Greetings to my readers. Thank you for your time!
I had a very interesting experience the other day when we were invited to our neighbors and good friends sons wedding. While visiting their home a few days before the wedding I noticed a bunch of boxes in their living room labeled “Blooms”. As a life-long flower person any box that says anything flower related, must be inspected.
Upon inspection I discovered that these were the artificial flower arrangements slated for the upcoming wedding and I declared “Blasphemy” .
Ok I have to admit that I was not aware that one could rent fake flowers for a wedding. While it makes some sense since you can rent just about everything else needed for a wedding and they can be used multiple weddings but, it just did not sound right. So I opened the box and there was an arrangement that looked fairly good from my first glance.
Muted colors of artificial, aka fake, roses, peonies and orchids arranged reasonably well.
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I was told by the soon to be happy couple that these were 1/3 the cost of fresh flowers and therefore their choice. I get it that cost is certainly a factor when planning so many costly things for a wedding.
Ok so we went to the lovely wedding and after seeing the arrangements in place the overall presentation was acceptable but at last there was no……magic.
No fragrance, no variations, no action, just silk or plastic attempting to look real. The table arrangements were also too tall, totally blocking the person you were sitting across from.
As I looked closer I discovered another reason to not be impressed by these imposters. I suppose after many weddings and FedEx trips these arrangements get beat up pretty good, but seeing the framework visible was not appealing.
I am sure that the retailers reading this are well aware of these types of alternatives and I wonder what your thoughts are about them.
I tried to look at the positives and negative of this. Good that they can be reused and that they will not wilt, require no water and last long.
However, they lacked vibrancy, texture and as I mentioned earlier, magic.
This is another example of new age commerce being made possible by the internet, credit cards and overnight delivery services.
The wedding was wonderful despite the flower choices and a good time was had by all. I wonder how many of the guest even noticed?
Of course I say all of this as someone who has been around glorious flower arrangements of fresh flowers for over 50 years. I feely admit that these “flowers” have a place in the business and for the most part the imitations are done superbly.
I welcome your comments because this is just another thing the fresh flower business has to deal with.
Williee Armellini
williee@flowersandcents.com
786-255-3335
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