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Emma's Wedding Diary: Flowers & Preserved Bouquets

I've just got back from an appointment with a wedding florist that I found in my Organizer and I am feeling a lot less daunted by it. I was really impressed by her expertise.

I'm glad I followed advice and took a sketch of the wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses too, along with samples of the fabrics. It's important for a wedding florist to see the shape of the dress as well as the colour, as that is crucial for a well designed wedding bouquet.

She suggested some beautiful flowers that will be in season at the time of the wedding which helps to keep the cost down. Out of season flowers can be used in wedding bouquets, but it brings the cost up and it's harder to guarantee that they'll be available. Luckily the roses I want come in a perfect colour, but she told me that flowers can be dyed which I didn't know before.

Hooray for modern wedding bouquets!

I was relieved to see that it isn't all just carnations and freesias any more. There are all kinds of things that can be added - she's incorporating some lovely sparkly beads into my wedding bouquet and the leaves will be used more dramatically than in the past. In fact it's going to be so nice that I don't want to throw my bouquet to the single female guests at the end of the day, I want to keep it! Luckily she's going to make a little mini version for that, my friends will kill me if they don't get a chance to catch a wedding bouquet!

The bridesmaids' bouquets are traditionally more simple versions of mine, but there are some beautiful and very simple long stemmed bouquets tied with a ribbon that really caught my eye. The rules are less rigid these days, as long as nothing clashes, there can be more variety between our bouquets. I like that idea seeing as their dresses are going to be different designs yet made of the same fabric.

When she showed me her portfolio and I saw what she had done for younger bridesmaids I almost wished I had some small cousin that I could rope into being a flower girl! Saying that, not all churches and venues allow petals to be scattered. There were pictures of the cutest wrist posies and little baskets of flowers, but alas, there's no-one that I can recruit.

Another option that I'm considering is silk flowers. They are incredibly realistic, won't wilt and I won't have to think about preserving them. But there is something special about fresh flowers...

Floral Decorations for the wedding ceremony

I've checked with the church about being able to set up floral decorations at the end of the pews and also a couple of pedestals of flowers for the altar. I've left my contact details with the vicar to pass on to anyone else getting married on the same day to see if our choices might be compatible; if so we may be able to share some of the costs. The church would prefer that we use bird seed instead of paper confetti so we'll have to put a note in with the directions when we send the invitations out. Joe was keen on little bottles of blowing bubbles, which I love the idea of as long as they don't pop on my silk dress!

Buttonholes

That reminds me, Joe and the other men in the bridal party are going to have matching buttonholes made from a single rose (Carnations are not compulsory, no matter how much Mum frets about it). She's going to put a single leaf behind it and some decorative loops of special grass to frame the bloom. Sounds a bit weird but the pictures she showed me looked lovely. I almost went with a little cluster of smaller blooms as they can look just as nice as one larger flower. The florist is going to prepare some simple corsages for the Mum's too, I need to get back to her with the colours once their outfits have been chosen.

Floral Decorations for the Wedding Reception

I'm considering options for the reception decorations. I like balloons, I like flowers, but I think I only need one or the other on the tables. I'll see what Joe thinks, actually he won't be bothered, I'll talk to Katie. Any flowers for the tables should be fairly small I think. I'd definitely like some to go around the cake, but not so many that it distracts from it!

Preserving the wedding bouquet

I haven't decided about preserving the wedding bouquet yet, but I've checked with the wedding florist that it's possible with that design and she said she'd keep the wiring to a minimum. I could have it dried, mounted in a frame or even something more involved where it stays three dimensional and is protected by a glass dome. I think Mum would like it to be preserved, she's much more sentimental than I am.

So now all I have to do is wait for my confirmation of the wedding flowers order in writing and file it with my deposit receipt. I think I'm getting the hang of this!