Choosing Flowers
Various types of bridal bouquets are available that suit individual styles
of wedding gowns. The flowers are as much a part of the traditional wedding
as the white gown and tiered cake.
Traditions & Sayings
Like the bride's outfit, there are many customs or superstitions associated
with flowers. Perhaps the best known of these is that of the bride tossing
her bouquet over her shoulder to the guests at the end of the wedding
reception, the girl who catches it being the next to marry if the saying
is true.
Brides who wish to do this but also want to keep their bouquets as a
memento of their wedding can have a replica made in fresh flowers. These
can then be dried or some pressed and mounted in a picture. Also, some
florists will make a replica of a bouquet in silk flowers to keep after
the wedding.
Orange blossoms are traditionally associated with weddings and are said
to represent Juno's gift to Jupiter on their wedding day.
Choosing Flowers
It is advisable to seek the professional advice from a florist when choosing
the flowers for a wedding as they will know what flowers are available
at that time of year. Also, florists who specialise in wedding flowers
and bouquets will be able to offer guidance on what types of flowers and
shapes of bouquet would best suit your wedding gown.
It is therefore helpful to the florist to take along sketches and fabric
swatches of the bridal gown so that flowers can be colour matched.
Less formal bridal bouquets can be made from sheaf's or bunches of flowers,
simply finished with satin ribbon tying the stalks together. Lilies, tulips
and other long-stemmed flowers are ideal choices for these simple styles.
It is worth while bearing in mind the attendants' ages when deciding
upon the flowers they will carry at the wedding. Small children are undoubtedly
the most ornamental attendants for the bride... but (howe come there is
always a but...) they have the unfortunate knack of either dropping their
bouquets altogether...or of letting slip some of the flowers. Practical
fashion has surmounted the difficulty by introducing the bridesmaid's
basket.
Long-handled baskets, filled with fresh flowers or hoops entwined with
blooms and greenery, are much easier for small hands to grasp without
dropping them somewhere down the aisle. Floral pompons, which are balls
of flowers suspended from a satin loop of ribbon are also easy for little
ones the carry. Fresh flowers tied to one wrist is another pretty idea
for younger bridesmaids. A small spray of flowers can be attached to a
band of ribbon or velcro.
Buttonholes, or boutonnieres, are optional for small page-boys and can
match those worn by the groom, best man and ushers.
The flowers chosen for flower baskets, posies, nosegays, hoops or whatever
can be echoed in fresh flower head-dresses for bridesmaids and flower-girls.
These can range from the simplest option of a perfect bloom held in the
hair by means of a hair comb or grip to a full circlet of leaves and blooms.
Evergreen leaves and berries are striking alternatives to flowers for
winter weddings and can be used to create head-dresses and bouquets trimmed
with ribbons.
Other Flowers
While male members of the wedding party usually wear carnations in their
buttonholes, either with or without greenery, alternatives include using
one or more of the same flowers used in the bridal bouquet, extending
the colour theme of the wedding. Corsages, too, worn by the bride and
bridegroom's mothers, can incorporate these flowers.
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