Wedding Bouquets
The flowers for a wedding usually start with the bride's wedding bouquet. The wedding bouquet can be comprised by one single type of flower or you can go with combining several different flowers to create the wedding bouquet that is just right for you.
Wedding magazines usually have pictures of wedding bouquets so that you can take your time to form an idea of what you like and do not like. So browse around for a bit and cut out pictures of wedding bouquets that you really like even if it is just aspects of it such as the ribbon, one certain flower, the shape of it etc.
We already said that you can choose different type of flowers in your wedding bouquet; the same thing goes for colors. If you want to go the more subtle way pick flowers in more toned down colors and if you are using a couple of different colors choose tones of the same color or different subtle colors that goes well together.
The shape of the wedding bouquet can be a little bit different depending on your style and the flowers you choose. A flower like a lily tend to form a defined flow due to the look of the flower and roses are great to create a round evenly shaped bouquet – lots of different options so ask your florist about as it can differ from flower to flower. Some flower 'hang' a little bit more while flowers such as roses stand upright very strong.
You can also go for different types of textures when it comes to your wedding bouquet. Not only different types of flowers can create different kinds of structures. You can add structure by using certain greenery (leaves, little twigs etc) or even things like berries. In some wedding magazines you will see very creative wedding bouquets which can give you some great ideas as to how to create something special.
A lot of florists will also ask how long the stems of the flowers of the wedding bouquet should be depending on your taste. They will also ask how you would like to have your bouquet bound, with ribbon, twine etc.. Your florist may offer a wedding band for your bouquet, but if not, you may need to go and get it yourself and take it to your florist, especially if you want a very particular color.
One thing to remember on your wedding day is when you get your flowers, do not take them out of the water yourself (especially if you are wearing your wedding dress) instead ask someone to help you with that and have a towel available to dry them off so they don't drop sap on your beautiful new wedding dress.
It was mentioned in the section about wedding flowers also but if you want to dry your wedding bouquet and keep it as one of your memories in a special place in your home, some flowers are more suitable for this than others. Ask your florist how you should go about drying your flowers (If they are even suitable for that) as by the end of a long wedding day your flowers will start to sulk so you may need to take action before the end of the evening if you want your flowers to last.
Bridesmaids Bouquets
The bride is typically not the only one who gets to carry a bouquet come wedding day, her bridesmaids often get to carry them too. The bridesmaids bouquets can either be smaller bouquets of the same flower(s) as the bride's or maybe just one kind of flower is chosen for the bridesmaid's bouquet, it depends on the flowers and the contrast or similarity you want to create. There are no rules that need to be followed when creating wedding bouquets, so have fun with it.