Also, if I go with this idea, how do I make sure guests don’t take them home? I’ve heard that usually guests try to take the centerpieces, which is fine. I just don’t want to lose my personal decorations.
… like I said above, the centerpieces are already ordered. Those are set in stone.

I think the cons outweigh the pros.

You have to spend more money for the flowers, and if you are on a budget this is money that could be better spent elsewhere. Plus you have to worry about buying the flowers on that day and making sure the vases go home with you.

If you decide to do this, just put two or three vases on the placecard table and one in each bathroom. Not on the gifts table or elsewhere.

I used these guys for my wedding. I got roses and they were beyond perfect, if that’s at all possible.

They delivered to my door (UPS) on Thursday, I made the arrangements Friday (roses need a day to open fully) and the wedding was Saturday.

1 very large round bride bouquet with 2-3 dozen large open roses, fall leaves, and filler flowers, with handle fully wrapped in satin ribbon

2 large round maid of honor bouquets with 5 open roses and 10 rose buds, few fall leaves, some filler flowers, handles fully wrapped in satin ribbon.

5 medium sized bridesmaids bouquets containing 4 open roses, and 8 rosebuds, few fall leaves, some filler flower handles fully wrapped in satin ribbon.

3 mother wrist corsages, 2-3 roses each

11 single rose bud boutonnieres

1 groom boutonniere with 2 rosebuds, accent flowers

16 pew markers, containing satin bows and 3 roses each

4 medium sized church arrangements containing about 2 dozen roses each

2 small swags and 2 garlands, 4 additional decoration bouquets
FYI, I already have the flowers. The list above is everything that I have and have already done. The bouquets look real from a few feet away. Actually, a few months ago I bought a bouquet of fresh orange roses from the grocery store and then compared them to my silks and they looked extremely similar…actually the silks looked better because their color was more vibrant. Honestly, flowers weren’t all that important to me…I mean I want them to be nice but I didn’t want the flowers to be one of the biggest expenses of my wedding. There were other places I would rather spend money, on things that mean more to me. So that is why I went with silks. But I’ve just been wondering what I would have paid ballpark for all of those fresh roses if I had gone through a florist.

I worked as a florist of a couple of years. What I know its that good to high quality silk flowers cost about the same as fresh. The advantage is that when you are finished with them they are still around to appreciate, for years to come. Where you have really saved your money, is in the labour of making all the arrangements say around 20.00 per hr. Where you will receive your biggest savings, is if you resell all the florals as done pieces to another bride for their wedding.
Hope this helps.

For the table centerpieces, just buy one pot of amaryllis or one pot of pointsettias. This alone will keep costs down. http://viette.poweredbyindigo.com/images/products/AmaryllisMinervaS.jpg
Amaryllis in Dec are forced blooms (similar to forcing tulips to bloom in the winter instead of spring), and can be ordered ahead of time. Or, you can buy them about 1 week before your wedding from anywhere; the blooms last a really long time.

For your bouquet, you could do white irises with red tulips, or red lilies. For a little more money, you could do white orchids with red roses.

For your bridesmaids bouquets, keep it simple and pick only one flower out of your bouquet, to be in theirs only. For example, all irises, or all tulips. Their bouquet should be smaller than yours.

Making corsages are really really easy, but remember to make extras because the groom’s always gets crushed when he gets hugged. Make it yourself for < $2; buy it for $10.

How would I go about making the cake topper arrangement? Just bundle them as in a corsage and stick the stem part into the middle of the cake? Or do I attach them to a cake board of some type and just lay that on top?

If you had flowers on your cake, please share how it was done?

Any ideas, or suggestions appreciated. Thanx!

For the flowers on the top of a cake, choose the flowers you would like. Go to a craft store and find a styrofoam ball or florist green ball. Cut in half. Trim flowers and instert in ball. Put on top of cake.

Hope that helps, we did it to my daughters with fresh white roses and it came out perfect.

Congratulations! Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness!
Karen

http://www.afloral.com/