ww.afloral.com to see a selection of really nice, quality silk flowers.

I came to the decision of doing fake flowers, but I did a lot of research and decided to just get my fake bouquets made by a professional. I am in Canada so I went with tmfloraldesigns.com with their real-touch arrangements (they offer silk as well). We have a very large family and a large wedding party as well and I thought this was quite affordable for what we need (and stress-free!).

We will have my bouquet, toss bouquet, and 6 bridesmaid bouquets, groom, 6 groomsmen, and 5 father/step-father/grandfather boutonnières, and 6 mother/step-mother/grandmother corsages all taxed and all shipped for under $900.

I have never made my own arrangements before and don't want the stress of doing so and chance not having it turn out the way I want it to and then be pressed for time to find bouquets.

Please allow me to say that , just like Better Homes and Gardens stated in 2011, "These aren't your Grandma's silks - they're back with a vengeance and here to stay." Permanent botanicals are now haute couture, from handbags to shoes to the most gorgeous arrangements for wedding and home.

I am a silk specialist (misleading name because permanent botanicals are made out of alot of things, plus we use dried and natural elements as well) and we do very high end florals, plus we do some lower end with a high end LOOK. The company is Daniel Rose Silk Effects, and we've done incredible things and have a number of upcycling techniques to make your containers look like you spent a million bucks. Silks no longer carry the stigma they once did. We are now doing hair wreaths, hats, kissing balls (these are big now), and shoes, bags and accessories. I saw this post and had to tell you that it is mainstream now even in the most lavish of weddings. Sometimes we work in conjunction with a fresh florist and mix our designs for certain aspects of a wedding. We also do alot of staging of homes and residential work and office florals for our customers, and gifts for people as well. Silks are very strong and here to stay.

I wanted to give an update on my bouquets that I had ordered for my wedding in June!

I love the look of real but wanted them to last forever so I found a vendor who makes real-touch, natural looking and feeling bouquets and I couldn't of been happier with them!

Vendor was Treasured Moments Floral Design. Jennifer was absolutely amazing to deal with

http://www.tmfloraldesigns.com/