Real flowers or Silk Flowers ?

Would you consider wood flowers? Or do you want them to look real

For us, fresh flowers are non negotiable. We don’t like faux (silk/plastic/wood/ribbon) flowers and they are not eco friendly lasting millions of years in a landfill, and they collect dust in the attic. People spread misinformation about fresh flowers because they don’t like them, saying they are harmful to the environment and ignoring that they are biodegradable with zero issues. In order to begin to resemble fresh flowers, the faux becomes more expensive than fresh. Also you can’t recreate the scent or texture of fresh. Unless you are wanting out of season exotics, fresh flowers are more economical. One concern about fresh is the common pollen allergy. With professionally grown flowers available through the grocery/online/local florists, that is not a concern. It is however with flowers grown in your garden, and faux flowers are a breeding ground for equally common dust allergies.


If cost is a concern, there are a plethora of budget options for fresh flowers. A grocery store florist including Costco can provide them very inexpensively. Major cities have wholesale flower districts open to the public and some vendors will arrange them inexpensively. You can do DIY via fiftyflowers.com which has tutorials available. All of those are cheaper than the majority of faux flowers without having to worry about what to do with them afterwards.

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Agree 100%. There truly is nothing more alluring than the scent of fresh flowers. Even if flowers aren't your thing, faux/silk flowers just don't have the same texture or "flow" to them. In our case, our venue is situated right on the beach, and all the ordinances prohibit anything artificial like silk flowers, bubbles, sparklers etc. Added to the fact that May is prime turtle breeding season, the island is super conscious about preserving the environment.

We're renting silk flowers from a beautiful floral provider called "Something Borrowed Blooms". I was tempted to spend a large chunk of our budget on floral arrangements and floral decor, but we've decided to use it for other areas! We're renting a bridal bouquet, 3 bridesmaid bouquets, 4 boutonnieres, a toss bouquet, 8 aisle markers, and 3 - 6 ft garlands (that match my bouquet) for under $1,000 (including shipping/handling/FREE returns - they include the boxes, y'all)! It blew my mind how unexpensive the option was, and they include scent papers to help make the silk smell like real flowers! From what I've read with reviews throughout the website and the FB group, everyone raves about SBB!

View Quoted Comment I completely agree, nothing compares to fresh flowers! I had actually contemplated using fake for our wedding, but once I actually went to look at some I could immediately distinguish the difference. They don’t have the right texture or color, and they don’t photograph as well. And the smell of fresh flowers when you walk into a room is absolutely divine! Plus, I’ve noticed at all the weddings I’ve been to recently, guests always immediately comment on whether or not the centerpieces are real. And as silly as it is, I don’t want to be one of those weddings where people are talking about how the centerpieces are fake.

One caution about the rental of fake flowers is that the loss of a bouquet (for example) can be a bit costly. You may have to be ready to absorb that cost. As to the landfill issues of fake flowers, that is not a big concern since this is a rare event and nothing in the landfill actually degrades or deteriorates much. Even stuff like plastic recycling is mostly a lie that was made to lead people to use plastic products.

Choose flower arrangements of the material that best suits your sensibilities and budget.

I am going with sola wood flowers. They are inexpensive (less than silk), sustainable and can be reused/resold. It is clear that they are not real flowers, so to me they don't have a "fake" look. They are what they are and I think they are beautiful. You also can make the arrangements ahead of time and not worry about live flowers at the last minute.

I am going with sola wood flowers. They are inexpensive (less than silk), sustainable and can be reused/resold. It is clear that they are not real flowers, so to me they don't have a "fake" look. They are what they are and I think they are beautiful. You also can make the arrangements ahead of time and not worry about live flowers at the last minute.

We had always planned on real flowers. I adore florals, so that was one of our big-ticket items for our budget. I actually have a silk arrangement in my office, and the cost for just that was really surprising to me. Tack on having to buy wire cutters to trim stems, ribbon, vases if you're doing your own centerpieces, any other décor items, and then the labor that goes into arranging everything, and it just made so much sense to pay our florist (who actually knows what she's doing) to handle all the stress and work.

I'd also think about what you'd do with all those silk flowers afterwards as well. Yes, it sucks to have to throw out flowers at the end of the day, but what would you do with boxes and boxes of silk flowers? They end up collecting dust, and as Michelle said, they're not biodegradable. Real flowers are a must for my wedding, but if you are really set on using silk flowers, I'd suggest looking into renting them.