Your Colour Theme
Flowers lend a natural loveliness to your special day. They add dash of colour to the formal attire of the groom and best man. The bride herself may prefer to have an elaborately decorated church while she carries a single rose. But whatever your taste, the bridal bouquet must compliment and flatter the bride's dress and accessories. This is why most brides follow a colour theme touching most aspects of the wedding, from ribbons to stationery. This gives a feeling of unity to the wedding and makes decisions so much easier.

Floral Checklist

• Bridal bouquet & head-dress
• Bridesmaids' bouquet and head dresses
• Flower girl's baskets and head dresses
• Corsages for both mothers
• Button holes for the groom, best man, and father of the bride.
• Baskets of flowers for your Mothers-in-Law - always appreciated
• Flowers for the church: pew bows, entrance, window-sills, altar.
• Flowers for the reception: table centres and pedestal arrangements.

A Professional Touch
Generally speaking, it's best to leave the task of organising and arranging wedding flowers to an experts. With the professional, you won't run the risk of collecting your flowers on the day of the wedding only to be disappointed because the shape, size or colours were not what you ordered or expected. A professional florist will have a good selection of samples and displays available on request. Some will have a design book of their work available for inspection.

Selecting Your Florist

• Book your florist early, even before you've decided on the styles and colours of dresses. If you leave it too late, you may not get the florist you wanted.
• Summertime is peak season, and a reputable florist may be booked to capacity very quickly.
• A personal recommendation from family or friends is usually a good bet. You'll know how satisfied the bride was, and you'll see from the photos what the flowers were like.
• Take a little time to leaf through the florists Design Book. You'll be able to determine fairly quickly the florists abilities and artistic flavour.

Checklist

• Arrange preliminary consultation
• Book your florist 3-6 months in advance.
• Bring the following: a) sketch or photo of the dresses
  b) and/or colour swatches of dresses
  c) information on hairstyles
• Discuss everything with the florist and make final decisions on styles, colours and sizes of bouquets.

One Step at a Time

• As the wedding gets closer you should meet with the florist and make your decisions and choices then.
• A lot depends on how much the bride wants to (or can afford to) spend. Define the limits of your budget to the florist right from the beginning. This will avoid any confusion and disappointment for all concerned. It will help narrow down the selection process of available flowers and bouquet designs.
• If you like, bring photographs of bouquets you liked, or a sketch of your own ideas. This will be a great help to your florist. This way, your floral arrangements are what you want, not just reflecting the taste and ability of your florist.
• The Bridegroom traditionally paid for the bride's bouquet. Today, however, this isn't always the case.

Matching Shades
Choosing your favourite flowers without considering your fabrics and the overall colour scheme for the wedding may lead to visual disharmony on the day.
If possible, take a sample of your dress material(s) to your florist before selecting flowers. This will help your florist select appropriate shades for you.
If you're unsure, safe colours to choose are pale yellow, cream or white flowers, as these tone in nicely with most other colours, and are always elegant and pretty. See the colour chart for suggested flowers.
Your final selection may depend in part upon the time of year. A good florist will import a wide range of flowers all year around, but some out-of-season flowers may be more difficult to acquire, and therefore will be more costly.

Classic Choices
The rose still maintains the distinction of being the most popular wedding flower. This is followed by
(i) carnations
(ii) fuschias
(iii) orchids
(iv) lilies
(v) baby carnations
These are available throughout the year, as they are brought in from various parts of the world during different seasons. You don't necessarily have to follow tradition so closely when choosing flowers. There are many varieties available today, and, with a little thought, you can express your individuality through your selection. To help you choose, the chart shows a selection of wedding flowers with their seasons, what they symbolise and their colours.

The Bridal Bouquet.
The showpiece is really the Brides bouquet. When choosing the style of your bouquet consider a few points -

• 1. The style of your dress.
• 2. Your height and build.
• 3. Will it be thrown to the guests after the reception? (A very elaborate bouquet wouldn't be suitable for this unless it had a detachable posy.)
• 4. Do you intend preserving your bouquet?
• 5. Will it be awkward to hold or carry?
• 6. Are you allergic to fresh flowers? This could make your special day a real misery particularly if you suffer from asthma or hay fever. Why not consider using silk flowers, which are sometimes very hard to distinguish from the real thing! Or why not consider dried flowers? These options also have the advantage of being everlasting mementos of your wedding day.

Throwing Shapes !
The shapes and sizes of wedding bouquets are many and varied - crescent and circular, teardrops and sprays. Bouquets can be arranged in basket form as Victorian posies, or can consist of flowers attached to prayer books, or even parasols. You can have several styles. The more usual kinds are: the Classical Bouquet and the Posy.
The Classical is the drop triangular shaped bouquet that's been in fashion for generations. Price varies, depending on the kind /type of flowers you want. Prices usually range from about £40 up.
The Posy is a round bouquet and costs from about £25 up. Bridesmaids flowers are generally a miniature of the Brides bouquet. They are half the size, therefore generally half the price of the Brides bouquet.
The Classical Bouquet would be complimented by a hand spray and the Posy would be complimented by a Bridesmaids Posy. Flower Girls may also carry flower baskets or pomanders, which are balls of flowers. The recent fashion trend for bridal bouquets is that of the 1930's tied bunches - creating the image of armfuls of flowers.

Head-dress Flowers
These come in two classical shapes:
(i) 'The Crescent' - semi-circular
(ii) 'The Crown' - fully circular
Flowers for the hair are generally measured and costed by the inch. A Bridesmaid's 'comb' averages 4"-6".
When choosing head-dress flowers why not select from among carnations, roses, lilies or gypsophilia? These are long-lasting and won't wilt easily. Your florist can advise you on other suitable varieties for this purpose.

Buttonholes
The Bridegroom's buttonhole generally matches the Brides bouquet. You don't have to provide buttonholes for the guests, however some people like to do that. Buttonholes may be carnations or roses, and price will vary accordingly. Ladies buttonholes are a little more expensive than men's.