Designing With Flowers in Paris

Something has happened in Paris that seems to have blossomed overnight! The amount of shops, restaurants and narrow streets drawing attention to themselves by using flowers is a delightful sight to see!

There have always been a few restaurants who use artificial flowers on their awnings and doorways but since Covid, it appears to have tripled with the amount of artificial blooms sprouting everywhere whether in the Marais, the Latin Quarter or the 18th and Montmartre. And it doesn’t matter that anywhere else it may appear garish; artificial flowers really can be beautiful. 

Sometimes the idea of artificial flowers for your wedding bouquets may seem just so wrong. But in the heat of the wedding day, outdoors or in the wind, and the expense of real flowers, mixing artificial with real flowers can be a perfect solution.

Hydrangeas and peonies are very expensive, delicate and can wilt easily. In fact a hydrangea can be drooping within just a couple hours. So, these 2 flowers work great as artificial additions. Mixed with real flowers, no guest will notice the difference and your florist won’t be in a state of apoplexy melt down! 

Artificial flowers these days are so well designed and their colors are more authentic to the true flower they represent that it’s kind of like putting false eyelashes on…you use them to enhance but not to appear false. They fill in the spaces but no one needs to know.

Everyone who can walk the streets of Paris and admire the floral installations knows that these aren’t real wisteria, roses and apple blossoms, but we love them just the same. And those flowers will be there tomorrow, next week and probably next year to draw us in like a bee to their charm and delightful colors. They create a juxtaposition of unexpected enchantment and the almost instant thought that this is Paris so of course this is reality. 

Does it matter that flowers are artificial? Pretty things are prettier when they’re authentic? I’m not sure. In this case, flowers are flowers and how they adorn a bouquet or spill from a restaurant window, whether real or artificial, doesn’t matter. Flowers are inherently beautiful so bring on the blooming of Paris and maybe enhance your wedding bouquets with just a little floral secret.