How to choose wedding flowers

If you don’t know where to start when it comes to choosing your wedding flowers read on for expert advice from our wedding designers who will help you decipher your ranunculus from your roses…

 

What is the first thing to think about when choosing wedding flowers?

Start by seeing what flowers are available at the time of year that you’re getting married. Seasonal flowers are at their best. After seasonality, the next most important factor to think about when choosing your wedding flowers is the colour of the outfits that you and your wedding party are wearing. You don’t want your arrangements to clash with them. Equally, look at the interiors of the venue where you’re getting married. Think about the style and décor of the space. If you’re getting married in a London hotel, for example, take particular notice of the colour of the carpets and curtains.

Is the scent of the flowers important?

The smell of your chosen wedding flowers will stay with you for the rest of your life. Tuberose, Jasmine, Garden Roses and herbs like Rosemary, Lemon Thyme and Mint are all great choices for creating a memorable fragrance for your wedding day. We work with our brides to help them recreate a smell that they love or which might be sentimental. You could take inspiration from your childhood garden or the scent that someone special wears.

How does the consultation process work?

We work with such a mix of brides. Some know exactly what they want and others don’t at all. We usually start by asking brides to bring any visuals they have of their wedding dress or venue, or flowers they like and the colours of the bridesmaid dresses if they have them.

We talk about what sorts of things they love. This then filters into buzz words for how they want their wedding to feel. We ask them to choose a few words that describe how they would like their guests to feel at their wedding. Romantic, chic, elegant, sexy, informal, fun, sophisticated and classic are some of the regular things couples will say. All of this enables us to build a bigger picture of how the bride might want her wedding flowers to look.

Once we have our list of buzzwords, our wedding managers sketch a picture of the bride in her dress (including hair style) with her bouquet. We then work through the ceremony and reception designs, using the sketch and the relevant words as a guide.

That first stage of the process takes an hour from start to finish, and is followed by an in-depth quotation with a mood board and colourways broken down by occasion and including clear descriptions.

                                                                                                     

How should a bride choose the shape of their bouquet?

There are three main types of bouquets to consider. There’s round, hand-tied bunches, which might be suitable for a country wedding, or bohemian style. They tend to be natural, beautiful, loose and informal. We might use garden roses, seasonal flowers and some foliage in there as well. More structured bouquets would also be hand-tied but less wild. They are often made up of just one flower variety and no foliage so make more of a contemporary statement. Then there’s wired bouquet, which can be any shape. It’s wired because every flower needs to be put in a specific position to create a shape other than a round one – something like a teardrop for example. This style of wedding bouquet works well when brides want something different, something tiny or very light to carry.

How big should a bride’s bouquet be?

The size of your bouquet is definitely something brides should consider. If you’re petite, you want to avoid a long trailing bouquet, which will overpower you. You should think of your bouquet as an accessory. Equally, a big dress doesn’t automatically need a big bouquet either. Full skirts can be complemented beautifully with a simple, delicate arrangement.

How far in advance should brides book an appointment with you?

When it comes to lead times for weddings, we speak to brides as much as 18 months ahead of their wedding and have even managed to create beautiful wedding flowers in just a few days! Generally though the normal lead time for planning a wedding with us is between 6 months and a year.

Whether you know what wedding or event flowers you’re looking for or need complete guidance from us, get in touch with our wedding designers by emailing [email protected] or calling 020 7127 5303.