Your bridal bouquet plays a significant role in your wedding day. From accentuating your dress, to appearing in your photos, it’s an important accessory that shouldn’t be overlooked in your wedding planning.
If you’ve been thumbing through bridal magazines, surfing The Knot or other wedding planning sites you’ve probably seen plenty of stunning bridal bouquets. It can get a bit overwhelming trying to narrow it down to just one!
We suggest that you first focus on a color palette and the time of the year of the wedding. Create a mood board of images that reflects your overall style – the images can be of anything, not just flowers. Based on your style, your florist will make a recommendation of florals that are in season at the time of your wedding.
To help you pick a look that’s right for you, here are 5 of the most on-trend bouquets that we’ve seen come through the shop.
1. Monochromatic Bouquet
Brides love the trend of sticking to one color or hue for their bridal bouquet, also known as the ‘monochromatic’ look. Monochromatic white is the most popular right now – particularly ‘panda’ anemones which are the white anemones with the black eye in the center.
Other white flowers brides might choose from include: ivory roses, dahlias, clematis, campanula, lisianthus, and ranunculus.
Rather than being boring, one-note bouquets, the monochromatic can be a serious statement bouquet. Depth is achieved by a mix of flower sizes and petal style and adding in different types of flowers in lighter or darker neighboring hues.
By using one color, a single-toned bouquet draws every eye to you as the bride, rather than distracting with a lot of different colors.
2. Blush Bouquet
Also very on-trend is the blush-colored bouquet. This is where flowers in subtle shades of soft pink and/or peach blush (sometimes known as ballerina colors) are used.
The blush bouquet is romantic and classic with a modern twist. It’s perfect if you’re wearing a classic wedding dress, and have an elegant wedding theme.
Typically full blooms such as peonies, ranunculus and roses are chosen for this fresh feminine bouquet. Cafe Au Lait Dahlias are also very popular with blush brides in the fall when peonies are not available.
Blush pink brides like pale pink ranunculus, Faith roses or White O’hara garden roses. Blush peach brides are crazy for pale peach ranunculus, Juliet Garden Roses from David Austin and Mother of Pearl roses, blush-no color like Vendela, Sahara and Quicksand rose varieties.
Blush bouquets tend to be more stylistically arranged than artfully messy, though you could certainly have a more organic shape to make it slightly less formal.
3. Wildflower Bouquets
This style of bouquet refers to the arrangement, which is an artfully messy look, rather than using wildflowers per se.
Brides love this bouquet as it can be gloriously cascading, multi-colored and rustic, in a cascading or a teardrop shape. The arrangement is tied with muslin or linen for a classy, rustic finish.
For a wildflower bouquet, focal flowers – dahlias, garden roses and peonies – are mixed heavily with small headed flowers – wax flower, chamomile, tansy, pennycress, scabiosa, heather or asters. Flowers are arranged in different heights along with ferns, grasses, herbs, seed pods, sprigs, twigs, grasses and foliage.
Mixing tones and shades is the key to making a wildflower bouquet really stand out and look beautiful!
4. Green Inspired Bouquet
Brides are swapping flowers for a green inspired bouquet to add an element of nature to their wedding day.
These bouquets are created by using heavy, lush greenery that has a natural, organic ‘just gathered’ look with a little bit of drape. Green bouquets often include eucalyptus, olive, maiden hair and umbrella fern, ruscus, smilax foliage and jasmine.
If you’re trying to cut your spend by not using flowers, be aware that eucalyptus can be just as expensive as top-shelf flowers!
Beautiful, oversized green bouquets are popular because they’re unusual and unexpected. As well as adding an interesting texture, the emerald green of ferns, poppy pods, trailing amaranth, and wispy clematis vine really pop against the white of a wedding dress.
5. Mini Bouquets
Thanks to Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, brides have fallen in love with mini bouquets, often referred to as nosegay or posy bouquets. This is the opposite end of the scale to oversized bouquets which can, if you’re not careful, monopolize your look.
A simple mini bouquet is not only cheaper, it can be incredibly thoughtful. Did you know that Prince Harry personally picked the flowers for Meghan’s delicate bouquet from their private garden at Kensington Palace? This tradition harks back to Victorian times, when bridal flowers were significant and each had its own meaning.
If you want to follow in Meghan’s footsteps then be sure to include: forget-me-nots, sweet peas, astilbe, jasmine, lily of the valley and astrantia, in your mini bouquet. Finish it with an ivory raw silk or satin ribbon.
What Work Goes into Creating a Bridal Bouquet?
Creating a gorgeous bridal bouquet isn’t a straightforward task, which is why most brides hire a professional florist who is experienced in floral design and who’s up on the latest floral trends, as well as seasonal availability.
A professional florist will also ask the right questions to determine what type of bouquet is most suitable for your look, for example, if you want your bouquet to ‘fit your frame’, what your wedding dress looks like and style of your wedding.
A bridal bouquet typically takes 2-3 hours to create, and involves:
- ordering flowers weeks in advance during busy bridal months
- cleaning, hydrating and conditioning flowers for longevity
- wiring, taping and positioning flowers properly at the right angle
- considering the design from all sides, as well as the weight of the bouquet
- paying attention to detail and the age progression of the flowers.
Copper Penny Flowers Bridal Bouquets
If you’ve decided on your wedding date and have booked your venue then give Copper Penny Flowers a call: 978.369.4500 or email: [email protected] to schedule a personal consultation to discuss your flowers.
We meet with many brides who aren’t sure of the bridal bouquet they want. We can help you to narrow down your choices. We typically use a shared Pinterest page to help you settle on a color palette and an overall look.
Our article Wedding Planning Checklist: What to Consider Before Meeting With Your Florist will help you to prepare with your meeting with us. We look forward to seeing you soon!