Perfect Ideas for How to Use Flowers in Your Wedding ...

The bridal bouquet has been a significant feature of weddings for centuries and in all cultures. Western bouquets were originally made up of herbs and spices to ward off evil spirits on a special day. Nowadays a bridal bouquet is chosen for colors, design and floral choice and is a very personal decision.

Hand-tied posies remain a popular choice for brides and will probably never go out of style. Whether it’s a selection of bright colors and floral varieties or a single flower and color scheme, hand-tied posies can look big and showy or elegant and soft and romantic. Posies can be tied with ribbons and decorated with antique brooches, or decorative pins. Carrying a posy gives a nervous bride and her bridesmaids something to do with their hands as they walk down the aisle.

Shapes and textures are a way for a bride to make a bold statement in her bouquet about who she is. From a teardrop, an arm sheaf, a single flower, to a long trailing bouquet, the right combination of flowers can truly make a statement.

Foliage is becoming a popular addition to bouquets, adding a natural element that can be carried through as the theme to the reception.

The addition of edible fruits and herbs can add texture to a bridal bouquet.

The floral arrangements in the venue where the vows will be exchanged should complement the bridal bouquet and the color theme of the wedding. They can also be an introduction to what the guests can expect to see at the reception venue. If you are having a church wedding you are limited to standing arrangements near the altar and on the ends of the pews, but if you are having an outdoor venue or another space like a barn or a beach, the scope is only limited by your imagination.

The reception

Reception flowers are bolder than ever before. Gone are the days of vases of flowers in the middle of each table. Today’s wedding reception flowers transform the venue and clearly display the theme of the wedding.

Suspended arrangements with hanging flowers and greenery are an amazing way to decorate a venue, especially big open spaces. You might hang them over the tables or you might consider having them as arches or a to create a canopy for a walkway.

If your venue isn’t a church, and you are also exchanging vows and holding the reception in the same place, a floral archway can serve as the altar for the vows and make a captivating feature as the entrance to the reception. They will also be a feature in the wedding photos. Archways combining traditional flowers and stunning greenery will be a feature for photographs and give weddings a wow factor.

If you want to give your reception a quirky touch, vary the floral arrangement table to table and by missing up vases and containers and the flowers and foliage they hold. For an indoor venue, the use of foliage can bring the outdoors in. Think of long tables with garlanded centerpieces made up of flowers and greenery running their whole length.

Other ideas you might consider are:

- the use of mirrors under floral arrangements to double the number of flowers in the room

- choosing a single color palette and using different flowers for a striking effect

- opting for slight color variations for an ombré effect.

- adopting the rising trend in farm to table weddings using locally grown flowers and greenery along materials like hessian, or twine, wooden boxes, or potted plants.

- Using wildflowers. Their unique texture and striking colors, coupled with natural foliage can create eye-catching centerpieces.

You might also want to think of other ways to bring flowers into your wedding.

- Floral crowns remain popular for brides and bridesmaids.

Whether it is a delicate crown made from gypsophila or a more solid crown of roses and other fuller blooms, the floral crown has yet to go out of fashion.

- Flower parties are a relativity new thing and look set to continue. A flower party is an opportunity for the bride-to-be to get together with her girlfriends prior to the wedding and with a florist, put together the bouquets and some of the arrangements and floral decorations.

- Potted succulents on the table are a nice touch which serve as both a centerpiece and as wedding favors.

- Floral garlands are always statement-making. Other than for decorating a table, garlands can be used on seating charts, as chair swags, to decorate the cake, to embellish the bridal table and more.