If you want the flowers you use in your wedding ceremony to last, it’s best to go with synthetic or silk flowers. You can still use fresh flowers in your wedding for certain parts of the ceremony, or if you’re holding the wedding outside or in a garden, fresh flowers can be used as the majority of the décor, and you can take your silk wedding flowers with you after the ceremony—and you won’t have to worry about keeping them in water.
Silk wedding flowers can be found at most major craft stores, or you can order silk flowers from a floral store or bridal shop. One of the benefits of using silk flowers in your wedding is that you can request flowers that may not be in season at the time of your wedding. This gives you much more options for your flower arrangements. Also, you can order or purchase your flowers in a wide variety of colors, and if you want flowers in a color or colors that may not be realistic (such as flowers in black to go with white, or flowers in brighter or neon shades) you can have the flowers dyed to match the rest of the decorations for the wedding.
You can use silk wedding flowers for any aspect of the ceremony, from the bridal bouquet to wedding reception decorations. Even though whole arrangements of silk flowers may be a little more expensive depending on where you purchase them from, they last much longer, and you don’t have to worry about the flowers wilting over time. For instance, if you’re using flowers as part of your reception decorations, fresh flowers will begin to wilt after being uprooted or out of water for a while. In case the ceremony runs a little longer than expected (which is very likely), your flowers could be spread across the tables and around the cake, and still look ‘fresh’ when you arrive at the reception.
Using silk flowers for the bridesmaid’s bouquet or for the flower girls is a good idea as well. Many people have allergies, and holding fresh flowers right in front of their faces for an hour or two could cause occasional sneezing and nose-scratching—these are not images you want in your wedding photos or wedding video. And, if the flower girl uses silk flowers to line the aisle, the color and shape of the flowers will be preserved throughout the ceremony, and this will look great in your wedding video.
If you especially like flowers, you could even use silk flowers to decorate your wedding cake. Depending on the shape and style of your cake, flowers can add a wonderful accent to your cake and the lining of the cake table.
You should talk to your wedding coordinator and check your wedding budget to make sure you can afford silk flower arrangements for more than one part of the ceremony, since the flowers can get costly, depending on how much you’ll buy and the quality of flowers. Overall, silk flowers add beauty and color to your wedding decorations, and could give you more creative freedom.