Silk Flowers for a Wedding

As a groom I was a little skeptical about using silk flowers for my upcoming wedding. I had grown up with flowers at the reception, flowers as the bridal bouquets, flowers decorating the wedding chapel. Flowers everywhere. But silk flowers I had never seen at a wedding. Or, at least I thought that I had never seen silk flowers used at a wedding. But now I know that I could be wrong.

Her reasons for wanting to use silk flowers for the wedding sounded good. The flowers would stay beautiful the entire day of the wedding. The reception centerpieces would make beautiful decorations, and would be wonderful wedding favors to send home to with our special guests. And silk flowers would stay vibrant and colorful for years, making a delightful keepsake for our lifetime, and a possible heirloom for our children and grandchildren.

I was heavily involved in all of the plans for the wedding. I was not one of those grooms who left all of the details to the bride. I was involved in everything from picking the tuxedoes (having been part of a wedding with hideous colors on more than one occasion), the food, and of course the decorating for the wedding and the reception. When she suggested we make our own bouquets and decorations using silk flowers I was skeptical on two fronts. First, I have all of the artistic talent of a grizzly bear, and secondly, I did not want the flowers to look plastic.

We arrived at the shop, with me in a negative mindset about using artificial silk flowers for my wedding. I wanted the real thing! Not some cheap imitation that would look fake.

And then we turned the corner into the section of the store set aside for their silk flowers. The only word that comes to mind is breathtaking. The riot of colors, sizes and shapes, the variety of possible flowers was amazing. And I guess I didn't realize until that moment just how lifelike silk flowers can look, even on close examination.

Choosing which silk flowers to use was more difficult than I thought because the available selections were amazing. The full colors of the spectrum were available, everything from tropical irises and lotus flowers, to roses, to daisies were there, as well as an abundant assortment of ivy and other greenery.

My bride-to-be had a plan for assembling the silk flowers herself - she threw a party! She made a sample of each type of arrangement she wanted, laid out the supplies, and invited over her bridesmaids. They made short work of making the silk flower arrangements, and had a fun evening on top of it.

We set out decorating the church and reception hall, and the sight was breathtaking.

I was still hesitant about how well silk flowers would be received by our family and friends. That notion flew from my head as I pinned my mother's corsage, a simple white rose made with a silk flower and greenery, and she said "Oh, how beautiful! And since it's a silk flower, I can keep it as a token of your wedding forever."