FAKE FLOWERS ARE NOT CHEAPER: A message to brides from a floral insider

[ivoryh1632]

Painted Sparrow - did you use fabric paint to paint the fake flowers? i'm just curious cuz me and my sister have been talking abotu trying to do that for a couple projects but have no idea where to start on the process so the outcome doesnt look horrid

[Painted Sparrow]

Painted Sparrow - did you use fabric paint to paint the fake flowers? i'm just curious cuz me and my sister have been talking abotu trying to do that for a couple projects but have no idea where to start on the process so the outcome doesnt look horrid

I used the Design Master spray paint for the flowers, but I actually didn't spray paint them. One of my pseudo-sisters-in-law is a floral designer & she did all of the coloring & putting together for me. They turned out looking really good, the colors were even & looked great. But I don't know how much of that was the paints or her. lol I do know that the paint is great to work with, it was the primary choice in a costume shop I used to do work in & I used it to color some glittery snowflakes for my wedding cake & it worked so well to just get a light mist of color.

Lucky day, I was just looking up the Design Master Website & one of the front page pieces is a video of how to spray paint flowers!

[ivoryh1632]

awsome! thanks for the info, you totally rock! i can tell you right now that my sister's gonna love you forever for this info 

[LauraM]

I think half of a flower's beauty is in the scent, delicate stem and leaves and I've yet to see a fake flower that I liked as much as real ones, even if the petals look good, I feel like the stem looks awkward. Flowers are an experience and I just prefer the natural ones. As a wedding photographer, I started making fake bouquets to keep as props for bridal sessions so that brides wouldn't have to spend $75-300 on a pro bouquet, but after seeing how they photographed well only at certain angles, I started getting grocery store flowers and wrapping the handles myself. Then the bride gets to take them home and have a nice reminder of her session for a week or so.

Note: Even at 50% off, the false bouquets I made were around $50. The ones from the grocery store were $9, and it takes me 10 minutes before a session to throw it together.

I can see the appeal of both sides for sure and I don't think there is anything wrong or right with either. It's just a matter of opinion. Variety is the spice of life!

[ivoryh1632]

LauraM - Is it ok if I pm you with a couple photography questions about your bridal sessions? Just don't wanna get into it here since its off topic

[LauraM]

Sure! Fire away.

[Bokonon]

I'm planning on using a combination for my wedding. I've alwas loved button/brooch bouquets, and I am planning on making one, but I am going to use real wholesale flowers for table decorations and such.

[StaciRose]

I half agree and disagree with the writer! I would have been getting married this year, but called the wedding off. One of my biggest dilemmas was whether to use real or fake flowers. In NZ, real flowers and fakes are SOOOOOO expensive for the most part. For a tiny posie of pretty looking flowers that don't look like they belong in a junk store I would be looking at NZ$25 - $50. I wanted to be able to use the boquets as house decor after the wedding, but I Love the smell of fresh flowers and I really think they add a dimension that fake flowers can't often bring.

That being said, after months of scouring the shops I found a $2 store that had 100 red and 100 white roses that seemed to made of some sort of velvety stuff - they are so realistic looking! I brought them all for $300 (discount from the store) which means I have enough to make center pieces, displays etc and do a mix of real and fake flowers.

For valentines day I was able to make use of them and did a dinner outside - I stuck all the fake roses in random bushes and got comments all night on how lovely my rose garden was hehe

If I get married again, I would have some real flowers on the tables where people will be looking at them all night with ivy and stuff, and more fake flowers in the bouquets.

[ivoryh1632]

sorry to hear your wedding was called off, but i have to say that i loved how you put the fake roses in your bushes and people thought they were real, i may have to do that someday, i can't grow anything