Artificial flowers for your wedding: a bridal bouquet and table decorations that look fresh all day

A wedding is the day on which flowers have to last longest and get the least care. Between getting dressed, the ceremony, photos, reception and dancing, twelve hours can easily pass in which the bridal bouquet is out of water. This article shows where artificial flowers have their strength on exactly this day, and where the real bouquet still wins.

Twelve hours without water

A bouquet of cut flowers is made for the vase. On the wedding day it lies on a lap, is held, put down, photographed, thrown. A summer wedding in a marquee is even harder on it. You can see it in the evening photos: the blooms of the morning are no longer those of the evening.

Artificial flowers look at midnight the way they did at ten in the morning. On this one day that is not a detail; it is the whole point.

What speaks for artificial flowers

• Preparation without time pressure. Tie and arrange weeks in advance. Nothing wilts, nothing has to be finished the night before.
• Trying it out. The bouquet is in your hand weeks beforehand, held up against the dress, photographed, retied if need be. With a florist, you see it finished for the first time on the morning of the wedding.
• Independent of the season. Peonies in October are no problem and carry no surcharge.
• Predictable. The price is fixed at purchase and does not depend on daily rates or availability.
• Reusable afterwards. Table arrangements move into the living room, to friends or on to the next celebration. Ten years on, the bridal bouquet is still on the shelf instead of existing only in a photo.

What real flowers do better

• They have scent. That cannot be replaced.
• Up close, and the bridal bouquet is exactly that, the difference is noticeable on careful inspection. In photos at normal distance it barely shows. That does not make it invisible.
• For some couples, transience is part of the occasion.

Many couples solve it like this: the bridal bouquet from real flowers, everything else artificial. That keeps the effort small without giving up scent on the most important bouquet.

The guest with hay fever

With fifty guests, it is statistically almost certain that someone with a pollen allergy is sitting at the table, and with cut-flower decorations they sit in pollen all evening. Lilies, chrysanthemums and sunflowers are particularly unpleasant here. Artificial flowers release no pollen. Allergic guests have no symptoms and do not even have to bring up their allergy.

What a celebration with fifty guests needs

• Bridal bouquet: 12 to 18 stems, depending on the size you want.
• Buttonholes: two to three small blooms each for the groom and the witnesses.
• Table decoration: per table, one small arrangement or three to five single stems in vases. With five tables, that means five units.
• Ceremony area: two larger arrangements, left and right.
• Reception: one or two arrangements for the drinks table and the gift table.

What that costs depends on the type of bloom, size and quality. It makes sense to work through this list for your own celebration and then compare offers, rather than planning with blanket figures.

Six notes from practice

• Work denser than you think. Arrangements set too loosely look thin in photos. Reckon with around a fifth more blooms.
• Vary the heights. Stems cut to the same length look artificial.
• Work in greenery. Eucalyptus or fern takes the stiffness out of an arrangement and is the detail that most often decides between natural and artificial.
• Keep table arrangements low. Above eye level they get in the way of conversation.
• Choose muted tones. Pastel and cream look calmer in photos than strong colours.
• Heavy blooms at the bottom. That gives the arrangement stability.

Transport and storage after the celebration

For transport: put finished arrangements in boxes with dividers so nothing slides around. After the celebration, artificial flowers store away dust-free and can be set up again later. In normal indoor use they keep their shape for a long time; constant direct sunlight fades colours over time, as with any decoration.

Further reading and suitable material

The detailed step-by-step guide with timeline and budget is in the article Wedding decorations with artificial flowers, made yourself. Ready-tied versions can be found among the bouquets, single stems for free combining under Single stems, vessels under Vases & decor. If a particular bloom in your wedding colour is missing, write to Bloomli via the wish box.