What is the cost difference in making your own flowers or getting real ones from a florist?

I am trying to decide whether or not to use fake or real flowers for some of the floral arrangements at my wedding. I definitely want a florist to make the boquets and centerpieces out of real flowers. But, for everything else, I would consider making my own arrangements with fake flowers as long as it is cheaper than getting real flowers.



Some people decide to make their own floral decorations for their wedding with fake flowers and they turn out nice. But, why not just use real flowers? Do real flowers cost signifigantly more than fake ones?

What is the cost difference in making your own flowers or getting real ones from a florist?
Unless you are able to get fresh flowers from a wholesaler (you need a business tax-id #), it will cost a little less than the florist with a lot more headache.



You can get really nice silk/fake flowers from Michael's Carfts, etc..., but make one arrangement as an experiment first. It probably won't turn out like you want. So don't go buying gobs of flowers and supplies until you know exactly what you want.
Reply:real flowers cost much more than doing it yourself. You can get fake flowers from michaels for under a dollar each and then you just buy some ribbon to wrap around. I'll probably make my own flowers to hold! They look just as nice :-) congrats on getting married!
Reply:I just did my own flowers.

I spent 100$ at Hobby Lobby for silks to go in the church and in urns outside the church, they are not close enough to guests for them to tell the difference.

Then I bought 300$ worth of flowers from an online wholesale website. I made 3 bouquets, all the corsages, button holes from the groom and ushers etc, table arrangements and pew arrangments. I may have spent 500$ in total for all flowers silk and live and for the acsessories to assemble them. There are so many ways to save money if you have the ability and time and are willing to do some of the work yourself. By the way the arrangments I made for 500$ would have cost me 3 grand at the florist, I did price it.



Also, getting bridesmaids and moms to help do this makes for a GREAT night of laughter and memories.
Reply:Real flowers can cost between double the price to 10 times the price of silk flowers. I went with silk for my wedding. With silk you know exactly what the arangements will look like since the flowers colors will NOT vary like with realy ones. Plus you can keep them after the wedding if you want and it won't cost you an additional fee to have them dryed.
Reply:Real flowers cost SIGNIFICANTLY more than fake flowers. The average expenditure on real flowers ranges in the 700 to 1500 range, depending on size of your wedding and complexity. Fresh flowers look nice in the wedding, but they wilt and die, and you can't keep them unless you preserve/dry them. Silk flowers will always look as nice as your wedding day, if you keep them out of bright sunlight (they might fade otherwise).



Now, I looked into making my own bouquets/arrangements with silk flowers, but I knew they would not look nearly as professional. So, I went to Ebay and did some "wedding flowers" searches. There are a number of very reputable florists on Ebay that do custom orders of flowers for your wedding. I bought my silk flower arrangements for less than $200 including shipping. That included my bouquet, three bridesmaids, one toss, corsages for the Mothers, bouts for all the guys and 8 pew bows. My flowers look great and they will never wilt. Based on the average cost I mentioned above, I saved at least $500 that I can spend somewhere else. I think that was much better than blowing almost a thousand dollars on fresh flowers for a half hour ceremony and a 5 hour party. I would rather take that saved money and put it towards better quality food, better music, or save it for my honeymoon.
Reply:there are fake flowers that look real. just dont add tacky touches such as fake butterflies to the arrangement, then it looks really tacky. you can save an arm and a leg by going fake, just get good fakes!
Reply:I think fake flowers are tacky and to get really nice ones they cost as much as real flowers. I also depends on the flowers you want.... like roses cost more then mums. I would personally do the opposite- have real flowers for you to hold and for your pictures and use fake flowers on the table if you have to. Fake flowers look terrible in pictures!
Reply:Definitely go with real flowers. For our wedding, we bought 750 roses for around 300 dollars. Try www.globalrose.com. They're relatively inexpensive and will ship them directly to your home. Florists are over priced. I think people use "fake" flowers because they last. That way, you can make them in advance. Personally, I hate fake flowers. They just say cheap to me.
Reply:Hi i am 21 years old and getting married very soon. i made EVERYTHING out of fake flowers cause i think its a lot cheaper and they will last a lot longer then real ones and you don't have to worry about watering them, little kids spilling them, pedals falling off, you know what i mean. my wedding is coming up in a month and my reception is in 2 months cause I'm having a destination wedding. plus if you go with fake ones you don't have to worry about a floweriest!!! i made my own bouquets out of fake flowers myself and have never done it before and it looks professional and only took me about and hour 1/2 to make it!!!! i was surprised. i even made my own boutonnieres. i shopped at discount stores and it costed me i think $20 for enough flowers to make my bouquet, throwing bouquet, and about 15 boutonnieres with flowers left over to use on the cake!!!!! i don't know if i helped but it was worth a shot!
Reply:I found that when looking for good quality fake flowers they do get quite expencive. try your local sams club, I bought beautiful red roses(real) and only paid $15 for bunches of 2 dozen
Reply:real flowers are more expensive plus with the fake flowers you can keep them for much more longer than you can real. for you anniversary you can use the centerpiece for that special anniversary dinner at home.
Reply:Silks are ususally used because they last forever. This way the bride and groom can keep or give away the flowers. However, most silks that look real cost more than real flowers. But you can start preparing your silks way in advance, unlike real flowers that only have a few days. Check with you local florist about your other flowers, but you may want to consider buying fresh and doing them yourself. That would save you alot of money... but you would have to do it the day or two before the wedding.
Reply:my mom is making all of mine. there is a huge difference in the cost- she is using real flowers. it depends on how much you need. but i would think in general silk cost less than fresh
Reply:Fresh flowers are costly. Silk lasts forever, I had everything made of silk, so we could keep them forever. My bridesmaid's and everyone. I gave the centerpieces away at the wedding to friends who had really been there. But it was considerably less for silk. Also, options are endless in silk.
Reply:The cost difference is pretty big. I saved about $600 by combining the two that way you got the look and the smell. I had a summer wedding with Lillies as my main flower. They were real but the rest was silk. Good luck!!!!!
Reply:I made my own from micheal's silk flowers and spent a total of $80 versus the florist wanting to charge $350. It was worth it and a really fun project with my bridesmaids.