I have been going back and forth on what to do with flowers for wedding cakes I am beginning to get into. I can make gumpaste flowers no problem, but they are labor intensive and often I have trouble justifying to brides why a single flower could be $20, and it is a wedding so they want several flowers on their cake.

They suggest using real flowers but around here there was a recent incident where a pesticide used on the flowers leached into the cake and made the guests sick, so everyone was sued, and on top of that some flowers are poisonous. 

Then you can use fake flowers which can be pricey but often are cheaper than gumpaste slightly I have found.

What do you suggest to brides, or use?

my suggestion is to up your game on the flowers -- learn how to make them much faster so it becomes profitable for you -- as we all know the market is glutted with cake makers and bakers of all sorts so you have to make it good fast and efficient --

what flower do you charge so much for? i mean i would upcharge a blanket fee for extensive flowers like a wildly floral sylvia weinstock's cake -- but a few flowers would not be an upcharge -- a certain amount of decor is included in my base price (was)

not to mention you can pipe flowers too

I agree with K8memphis.  Gumpaste flowers are the way to go.  I typically only upcharge for extremely large sprays or intricate flowers.  My flowers are usually a part of my base price too.