Personal flowers are a great way to visually honour special people at your wedding
Flowers at a wedding can add a lot of beauty to a wedding and also carry a lot of significance. Often times, however, during the wedding planning process brides find themselves asking; “Who gets flowers at a wedding?.” This is a really good question! By giving someone personal flowers, like a corsage or boutonniere, you are highlighting that person visually as someone that is really important and meaningful to you.
We have included a list below of the different options for personal flowers. For all of the different options, you’ll need to be aware of who will be wearing the arrangement, and also the size of the flowers. When you meet with your florist, they can provide recommendations on what will work well depending on your vision.
Bouquets
Along with adding elegance and beauty on your wedding day, flowers for the bride and her bridesmaids is an amazing way to tell the colour story of your day using your colour scheme. It also provides something for you to do with your hands so you don’t feel uncomfortable during formal portraits! We would also recommend to have your florist create a separate tossing bouquet if you’re choosing to do a bouquet toss!
There are many different bouquet styles so don’t be afraid to make your bouquet extra unique and special. Work with your florist to figure out the best style that compliments your dress style. A couple of our favourite bouquet styles include:
- Cascade / Waterfall
- Posy
- Hand-tied
- Crescent
- Presentation
You can also work in a really sentimental touch to your bouquet if you are wanting to honour a family member or close friend who has passed away. Some of our brides have incorporated something from their jewelry collection or a small picture/locket to the bouquet to honour someone special that can’t be with them on their wedding day.
You can see an example of a small picture/locket being used in a bouquet by Syd Kemsley Florist at this Great Gatsby inspired Chatham Armoury Wedding.
Hair Flowers
Depending on your hair style, adding flowers to your hair can add an extra touch to your wedding look. You can go the route of wearing a full floral crown, to adding large or small blooms with greenery to your hair, your bridesmaids hair or even the flower girls. A flower girl with a floral crown is always a show stopper, they just look so cute! Some different flowers you could consider wearing in your hair are lilies, magnolias, roses, or peonies. There are many other options but those are just a few.
Corsages
Corsages are one of the two main personal flowers at a wedding that really highlight and show honour to the person wearing them. The bride’s mother, groom’s mother, all the grandmothers, and any female readers during your ceremony traditionally wear a corsage on their wrist, or a pinned corsage to their clothing. If you have a female officiant that you really connect with, you could even consider giving them a corsage as well.
We love corsages that are simple and elegant. There also just seems to be something so special and meaningful about the moment that the groom puts the corsage on his mom’s clothing or wrist. Call us sentimental, but this is why we love what we do as wedding photographers!
Boutonnieres
Fun fact: Boutonnieres are one of the most forgotten items on a wedding day! During the hustle and bustle of getting ready, guys sometimes forget to put on these little flowers or arrangements. Make sure you pick one groomsman who will make sure they get put on! Boutonnieres are a nice addition to a wedding day and ideally compliment the style, colours, design and flowers in your bridal bouquet. The people who traditionally wear a boutonniere include: the groom, groomsmen, the bride’s dad, the groom’s dad, any ring bearers, ushers, all grandfathers, any male readers and you can even have one for your male officiant if you have one.
Boutonnieres can be worn with or without a pocket square, depending on the size of the arrangement. They can also be made using pins or magnets. We tend to lean towards the pins, especially if there are 2 pins, even though the magnets are easier to put on. The reason being if the magnet isn’t very strong or you have 1 pin, the boutonniere can move around and flip on you. With two pins, your small floral statement will be held securely in place!
Petal Basket
There aren’t many things cuter than having a flower girl with a floral crown as mentioned. But, adding in a petal basket just takes the wedding cake (yeah I went there). This is entirely optional, but is so adorable especially if you are able to have the flower girl, depending on her age, to get some practice holding the basket while walking and throwing pedals as she walks the aisle.
Floral Collars for Pets
We are all for incorporating your pets in your day where possible. We’ve already talked about who you give flowers to, is really a way to honour someone you love. We love when our brides incorporate their pets into their day. And it’s even sweeter when pets get a So why not give your pet a floral collar. Lisa from Soul Shears, here in London, does an amazing job making collars like the one below. This is obviously entirely optional and we have even seen cats and dogs in bow-ties as well. They always blow everyone out of the water with their cuteness and they don’t even know it. Lucky.
As a side note, if you are needing an extra hand with incorporating your furry friend into your wedding day, Black Dog & Company provides dog attendant services just for brides! They are also available for travel.
We hope this list of personal flowers and who gets flowers at a wedding was helpful for you in your planning and helps you to think of some different options to consider as you speak with your florist!
Check out the wedding planning and advice section of our blog for more helpful hints during your planning process!
You may also find these resources helpful:
Top 10 list of keepsakes to photograph on your wedding day
Top 10 best tips for wedding dress shopping
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