There isn't a perfect answer, and only you will know which is/are appropriate for that order from your customer.
There are so many different scenarios of how, when and what orders come in for weddings and proms! For example:
- a bride wants garden roses in February.
- a prom order for thirty corsages arrives 3 hours before the collection or delivery time.
- a venue coordinator asks for flowers that can be set up two days before the event.
These are the moments when the fresh-only approach can seem impossible.
The good news is that we've never had better options. The quality of faux/artificial and preserved flowers has improved dramatically over the last five years — and so has customer acceptance. But the choice still requires real thought. Here's how we break it down.
Fresh Flowers: Still the Gold Standard (with caveats)
Fresh flowers remain the benchmark for most customers. The scent, the slight imperfections, the organic softness — these are things that no artificial product fully replicates. For a bride who has dreamed of a specific garden rose or peony since she was twelve, fresh is almost certainly the right call.
The problems are well-known: availability, seasonality, shelf life, price and waste. For example:
- a corsage made on Thursday might look tired by Saturday evening.
- an order placed months in advance is subject to crop failures and price spikes.
- wastage — both financial and environmental — is significant.
Preserved Flowers: The Premium Middle Ground
Preserved flowers are real flowers — typically hydrangeas, eucalyptus, ruscus and other foliages — treated with a specialist preserving agent to maintain their appearance, texture and softness indefinitely.
The advantages for florists are strong:
- preserved stems hold their shape and colour for months, sometimes years.
- you can stock ahead, eliminate wastage, and guarantee availability regardless of season.
- margins tend to be better than fresh because there's no spoilage loss.
But be aware of the caveats:
- preserved flowers cannot be handled repeatedly without eventually showing wear.
- they don't like humidity or direct sunlight.
- they come with a higher unit cost than faux, so your pricing needs to reflect that.
Faux/Artificial Flowers: No Longer the Poor Relation
Five years ago, recommending faux/artificial flowers to a wedding customer was a risk. Today, with the right product, it isn't.
- The best faux stems are genuinely beautiful, the quality of high-end varieties is exceptional — consistent, controllable, and cost-effective at scale.
- For corsage and buttonhole work specifically, faux/artificial is often the florist's best choice. The stems hold their form regardless of temperature, they can be made up days in advance, and a batch of thirty looks identical.
Often the biggest barrier to recommending faux/artificial or preserved stems to customers isn't the product — it's your confidence in making the recommendation.
Always speak with confidence – when a customer hears your confident tone when recommending faux or preserved flowers, it highlights your expertise.
When to Recommend Faux / Artificial / Preserved
Examples of when to recommend faux / artificial / preserved
- →Large volume corsage or buttonhole orders (10+) where consistency matters.
- →Events booked far in advance with no seasonal guarantee on specific varieties.
- →Outdoor summer weddings or marquee events where heat can be a factor.
- →Customers on a tighter budget who still want specific stem types.
- →Keepsake requests — bouquets or pieces the client wants to keep permanently.
- →Destination weddings where flowers need to travel.
The florists who are growing their wedding and event businesses today are those who treat all three options as stock in their product design collections.
Know your product, know your customer, and make the call with confidence.
Browse our full range of artificial flower stems, dried & preserved stems, and prom accessories.