Bride Guide 1: Designing your Wedding Flowers

Trying to organise a wedding can be one of the most stressful things you'll ever have to do, so finding the right people to help you along the way is essential. With so many ideas available to us these days on sites such as Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook (I could go on and on...) the choices are endless. Sometime all these ideas tend to overwhelm us. Over a series of blogs, I'm going to give you some hints and tips for deciding on your flowers and decorations and hopefully help you to get at least one thing checked off the list of  "to do's".

Why are flowers so important?

Most people will have a favourite flower or colour in mind when it first comes to thinking about wedding flowers, but there are a lot more things to consider to complete the look for your special day. You may not have given much thought to what you would like for your flowers but if you've ever had a look at anyone's photos from their big day, you may have noticed what an integral part they play. It's not just about the bouquet you hold, but about creating an entire theme and feeling for you and your guests to enjoy and remember for years to come.

Flowers sneak their way into so many of your photos so make sure you think about how they will tie into your theme, style or vision.

Your Wedding Dress vs the Bouquet. 

Your wedding dress is probably the most expensive and important dress you will ever buy. We spend hours deciding what jewellery, hairstyle and shoes you are going to accent it with, but the one you may have forgotten is that lovely posy of flowers you are holding in front of the dress for most of the day. You also pay a lot of money for your photographer to get those special shots - look at any wedding photo shoot and you'll realise just how much attention the flowers get. So here are some things to think about so your dress doesn't get lost in all the action!

• The size of your Bouquet. Think about the size of your dress. Is it a large puffy princess number, or is sleek and chic more your style? Generally, fuller skirted dresses can cope with a larger bouquet, whilst dresses with a sleeker line tend to look better with a medium to small bouquet in a simple arrangement. 

Beautiful Bride Sally's dress was slim fitting to the mid thigh and then flared out with a fishtail finish. I created the bouquet to be quite full to balance the dress, yet all the detailing and embellishment  is still clearly visible.

• The colour of the flowers against your dress. In older times brides usually wore white, but today's bride has moved to include shades of ivory and champagne with the latest runways seeing pastels becoming more popular. Often the Bride chooses flowers to match her gown such as white flowers with a white dress, but this can sometimes be the wrong option. The flowers can get washed out in the photography and you can end up feeling jealous of the bridesmaids' contrast of vivid colours. Having a matching colour is totally do-able, just speak to your florist to discuss other options to make your matching flowers 'pop' which include using foliage, ribbons,or embellishments to customise your bouquet. Of course your can also opt to mix a few other colours amongst your flowers or go for a completely contrasting look with something bright and bold.

Jessica's Bridesmaids wore a delicious deep plum, so she chose this range of spectacular colours to contrast. 

• Embellishments. Any accents such as Pearl beading down the handle, Diamante buckles and brooches and cascading ribbons (just to name a few) should tie in with your dress. For example - If your bodice is beaded with diamantes, then it is usually best to stick with diamante embellishments for your bouquet. And whilst embellishments can help to create a something to remember, don't forget the beauty of nature - the flowers should remain the main focus of the bouquet.

These pics are actually from my wedding! I went with a vintage style theme and had eveything embellished with diamantes, so chose to keep the flowers ( ivory roses and white and green stock) traditional and simple.
Photos with thanks to Rasha Photography.

Next Blog:
Next time I'll continue my hints and tips for Wedding flowers with a post on "Meeting with your Wedding Florist". Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out!

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