Your wedding bouquet is the most important accessory to compliment your wedding dress.
At an overseas wedding, it’s going to be impossible to take a bouquet of flowers abroad with you, so you’ll have to rely on local florists sourced by yourself or through your wedding co-ordinator.
A few weeks before your wedding (or as far in advance as you wish), it’s a very good idea to gather photos of bouquet styles that you like. You can then email your florist to ensure she knows what you would like to be carrying with you on the day. When looking for ideas, you can have a look on the Internet for ideas, or alternatively you could buy a wedding flowers book.
There are a few considerations you need to keep in mind when choosing your dream bouquet:
- Be aware that some flowers are seasonal, so it may be difficult to get certain flowers at the time of year that your wedding will be taking place.
- Keep in mind the colour of your dress. If you’re wearing red, you may not want to hold red roses as they’ll get ‘lost’ in pictures.
- Similarly the bouquet shape should match the style of your dress. If you have a romantic style dress, then you might want to opt for a relaxed bouquet shape rather than a stiff circle of flowers tightly held together.
- Be aware of the meaning of certain flowers. For instance if you’re from Lancashire in the north of England, you’re unlikely to want white roses in your bouquet!
- If you’re a hayfever sufferer, then there may be flowers that trigger your allergy more than others. Do some research into this, as you won’t want to be sneezing through your vows.
- Some flowers are a lot more expensive than others, so ask your florist the price of any particularly exotic or unusual flowers that you may have your eye on.
- If you have a lot of detail on the front of your dress, you may not want to cover it with a huge bouquet, so opt for something smaller that can perhaps be held to the side.
- Be aware that larger bouquets can be extremely heavy (from all the wiring) and you’ll have to hold them for long periods of time when posing for photos.
- It’s possible to add glamour to your bouquet by adding small crystals, pearls and luxury ribbons. For a winter wedding, you can keep your hands warm by incorporating a winter muff into your bouquet and have the flowers draped over the top of it cascading towards the ground.
- You’d expect the groom and other men in the wedding party to have button holes that match the theme of your bouquet.
- Bridesmaids can have a smaller version of your bouquet, or something that compliments it.
Many brides like to toss their wedding bouquet over their head for single ladies to catch at the wedding reception. It is thought that this tradition is from England where brides were once thought to be able to pass on good fortune to others. Guests would try and tear at the brides clothing and flowers in order to take a piece of this ‘luck’ for themselves. So the bride would toss the bouquet to distract the crowd and get away.
It’s your decision as to whether or not you’d like to honour this custom. It can make for a great photo opportunity. On the downside it can be something that unmarried ladies dread having to go through making them feel extremely uncomfortable and depressed about their own non-married status. So judge this with care!
