A Wedding Flowers Checklist For Planning A Wedding
Flowers are an essential component of any wedding ceremony. Even if you are having a simple backyard wedding, flowers are a nice touch. You should take the time to choose them carefully. They really add a touch of class and elegance to the ceremony and the reception. You should look over this checklist and make sure you have thought of everything.
The Bridal Bouquet: No wedding ceremony is complete without a pretty little bouquet of flowers for the bride. This is probably the most important use of flowers during a wedding. Most bouquets are made up of any of carnations, tulips, lilies and roses as well as a few others. These must be ultra-fresh. Most floral designers will use small young flowers that are bundled tightly to keep them neat and orderly.
Some brides like to wear flowers in the back of their hair on that day. That all depends on how you plan on wearing your hair. If you are having an updo, then think about it. This should be small and subtle without taking away from the rest of the bride’s features. It could make for a nice accent though.
The bridesmaid’s bouquets will be close replicas of the bride’s bouquet. They are usually a little less pronounced as the bride’s flowers so that way more emphasis is on her. Let the florist take care of designing these also. They are really good at matching them up
The groom will likely be wearing a boutonniere. These are small and simple. A single rose bud, tulip or Calla lily often does the trick as the groom’s boutonniere.
Mothers, grandmothers and any other closely related ladies may want to wear a corsage for the wedding ceremony. Make sure you account for everyone who will be wearing one. If you aren’t certain, you should ask. Gardenias and roses make beautiful corsages.
Church ceremonies often use altar decorations. Actually the flowers don’t normally go on the altar itself but to the sides of it instead. A lot of people will use fake flower arrangements for here as nobody really gets close enough to tell the difference except for the wedding party and the priest. You could also use a couple small arrangements of real Star Gazer lilies to provide a strong fragrance of fresh flowers. Use them along with the larger silk flower arrangements. If you are going through the effort of purchasing real flowers for decorating the church, make sure you take them with you to your reception afterwards.
Some people opt to hang little flower arrangements from the church pews as well. These are usually combined with bows or other decorative elements. It provides a really pretty and really elegant path for the bridal party to walk down. It just dresses it up a bit more instead of it looking like every other Sunday mass.
You may choose floral based centerpieces for your reception tables. Stargazer lilies are one of the most fragrant flowers. If you like the smell of them, which most people do, you could try to make sure every table centerpiece has at least one of them in it. This will make the whole reception area smell absolutely wonderful. The rest of the arrangement can be either silk flowers or some other less expensive flower ensemble.
Flowers are sometimes appropriate on a buffet table if one is being used at your reception hall. This is not mandatory, but can dress things up a bit. It would be more appropriate if the entire rest of the place is going to be highly decorated.
A small flower design for the top of your wedding cake is also a neat little touch. It makes the cake look all that much more special. If done properly you will get that wow factor.
There is my list for different ways to use flowers at your wedding. Print it out and use it when you are making your plans. Flowers can get pretty darn expensive if you aren’t careful. You should definitely think about renting some silk arrangements for certain parts. If your guests aren’t going to be close enough to tell the difference, then you need not go through the extra expense of having all real ones. This is a good place to be a little frugal.