Real or fake (silk) flowers?

We are also considering fake flowers. Neither my fella, nor I are particularly flowery, and it seems something we aren't too bothered about.

We have been looking on Amazon and Ebay, several nice combinations of flowers. If people have a problem with it, it is their problem. If they were to say anything to my face I would simply tell them that flowers are just not a priority for us.

Funnily enough, wedding bouquets often don't smell much at all! I have to get up close to photograph them.

Some of the fakes are so convincing it's hard to tell them apart until you get very close.

This bouquet of Gemma's on Friday looked very convincing. I think she made it herself from ebay flowers!

https://www.facebook.com/Ollievision/photos/ms.c.eJxlksERAzEIAzvKGGxA9N9YfPlkbvnuCGEJ27LYZV1xqvocfexPtA5IGEkvTnWChPkhKZJD57ue5HqDKKjR2NWNqXwkb~;IYg9Ank9uzhmZ0WCuhqTBqio1VckrOF2rzOhopJO6SeC~_JbbQxaTt7bmf2PkNTok~;xpi2QXHsPEoM4SRZJDZ9CrrxdgJih1Us2NT6mgi80~;FWZr0HMBzGSXSSHPjveSR~;ya~_MLOjrJCw~-~-.bps.a.10153719752969448.1073741909.178327269447/10153719754779448/?type=1&theater

Thinking of smells, could you use reed diffusers, or scented candles? A friend is a real Yankee Candle fan and has gifted us a jar called Wedding Day.

I love the look of that bouquet! go for the one you really like, it could be all fake, all real or a mix of both but if you found something that you think would be perfect for you, go for it just my two cents

Hi

If you're considering silk flowers I can highly recommended sarahsflowers.co.uk. I ordered my flowers from them for my wedding next year and they are absolutely beautiful and didn't cost the earth as I needed 5 bouquets and about 10 button holes.

I went for silk because I could get the flowers I wanted at a reasonable price and with a summer wedding I don't have to worry about them wilting on a hopefully hot day and I can keep it forever.

Hope that helps.

I am a retired florist and specialised in artificial wedding flowers for 23 years and also had a fresh flower shop prior to that and I second what Paula says in that very few fresh flowers actually have a fragrance. The ones that do tend to have a strong fragrance such as stargazer lilies which some people find overpowering. Some people say they love the smell of freesia but personally I've never worked with any fresh freesia that have had a fragrance at all!

Regarding artificial flowers, you can add a fragrance easily. Marks and Spencer do lots of florally pot pourri fragrances in small glass bottles which I used to use before I retired. You only need a tiny amount on the focal flowers in your bouquet. One word of warning though and that is some flowers can stain if you use fragrance eg. foam flowers and some 'real touch' flowers so it's worth doing a small test on the underneath of a flower at the sides of your bouquet so it won't show if it does leave a 'watermark'

If you don't like the smell of the pot pourri, you can use your wedding perfume. Hold your bouquet at arms length and spray some perfume into the air at the side of it. As the perfume falls down to the floor gently waft your bouquet into the mist. Don't spray it direct onto the bouquet as this will stain.

Hope that helps.

I'm having silk flowers. I live offshore and my wedding is in December so I was worried that if bad weather struck, my fresh flowers would be stuck in transit. I was going to order from Silk Blooms but they're quite expensive so I sent pictures of what I want to Petals Polly Flowers, who are doing me a custom order for much less than Silk Blooms. They've been really helpful and get great reviews, plus they have a "love me guarantee".

I'm getting married in Lapland so my choice of fresh is roses that will be dead in 24 hours from the cold.

im taking silk with me. I found this person on ebay and liked her flowers. She also mixes pearls or brooches etc whatever you want she will work with it and she's not that far from where I live. I'm visiting her when I get back from hol end of August ish as I don't want to just trust an ebay order and she was totally fine with me going over to look, discuss and order.

the-essex-wedding-flower

If you like the type she does bearing in mind you can mix and match ideas I'm happy to confirm whether I'm happy after I go and see her.

I had fake flowers. We were getting married 200 miles from home so I was worried real ones wouldn't survive the journey, and now I can keep my bouquet in a vase in the living room! I did look at sarahsflowers and one other website but in the end my mum and aunt made my bouquet and H's buttonhole from flowers they bought (I think from Hobbycraft) and using an online tutorial. Here's a flash:

I'm having silk flowers and the lady that's made them has said exactly this ?

I had fake flowers as I wanted to be able to keep my bouquet, plus they were cheaper than real ones and I think they looked great.

Wow so many replies! Thanks everyone.

@ror100, the candles/reed diffuser idea is awesome! I'm not sure we're allowed candles as we're getting married in a barn. But, I could put lots of diffusers round so everything smells lovely anyway. Then if we keep them, that smell would remind us of our wedding day perfect.

@Paula, this is really good to know! In the pictures they look convincing, I'd have no idea until I touched them. This sounds perfect. The bouquet you posted looks beautiful

@Shelly70 Brilliant, that website looks amazing, so much choice. There were easily a handful that I really liked the look of and it seems she can do bespoke orders too which is a bonus. Glad to hear you had a good experience!

@overtherainbow Thanks very much for the tips, after reading all the comments I'm certainly going to go with the fake flowers so will be great to figure out the best way of adding a nice scent. I do like pot pourri so I'll get myself down M&S once I've got my bouquet to see what I can find! Thanks ever so much.

@SunnyPinkConfetti, I've had a quick look and they seem extremely reasonably priced! Let me know how you get on, I'm torn between sarahsflowers and Petal Polly Flowers now

@Jayne, Just had a look on her shop and she seems to have a massive range! Love these little cupcake flowers - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IVORY-ROSE-LACE-CUPCAKE-VINTAGE-SHABBY-CHIC-WEDDING-CENTREPIECE-BRIDE-BRIDES-/171701963613?hash=item27fa3c0b5d - so cute. Would be good to hear how you get on with her.

@InkedDoll, they look stunning! Lovely that you can keep them in a vase, I think this is one of the reasons I'm so tempted go with fake flowers. You'd totally never know the difference either, they look brilliant.

Thanks everyone! This forum is awesome for getting some really good advice. I'll let you know how I get on and which place I end up going with. Definitely going with fake ones though, don't have to worry about them being in season either

I will definately let you know how I get on in person and seeing flowers in the flesh so to speak. I love a lot of her work and was torn between two types. Think I'm going for the roses and winter berries for Lapland tho.

Another website to try is Pink Lilac. A lot of the married ladies have used her and her work is really good.