Choosing/ Rocking Your Ideal Bouquet

The bride’s bouquet is the most significant of all flower arrangements on your wedding day, and can lacheive vastly different looks, depending on your gown, ceremony and reception locations, body shape and season. So it’s worth investing the time to find what suits your personality and the wedding, as well as just plain looking great.  Here’s how to pick your ultimate bouquet:

(Courtesy pinterest.com)

Match it to Your Dress

The main factor to remember here is to have your flowers complement  your gown, not compete with them. So, if you have a particularly intricate gown, you’ll probably need some understated flowers. Similarly, a clean looking gown will probably leave room for an ornate, bedazzled and bejewelled confection to balance the look out. Bring as many pieces of your wedding planning toy your florist- such as a picture of the reception venue and gown, a swatch of the material, and your accessories- to give her an idea of what will look best.

Experiment with Shape

Bouquets come in a variety of shapes, each with their own look, and pros and cons. The shape of the bouquet can have a huge influence on how the arrangement looks, so take htis opportunity to play around with different looks until you’ve found the perfect fit.

These bouquet shapes available consist of the: ‘round,’ ‘trailer,’ ‘sheaf,’ ‘crescent,’ ‘line,’ and ‘cascade’ varieties.

• Round bouquets are an extremely popular choice for brides. The size is adjustable, so it suits a number of dress styles. It is usually used for large flowers like roses, peonies, or carnations, and is loosely arranged and tied with a ribbon.

• Cascading bouquets are well suited to romantic dresses. Keep in mind though that they are rather big, so they’re generally suited to larger dresses. The flowers are usually wired to a handle to keep them in place. This is also the most traditional and formal of all bouquet styles.

• Tied bouquets have a less definite shape, and are tied with ribbon or wire. This style is best suited to modern, simple dress codes.

• A posy bouquet is the smallest, most minimalistic approach to the bouquet. Small or big flowers work beautifully, and therefore it is well suited to numerous types of dresses.

• A pomander bouquet usually consists of just flowers- no additional ‘filler’ foliage and can suspended on a ribbon for the bride to hang on her wrist (more hands for champers!).
• Alternatively, you can have a simple, streamlined bouquet that forms a ‘line’ of flowers rather than a collected bunch. This also makes a great choice for a slim fitting gown.

Consider Less Traditional Options

If you’d like to replace or add to, your bouquet, think about floral accessory options. These arrangements are limited only by your imagination and sense of style. Some more popular floral accessories include a floral boa to wear around your shoulders, a floral necklace (like a Hawaiian lei), a floral crown, as well as bracelets, arm bands, anklets and belts.

Bling It Out

An additional option to further personify your bouquet is to include some more glamorous elements( hey, it’s not like you’ll be wearing a diamond grill to the ceremony, so lets take it where we can get it). You can either include these elements in the bouquet itself, or use some to tie the stems together. Some options include:

• Pearls and crystals can easily be added for a sense of glamour and luxury
• Faux butterflies add an element of romance and whimsy
• Feathers, lace, or even leather can be added to signify a touch of bordello fun
• And lastly, don’t be afraid to get creative with your ribbon! Whilst satin ribbon adds a rich, luxurious lookFor a delicate touch sheer organza ribbon can be used to create ribbon bows and long streamers.
• Wide satin ribbon will give a rich, luxurious look.

Flowers to Hone Your Figure

Yup, you read right. Holding your bouquet can slim you right down, provided them you hold them in the correct spot- where your hands naturally clasp when you have good posture and relaxed arms (just below the pelvis). Whilst many brides hold their bouquets at their stomachs or chests (generally due to nerves), this is simply the wrong place to hold them, and very unflattering. Your elongated arms will cut off a few extra visual inches from your waistline, making you look taller and slimmer.

The Fresh Factor

Flowers are fragile and wilt quickly. Yours should be made as close to the acutal wedding as possible- normally on the same day. They should then be refrigerated until the last moments before the ceremony. If you have particularly delicate flowers, such as lily of the valley or gardenias, you may want to ask for two bouquets- one for the ceremony, and one for the photos (especially if these events are hours apart). Keep it fresh on the actual day by refrigerating it when you can (like between the ceremony and reception) or misting it with cooled water.

Making Memories

If you’d like to keep your flowers as a significant token of your wedding day, you absolutely can. Simply hand the bouquet upside down in a dry spot where it wont be disturbed. This process generally takes several weeks to complete. For more specific advice (dependent on your flowers), consult your florist.