Flowers - Real or Artificial?

These pictures our what we are using are our inspiration for flowers. We are currently waiting on a price list from our wedding coordinator. Since there is an issue with customs getting flowers back to the US, we have been told we can't bring our flowers back home with us. This makes me wonder if we should use an alternate option such as high quality artificial flowers or Sola flowers which are delicate soft wood flowers. I don't know that I want to pay hundreds of dollars for flowers that we have to leave on the ship after the cruise.

Update: Monday, April 10th, 2017

We decided not to get a price quote from Royal Caribbean. They have a simple price list showing a bouquet of a dozen long stem roses for over $200. I didn't simply want roses and after speaking with my coordinator, we both guessed the style bouquet I would be after would cost $300+. The bridesmaids would cost $100-$150+/each. The boutonnieres for the gentleman would be an estimated $50/each. When all is said and done, we'd easily be looking at $800+ for flowers we can't take off the ship with us.

I found this amazing florist who does both real flowers and sola flowers. Based upon my research, her work is pretty fantastic. Her customer service and communication was on point. Our quote for a bridal bouquet, 2 bridesmaids bouquets, grooms boutonniere, 2 groomsmen boutonnieres, 2 fathers boutonnieres, 1 usher boutonniere, 2 mothers wrist corsages, 3 corsages for my future sisters-in-law, and lose flowers for the cake and for photographing all came to around $400. These flowers will last years and we can take them back home with us. The only real downfall is that we have to bring them with us so it's more wedding stuff to travel with.

Our order was officially placed on March 29th. Kim, of The Backyard Gardener, estimated these flowers will take 6-8 weeks to complete. She will communicate with me along the way and send pictures to make sure I approve of the work she's doing. Once the order is done, she will ship everything to me for about $25. I'm definitely excited and looking forward to the outcome of this project - I just know it's going to be beautiful!

You can find an image that Kim sent with some flowers she threw together to show me a sample of what her thoughts were based upon my inspiration pictures. Absolutely beautiful!

Will post more when we have more info!

Update: Wednesday, May 24th, 2017

Kim sent over pictures of some of the flowers! I've added the photos so you can check them out. They are beautiful. She has to finalize a couple things then she will be shipping them out to me. I can't wait to receive them.

FINAL UPDATE: Tuesday, May 30th, 2017

We received our order in the mail! (Pictures attached.) We are thrilled with the work that Kim did. Clearly she's an artist because even the small details are meticulously done. I highly, highly recommend using her. When I took the first bouquet out of it's packaging, I literally said out loud to myself, "I can't believe these aren't real". They look so much like real flowers. We are both so very happy with the final product. The packaging is great, each item is in its own plastic container with tissue paper gently holding it in place in package. The bouquets came delicately wrapped in tissues paper inside a box. All 3 bouquet boxes were then placed inside one large box, again, with tissue paper holding everything securely in place.

#Flowers #Details #Wedding #Information