Wedding Flowers: They Don't Have to Be Real or Really Expensive

One of my favorite flowers is the gerbera daisy. I think it's a fun and pretty flower that comes in a multitude of colors and arrangements. An added bonus is that the daisy is not one of the most expensive wedding flowers, but everyone loves them.

At my wedding, the bridesmaids carried a single orange gerbera daisy with its full stem showing with a ribbon and some long flower stems sticking out at the top. While I did want these flowers to be larger and sturdier, I still thought it made for a unique and striking display. And, it was much cheaper than some of the alternatives.

For the centerpiece at the head table, we used two of the three vases from our sand ceremony to hold bright colored bouquets of gerbera daisies. This was a stunning, beautiful, and fun design. And again, it was much cheaper and much simpler than other options.

All of these flowers were real; however, there were no other real flowers on any of our tables (and we had nearly 200 guests). The way we kept the cool floral design going was much simpler and much cheaper than buying real flower petals or bouquets: we used silk flower petals from http://www.petalgarden.com/. These are the most real-looking, nicely colored silk petals I'd ever seen. From far away, you couldn't tell they were silk. Everyone commented on how beautiful the centerpieces were, and with such a simple addition to the table!

Another thing that was cool about these flower petals was that we ordered too many...but since they were silk, I decided to keep them, and they're now part of the centerpiece on my dining room table. There were many colors to choose from, and the nicest thing about dealing with them was that they'd send you a sample of the colors you wanted to order so you could test drive them. I really appreciate it when you can see a sample before having to buy something in bulk, especially around your wedding day, when you're already stressed out and wanting everything to go smoothly. The Petal Garden also sells real freeze-dried petals if you'd rather go with those.

Lots of people use silk flowers only for their wedding day. This is also a nice-looking option if you're crafty. I'm not patient enough or crafty enough to create a bunch of silk bouquets, but when I've seen it done, it looks great. Plus, it makes the arrangements much easier to save for a long time when they're not real.

Just a few ideas that worked out great for us and for others we know. Check out the pictures!