I have an upcoming wedding cake and my customer just called with a question about the flowers and I have no idea of the answer.  She ordered her wedding cake from me a few months ago, it will be a 4 tiered cake and she had to have fresh hydrangeas.  I tried to talk her out of using them telling her they are toxic to eat and I don't/won't put them on the actual cake so someone may eat them.  I came up with a way for the flowers to not touch the cake at all by having separator plates between each tier and filling in the spaces with the flowers, which she is fine with and loves the idea anyways.  She is trying to save money and will  be providing the flowers herself.  She just called to let me know after she tried to order the flowers the florist told her that after a hour for the hydrangeas being out of water they will start to wilt.  I have never used them before and have no idea if this is correct or not.  If this is the case what could I do to keep the flowers from wilting? I have seen the type of cake I will be doing a lot and they all use fresh flowers.  The florist told her she could use those water pick things but I can't see them working without spilling out or being hard to decorate around.  Any help would be great.

That is 100% true, they wilt really fast. The pictures that you've seen were probably taken right after the cake was set up. If you waited until the cake is cut they would be flat and wilty.

If you HAVE to use them, which I would refuse to do, you could rig up a plastic dish to put in the center of the tier, and put a piece of oasis in it to stick the stems into. Make sure there's plenty of water in the dish.

Thanks so much for replying.  What is oasis, is it that soft flower styofoam stuff?

yeah, it's  that green spongy stuff. If you soak it in water it absorbs it and will stay wet so it's a water source.

Tell her to use fabric hydrangeas, they are non-toxic and look very lifelike and do not require water.

AIf you do this you want to have the bride sign something saying that you are not responsible for what the flowers look like on the cake. She's been warned by the florist so I would cover myself from her blaming you if they wilt....or altogether refuse to use them

If I knew this about them I would have refused but the wedding is for the Saturday coming up and she has been so adament about using them I gave in. I will never use them again though. I did recommend silk flowers, I've seen so really pretty ones, but she wants to save money.

AReal flowers from a florist or fake ones that look nice seems the price would be comparison if that's a wood lol. Get her to sign something saying it's not your fault if they wilt because sure as heck if they do she will be blaming you for it....and if you go with the green water absorbing stuff make sure to charge her for it

AHallelujah she decided it was too much trouble and decided to go with roses. I now know to never ever use them again. She was going to go to Costco for the flowers to go as cheap as she could on them. The cake will be 5 tiers for about 250 and about 500 are supposed to show up so I don't understand why she wants to scrimp on a cake.

AND, there are certain species of hydrangeas that shed little black things - like large pcs. of black pepper, each time you move them to position them on the cake.  What a major pain that was.  I've worked with hydrangeas before in white then someone left a large vase full of blue hydrangeas and they shed like crazy.  I would leave some space in between each tier and use the floral picks.  You fill them with water then attach a rubber stopper.  The stems are inserted into the hole in the center of the stopper and (trust me) stems on hydrangeas as so large, no water will escape.  But if you place a large amount of these into a cake, it might crack the cakes surface.  Another idea is to lay hydrangeas on top of the cake as the topper then at the base of the cake around the cake plateau - this allows you to tuck the stems with the floral picks under the stand.