Flowers: Silk and Paper Choices?

There is a great debate out there regarding the use of fake silk flowers at a wedding instead of real. It has nothing to do with finding a blue rose. Cost is one issue, allergies, preservation & planning are others! Some bride's have even gone with paper flowers with great success. Choosing between fresh and silk flowers for your bouquet and other wedding flowers depends on many factors as well as personal taste.

Some considerations for real flower alternatives:

• Allergies
• Co$t, if you are a savvy shopper, it can cost less.
  
• Time; assemble and plan _well_ in advance.
• Out of season flowers? No problem!
• Silk won't wilt, break or stain your clothing.
• Change your mind often? Color, type, style? Go ahead.
• Paper flowers are for the crafty, but if you are savvy there are great tutorials out there & listed here.
  

Martha Stewart had Preston Bailey on (link at the bottom of the page) recently making a floral chandelier like this one on his blog and guess what? silk flowers. Well, if it's good enough for Preston, Martha and Darcey it should be good enough for us as well. Just use them as you would real! How about trying your DIY hand a Preston Baily type floral sculpture in silk flowers?

Martha Stewart has gotten pretty crafty using paper, tissue and crepe to make very pretty and very realistic looking flower arrangements as seen here (links below).
She also has many crafty ideas to put these silk flowers to use as seen here:

A silk flower vendor:

Researching this topic we found a lot of positive feedback. Check these search results!

First check out My Silk Wedding Flowers Blog!

From LoveToKnow: Silk Weddings for an Outdoor Wedding

The Knot Q & A's: Silk Flowers?

From Yahoo Answers: What do you think about using fake flowers?

Ezine Article: Discover Why It Makes Sense Using Artificial Flowers For Weddings

Associated Content: Save Money with Silk Wedding Flowers

Wedding Ideas: Why Silk Flowers for Your Wedding?

From WeddingPlans at Live Journal a conversation on the subject!

Search silk wedding flowers and get a Google results of over 151,000!

This article by Kimberly Huth; What are some ways to find cheaper flowers and other ways to cut down the flower budget, is a good article comparing silk vs. fresh keeping costs in mind.

Of course, it all comes down to your own personal taste. But, you can use silk in instances where your guests will never be close enough to the arrangements to know they are not real. Consider using silk flower arrangements on your candelabras, alter arrangements or wedding arch. The silk floral chandeliers are also dramatic and use silk flowers for this effect!
You can also save if you choose to do your flowers yourself bu purchasing flowers on line for a wholesale florist, look for a posting coming soon about online wholesale florists that sell to the public!!If you have a wedding planner, see if he/she can get you a deal buying wholesale...

Here are some more links to help you think out what will work best for you!

E-weddingflowers has a nice article worth a read about choosing silk flowers for your wedding

Say 'I Do' with a Fake Flower or Two a great article about choosing. By Amber Sell

Paper Flower Favor Boxes from Martha Stewart

Small shaped crepe paper flowers from Martha Stewart

Paper flower bouquet from Martha Stewart

Crepe paper flowers from Martha Stewart

Paper flower accented swizzle sticks from Martha Stewart

Silk flower shoe clips from Martha Stewart

silk flower ring pillow from Martha Stewart

Silk flower garlands from Martha Stewart

Silk flower hair bands from Martha Stewart

Ribbon flower loops from Martha Stewart

Preston Bailey's Silk Flower chandelier on Martha Stewart TV

Happy planning!

~w.s.