Real Vs. Fake Flowers

I'm with you...I just can't bring myself to spend a lot of money on flowers. I am going work a ring of million stars baby's breaths with two 7" hurricanes with candles & two 4" hurricanes with candles. I can't past the photo, but I'll post a photo when I get on my laptop.

Sorry, I'm with mom here. I'm a fan of real flowers. Our bouquet's (2), boutonnieres (2), centerpieces(10) and altar flowers(2) are a total of $771. They consist of roses, gerbera daisies, alomesteria and hydrangias. We got ours at Wegman's, which is a giant grocery store, but their floral department does weddings. See if you can get them cheaper at your local grocer.

I'm with you, I cant rationalize the money that florists want for flowers. I am on my way out to buy some supplies to make my own bouquets with real flowers. I have watched a dozen youtube videos on it. I plan to buy the materials (floral tape, shears, etc.), buy a dozen or so roses from the grocery store and give it a go at a bouquet, boutonniere and courage. If they turn out then I will order in bulk from Sams or Costco. If they dont, then I may go the route of real touch fake flowers so I can have time to play with them.

Here's what I'm doing for my centerpieces. I am only having 7 tables so I added everything up that I will need and it comes to roughly $200.

I'm buying my bridal flowers from Sam's Club...I think it's the 17-pc collection for $325.

I would see if you could buy directly from the distributor and see if that could save you some money and just make the bouquets yourself??? That is just a thought or try Safeway or a grocery store near you. I wanted real flowers and it helped a lot that my mom works at a florist. She was going to make some of the centerpieces out of silk but then decided yesterday that we were just going to do all real.

Not sure about the dried flowers as bouquets, centrepieces could work though. Maybe try local farmers markets as well, the choices will be limited to what is in season but hey you never know. Good luck!

We're doing fake. I love real flowers, but fake ones are in my package at my venue....not going to spend more $$ just to have real onea

My florist isn't that expensive, I just can't stand the thought of fake flowers. People often say it's a "waste" because they die, but if you think that way, the whole wedding is a waste, it only lasts for some hours in ONE day...

I'd rather have no flowers than fake.

We're doing fake flowers. I am on a pretty tight budget and cannot rationalize spending all this money on flowers.

I just can't imagine fake flowers for a wedding. Real flowers are just so much more beautiful.

I think you need to shop around. Try a farmers market, or supermarket, or place like BJs or Costco. You can also look into those bulk online distributors and DIY it. When it comes to real vs. fake, I say to each their own. But if you don't actually really like fake flowers then I'd say try to look for real ones that fit your budget. Besides, really good looking fake flowers can be almost as expensive as real ones.

We kept our budget at $500 but nixing boutonnieres and corsages and letting our bouquets double as some centerpieces. Several tables had 3-4 hydrangeas in long rectangular vases, and some tables had empty vases. During cocktail hour, just before guests went into the main room, the girls put their bouquets on the tables. It looked really pretty and saved money. It was also how I was able to do peonies for all the bouquets.

Our church is pretty ornate so we nixed those flowers too and nobody missed them. This saved $100-$200, but you could probably do all baby's breath at your ceremony and keep it around or under $100.

Also, if your mom is against fake flowers and she wants to purchase real flowers for the wedding, then let her.

I am totally with you. Since our reception will be outside amidst nature we opted to make paper flowers for the bouquets and decorations to use inside the church. 100 sheets of tissue paper make 100 flowers and they are super cute, the perfect colors, and won't cause any sneezing or squeezing. Do what makes YOU happy! It is your wedding not mom's!

I, too, am partial to real flowers.

I am buying 125 pink and white roses from sams club for $80 and I will make my own centerpieces

I think you need to shop around. I'm paying $600 for flowers, but I getting peonies, succulents, and a bunch of other flowers. For baby's breath and wildflowers you should be getting more a deal. Or like others said, DIY your centerpieces.

I crunched a LOT of numbers on this and I found that it is WAY cheaper for me to get real autumn "wildflowers" (sunflowers, mums, daisies, greens, etc.) than it would be for me to get fake silks from the craft store. Even if you use coupons, the cost will end up being more with fake flower centerpieces. When I told my florist I want whatever is in season for October she said, "girl, I can get you a hell of a deal because the real cost of flowers comes when brides want something exotic or out of season".

Thank you ladies! With everyone's help I have found flowers for everything for $300 and it will stay within budget! Eeeek! ! I am SO excited! 41 days to go!!

Glad you found something within your budget. I have a similar view, and we're forgoing the boutonnieres (my fiance didn't even know what they are) and I'm planning on making any flower decorations/centerpieces and bouquets with baby's breath from costco for about $80 (I think it was cheaper than Sam's...). Sam's also has a bulk flower thing you can order and it's seasonal filler flowers (so if you don't care about color it's worth taking a look at as well).

Yikes I spent close to 3k on flowers and loved every bit of them. We had orchids hanging from Seagrape trees in small glass teardrop shaped vases, flowers on a bamboo arch, centerpieces with flower bunches around them and bouquets/boutonnières. I couldn't wait to see all the fresh flowers and it wasn't a waste to me at all. It made the decor and made the pictures beautiful.

Real flowers, I would dream of using fake one. I love the smell of flowers.