If you've started researching artificial wedding flowers, you've probably come across two terms that appear everywhere: real touch and silk. They both fall under the "faux florals" umbrella, but they're quite different in how they look, feel, and work in a design. And knowing the difference can genuinely help you understand what you're investing in.
At Sonder + Stone, we work with both. Here's an honest breakdown of each, what they're best suited to, and why the most stunning artificial wedding designs almost always use a combination of the two.
What we're covering: What real touch flowers actually are · What silk flowers are (spoiler: not always silk) · How the two compare side by side · When each material shines · How both photograph on the day · Why we use both in almost every wedding design · FAQs
🌸 material 01
What Are Real Touch Flowers?
Real touch flowers are made from high-end latex or polyurethane and are designed to replicate the physical feel of real petals. Soft, slightly velvety, with realistic weight and movement that makes people do a double take. We've genuinely watched guests try to smell a real touch bouquet mid-ceremony. It's one of our favourite things.
Real touch is the natural material choice for varieties where that velvety, lifelike texture is central to the bloom's character. Roses, peonies, ranunculus, tulips. Flowers that in real life have a soft weight and depth to their petals, and that real touch replicates with extraordinary accuracy. When those varieties appear in a design, whether in a bouquet, a centrepiece, or a ceremony arrangement, real touch is almost always how we'd source them.
Common real touch varieties include roses, orchids, tulips, peonies, and ranunculus. These are also some of the most in-demand wedding flowers, which makes real touch a natural fit for the hero pieces of most designs.
What Are Silk Flowers? (And Are They Actually Silk?)
Here's something that surprises a lot of people: silk flowers are usually not made from actual silk. The name stuck from an earlier era, but most modern "silk" artificial flowers are made from polyester or other synthetic fabrics. Don't let that put you off, though. The quality range in silk florals is just as wide as in real touch.
Premium silk flowers are lightweight, soft, and incredibly versatile. They're available in a much wider range of flower types than real touch, which makes them essential for creating the kind of layered, textured designs that feel lush and editorial rather than flat and simple. Think delicate cosmos, whimsical poppies, airy daisies and wildflowers. The varieties that add movement and personality to a design.
Silk florals are particularly good at creating the filler elements of a design: the textures, the volume, the fine details that frame and support the hero blooms. Without them, arrangements can look sparse and one-dimensional. They're doing more work in a finished design than most people realise.
Real Touch vs Silk: The Key Differences
| Real Touch | Silk |
|---|---|
| Material: High-end latex or polyurethane | Material: Polyester or synthetic fabric |
| Feel: Soft, velvety, very lifelike to touch | Feel: Lightweight, fabric-like, gentle drape |
| Best for: Varieties like roses, peonies, tulips and ranunculus where lifelike texture is the priority | Best for: Wildflowers, delicate florals, foliage and any variety where drape and movement matter most |
| Variety: Roses, peonies, orchids, tulips, ranunculus | Variety: Cosmos, poppies, daisies, wildflowers, foliage |
| Price point: Generally higher per stem | Price point: Generally more accessible per stem |
✨ when each shines
When to Use Real Touch. When to Use Silk.
The short answer is: both have a role in almost every wedding design, and that includes bouquets. The material choice follows the flower variety and the design intent, not the piece itself. A classic rose and peony bouquet will be real touch-heavy. A wildflower bouquet will be silk-heavy. Most bouquets, arbours, centrepieces and ceremony arrangements blend both.
Real touch is the natural choice when: the specific blooms in the design exist in real touch and that lifelike, tactile quality is what the variety calls for. Roses, peonies, ranunculus, tulips. Any flower where you want that velvety, almost-indistinguishable-from-real feel in the finished piece, regardless of whether it's a bouquet, a ceremony arrangement, or a reception centrepiece.
Silk is the natural choice when: the design calls for varieties that simply work better in fabric form. Wildflowers, cosmos, poppies, airy foliage. Anything where drape, movement, and a lighter feel are the whole point of the bloom. Silk also gives us access to a far wider range of flower types, so if your aesthetic leans botanical, meadow, or maximalist, silk is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in your design whether it's a bouquet or an arch.
Neither is a compromise. They're just designed for different varieties, and good design means using the right material for the right flower every time.
How Real Touch and Silk Look in Photos
Photography is one of the most important practical considerations when choosing artificial wedding flowers, and it's something couples don't always think to ask about. The good news: both real touch and silk photograph beautifully when the quality is there. They just have different strengths.
Real touch flowers catch light in a way that closely mimics the depth and translucency of real petals. In close-up detail shots, the texture reads as genuinely organic. When a bouquet is rose or peony-heavy, real touch is what makes those detail photos extraordinary. The camera can be inches away and it still convinces.
Silk florals photograph beautifully too, just differently. The lightweight fabric petals create soft movement and a natural drape that reads as effortlessly lush in photos. A wildflower bouquet in premium silk can look just as stunning in bridal portraits as any real touch piece. It's not about one being more photogenic than the other. It's about each material serving the variety it's representing.
When both appear in a design, as they do in almost every Sonder + Stone piece, you get the best of both across every type of shot: the detail and texture of real touch wherever those varieties appear, and the softness and movement of silk wherever those do. Together, they create something that reads as genuinely natural rather than uniform.
"It doesn't matter what your flowers are made from. If they're cheap, they'll look it. Premium materials and thoughtful design are what make the difference between artificial flowers that fool everyone and ones that fool no one."
Why We Use Both in Almost Every Design
The honest answer to "which is better, real touch or silk?" is: both, together. At Sonder + Stone, we design with a curated mix of real touch and silk flowers in almost every wedding arrangement. This combination gives us the best of both worlds: the lifelike texture and visual impact of real touch as the hero blooms, and the movement, volume, and personality of silk as the supporting florals.
The result is a layered, natural-looking design that doesn't feel flat or repetitive. It looks the way a real floral arrangement looks: varied, textured, and full of depth. When it's done well, the blending of materials is invisible. You just see a beautiful bouquet.
A note on quality: the difference between a cheap silk flower and a premium one is immediately obvious in person and in photos. The same is true for real touch. Both materials have a wide quality spectrum, and investing in the premium end of either is always worth it. That's a non-negotiable part of how we source and design.
💬 your questions
