Artificial Wedding Flowers

Far from being a ‘low rent’ option, artificial flowers often grace the most elegant and expensive weddings. High fashion events started the trend, but it was soon adopted by wedding planners to provide an excellent alternative to natural flowers.

There are several different types, encompassing hundreds of unique options that emulate real flower species.

Silk flowers are one hugely popular category. Their delicate, soft sheen fits in perfectly with the elegance of the wedding gown and stylish decorations of the wedding. They also have an uncanny ability in the hands of a master craftsman to resemble natural flowers.

Fabric is another, increasingly often used alternative. With contemporary fabrics the range of design options is virtually unlimited. It’s possible to closely match a wide range of natural flower species, or to go the opposite direction and create a highly abstract design.

That intentionally artificial look is brought to a peak when fine ribbon is used for a wedding flower arrangement. Where natural species give a look that no man-made material can match, ribbon designs don’t even try. Instead, they focus on creating swirls of color and line that evoke the impression of flowers, rather than try to duplicate a natural arrangement.

All of these options can cover an enormous variety of colors, whether individual or mixed.

A superbly done silk bouquet can be dyed to match the red of an American Beauty Rose. Or, one can be made to match the smooth cream of the wedding gown instead.

In the hands of an expert, a fabric flower can be created in pink and edged with red to create something that is indistinguishable from the real thing, except at the closest distances. More often, it is used to go beyond what nature provides to add a human element. The result may be anything from a simple heart shape to a Biedermeier bouquet of concentric circles in different colors.

Ribbons can be dyed in single colors, then mixed. Or, like fabric, they can be edged or printed with highly varied patterns. They still serve as artificial flowers because the shapes are cleverly arranged to remind the viewer of a natural species, even when a close resemblance isn’t the goal.

As with any man-made product, artificial flowers offer a number of potential pros and cons.

Costs can be lower, but custom designs can eat up the artificial flower’s inherent advantage. They are intended to provide design alternatives, but they do require that someone creates the design. Most artificial flower arrangements are opted for specifically in order to have something totally unique. That adds one more task to what is usually a very long list of wedding planning items.

On the whole, though, there are good reasons why artificial flowers have become a very popular choice for thousands of wedding planners. They last virtually forever with minimal care and offer the chance to create something truly special. Above all, as anyone would demand in a wedding flower, they are exceptionally beautiful.

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