Flowers for your Wedding Ceremony

(What it takes to have Fabulous Wedding Flowers!

 - Part Two)

Well, you might have thought that sorting the flowers for your wedding would be one of the easy tasks........it certainly is one of the most pleasurable, as it gives you the chance to show your creative side, but there is quite a bit to think about and to sort out with your wedding florist.

I’m a florist specialising in providing floral designs for weddings and special occasions, and in my last BLOG I explained the approach I take when consulting with clients about the flowers for the wedding party – bouquets, posies, buttonholes etc.  This time I’m going to look at the basics of deciding what floral designs you would like at the place where your actual marriage ceremony takes place.

There is no doubt that flowers can be a great way to create a special atmosphere and show your sense of style, and there are lots of ways in which they can be used in wonderful displays throughout your day.  But where do you start...................

What ‘look’ are you hoping to achieve for your wedding day?

THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY

Before you get too carried away with thoughts of all the gorgeous flower displays that could surround you during the ceremony, do make sure you have some idea in your head of what you can actually afford!  If you have limited resources (and let’s face it, most of us do!) it is best to spend your money wisely – I always advise couples to concentrate on areas where flowers will have the most impact and where they will be on view for a reasonable amount of time.  After all you will have other things on your mind.............

Large flower displays at the entrance to your venue create impact as guests arrive and set the scene for the whole day - this style could easily be used for a civil ceremony too

A Church Wedding

Consider the colour of flowers you use inside a church and remember that older buildings tend to be quite dark inside – whatever the colour scheme you have chosen for the day, try to use light colours for your church flowers as they have greater luminosity

There is a good reason why it is a tradition to have pedestal arrangements in churches and that is because their size and height help to create impact in a large space where low or smaller arrangements tend to be lost.  However, pedestal arrangements do not have to be made in a traditional style and there are lots of other ways you can decorate a church too, as the following photos show................

Create a great first impression by attaching a flower garland around a church archway or lynch gate - make a lovely framework for photos too!

Arrangements placed just inside the entrance can set the scene as guests enter the church, and can then easily be moved to the reception venue!  Just make sure they are placed on something tall.

Pew ends are lovely and can be made to match your colour scheme, but they are best on pews with some height so that they will be seen as guests take their places

Pedestal arrangements placed at the front of the church are on view throughout the service and they can still be given a fresh and pretty feel

An alternative is an arrangement placed centrally in front of the altar, particularly where this is raised as it will give good visibility

Flower garlands around old stone pillars look fantastic and this bride has chosen to have flower trees at the entrance to the aisle, which would then be moved to the reception venues.  Money was not such a problem here as this was my daughter’s wedding!

Another consideration for church flowers is whether some of the designs could be moved to the reception venue after the service to give greater value.  Ask your florist to help you select suitable designs so that this can be done, but do check if the church has any requirement for flowers to be left behind..........some do!

A Civil Ceremony

Many couples arrange their civil ceremony to take place at the same venue as their reception, which gives another opportunity for decorating the room with flowers and creating a special atmosphere.  Colour will be less of an issue than in a church if the venue is well lit, but take care that your flower colours will show up against the internal decoration at the venue and that they will not clash.

Some of the larger designs shown above are equally suitable to create a focal point in the ceremony room, such as the pedestals and flower trees.  However, it is worth considering how easily these can be moved if the ceremony and reception are taking place in different rooms – for example, the flower trees can be moved quite easily, but instead of a traditional pedestal design it would probably be better to make large arrangements in a large vase placed on top of a plinth for ease of lifting.

At this civil wedding the flower tree seen in the top right corner provided a focal point at the front of the room during the ceremony, and was then on show during the wedding breakfast

 At civil ceremonies it can also be a good idea to have small arrangements placed on the registrar’s table, which can then become table centres or other display designs, but check that there will be sufficient space for this.

Two designs in the bride’s aubergine colour scheme were placed on the registrar’s table at this wedding and were later placed at either end of the long top table

This happy couple also moved their floral designs from the marriage table to the dining table, which is pictured above

At either a church or civil ceremony you might also want to consider where your photographs will be taken and whether you want flowers to feature in your pictures.  Decorating entrance ways is a good way to achieve this, as in some of the photographs above, or placing large arrangements to frame an area if pictures are being taken inside your venue.

Of course if you are able to take your photographs outside nature will do the work for you!

Follow my BLOG and next time I will give some tips on fabulous flowers for your reception............