Your Wedding Flowers
Points to Consider When Choosing Your Flowers

Decorating with Flowers

Your wedding floral arrangements can enhance the wedding day and it is best to include them at the planning stage and set a budget for them.

Basically you have two options on what flowers to use on your day - fresh flowers or artificial flowers. You may also choose to have a combination of both. But before you decide on fresh or artificial flowers, obtain quotes on them.

Fresh flowers always look and smell nice, but it can be hard to keep them looking pretty all day. Some artificial flowers look magnificent and look real, and do come in various colors and shades and do not wilt.

Choosing your wedding flowers requires thought and planning to ensure that they match both the dress, in design and color. Wedding flowers should blend and tone in with or highlight a feature of the bride's and bridesmaids' dresses.

For example, for a bridesmaid wearing a pale pink dress with deep pink trimming around the neckline and hem of the dress, and deep pink shoes, choose deep pink roses or carnations, combined with smaller pink flowers and either pale pink or deep pink ribbons.

With a pale lemon dress, use pale lilac, pale blue, pale pink or pale apricot flowers, as a contrast, or use white and yellow flowers to tone in with the dress.

Once you have decided on the wedding flowers, you will need to consider each arrangement in turn.

The style of the bride’s bouquet will depend on your height, build, gown and accessories. This also applies to the bridesmaids' and flower girls' bouquets.

Here are some basic guidelines:

With a lace or heavily appliquéd dress, use a simple, elegant design with plain ribbon tails.

With a plain dress, you can choose from many designs, especially if you are of average height or taller.

A bride who is short and plump should not carry a long, wide bouquet, but rather a slender design of medium length.

If you have chosen to go with fresh flowers here are some tips for making them last.

In warm weather keep them in a cool place and in the packaging they arrive in, until you are ready to use them.

If the flowers have wilted, place the ends of the flowers under cold water and cut the ends at an angle. Then place them back into the original water, and they should look better in an hour or so.

There are standard rules as to which flowers you choose and how to use them. Traditional uses of flowers include, for the bride's and bridesmaids bouquet and headdress. Corsages or buttonholes for the parents and buttonholes for the groom, best man and ushers.

The most popular uses for floral decorations in the church include: on the altar, the pulpit, the lectern, the bride's path, window sills, the ends of the pews and the entrance to the church.

At the reception use flowers at the entrance, the cake table, guest's table, bridal table (to save some money you could use the brides and bridesmaids bouquets on the bridal table).

Your Wedding Flowers Points to Consider When Choosing Your Flowers

Decorating with Flowers

Here are some basic guidelines:

Bride Idea

Your Wedding Flowers
Points to Consider When Choosing Your Flowers