Sneha Raval We sell artificial flowers, so treat what follows with appropriate suspicion. That said, there is exactly one scenario where we will tell you to buy fresh, and it is worth knowing which.
The cost question
A fresh-flower mandap for four hundred guests runs between one and three lakh, and it is worthless the following morning. The same structure in silk costs more to build once and nothing to stage again.
By the third event, the artificial installation has paid for itself. By the fifth, the comparison stops being interesting.
The longevity question
Fresh flowers begin dying when they are cut. In a Gujarat summer, an outdoor arrangement has perhaps six usable hours. Silk holds for six years.
“Guests spent the evening touching the flowers to check if they were real. Not one of them guessed correctly.”
Ananya Mehta, Udaipur
Where fresh still wins
Scent. There is no artificial equivalent to a room of fresh jasmine, and there probably never will be. If the fragrance is the point, buy fresh, and buy it that morning.
For everything a camera will see from more than a metre away, silk is the better instrument.
