Flowers tend to be a large part of the decor for most weddings, and even a part of the bride’s look. Unfortunately, fresh flowers are expensive and it can be difficult to DIY your way around this cost while still planning to use real flowers. Even if there’s room for real flowers in your budget, many couples don’t feel very comfortable with purchasing a large amount of wedding florals which will not be usable after the wedding. Fortunately, there are fun, beautiful options that you can use to supplement all or some of your wedding florals with alternatives that won’t wilt!
1) Try Artificial Flowers
You might cringe when you think about artificial or silk flowers that you’ve seen in the past. Fortunately, now you can find much higher quality silk flowers in craft stores that will look just as lush and beautiful as real flowers, without having to worry about wilting or triggering anyone’s allergies. One of the big challenges of going the DIY route with real flowers instead of hiring a florist is that you can’t prepare them until the last possible moment, the day before or even the morning of your wedding when you will have so many other things to be concerned about. You can try your hand at arranging artificial flowers weeks or even months in advance of your wedding! Getting them out of the way early can be a huge stress reliever!
2) Get Extra Crafty!
This one isn’t for the faint of heart: it might be time to get crafty! If you’ve ruled out real flowers and don’t care for artificial flowers, you may want to make your own flowers for your wedding. The exact method you go for will depend on your own preferences. Paper flowers can be made from paper that has any color or pattern and fabric flowers can be beautiful and lush, bringing a super glamorous aspect to your wedding day.
Crafting your own flowers can also be a great way to bring some extra personal touches to your wedding day. If you’re a book lover, you may enjoy making flowers out of book pages. You can purchase used books cheaply from charity shops and yard sales. This may also include books that are already damaged, giving a well loved book new life! Other options you might consider are colorful maps from your adventures with your spouse or theatrical playbills if you’re theatre lovers!
3) Brooches and Buttons
This trendy idea might not be able to replace all of your wedding florals but is popular for bouquets! Vintage brooches can be a glamorous alternative for your bridal bouquet and can be a sweet personal touch if you’ve inherited some vintage jewelry from your family members! Another idea that can bring fun and personality to your wedding is to use fun buttons in coordinated colors in a variety of finishes for your bouquets!
4) Sola Flowers
A recent trend that has become popular for weddings is to decorate using sola flowers. These flowers are technically made of wood that is similar to bamboo. These flowers will typically be off white but can be dyed any color using acrylic paint, including metallics or other colors that would never appear in nature! You can purchase premade sola flowers in a variety of shapes, some that resemble real flowers like roses, peonies, or dahlias. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, you can even purchase a roll of sola wood to construct your own flowers! Like other options, this is a great craft to finish up well before you wedding!
5) Think Outside The Box!
You don’t need to use flowers of any kind at your wedding if you don’t want to! You can get creative when it comes to this if you’d like. Your bridal party might carry vintage fans or lightsabers as they walk with you down the aisle. There have even been news stories about brides carrying puppies or kittens down the aisle instead of flowers as a way to encourage their friends and family to adopt shelter pets! Check with your wedding venue before you go for that particular route!