Your Wedding Flowers

Flower power

Roman brides and grooms both wore garlands of flowers to symbolise new life and fertility and, more recently, brides wore orange blossoms in their hair to represent purity and fruitfulness.

During Victorian times, lovers sent each other flowers to convey different qualities and emotions. These associations were adopted for bride's bouquets and some brides still use them today.

Flower Fashions

Brides are getting much more adventurous, says Jennie Lennard of Press for Time, a company which presses and frames bridal bouquets. “The traditional pales of previous years are being updated by gorgeous bright and striking colours that really make their presence felt.” Think crimsons, pinks, purples and blues, set off by rich green foliage, and you’ll be getting there!

Current Wedding Favourites Include:

• arum lilies - these large, glossy lilies traditionally come in white, but are now available in vibrant colours too

• roses - everyone's favourite flowers and a regular feature in wedding flowers. Burgundy is a popular colour choice at the moment

• freesias - bright colours and a wonderful scent make these a favourite for brides' bouquets

• gerberas - these brightly-coloured flowers, which resemble large daisies, are the flower of the moment

• ivy and jasmine - these trailing plants are often chosen now for flowing 'waterfall' bouquets.

Matching the Season

"These days you can get almost any kind of flower at any time of the year," says Sheila Hurst, a spokesperson for the Society of Florists, but you may prefer something to suit the season of your wedding:

• spring - daffodils, narcissi, bluebells, freesia, tulips, hyacinth

• summer - roses, hydrangea, stephanotis, lysianthus, sunflowers, sweet peas, delphinium, larkspur

• autumn - chrysanthemums, wheat, euphorbia, hypericum berries, alstromeria, gerber

• winter - ivy, lilies, orchids, hippeastrum, dark red roses, dendrobium

The Colour of Love

Last, but by no means least, you'll want to choose flowers that fit in with the overall colour scheme of your wedding. "Girls often give us swatches of material from their own and their bridesmaids' dresses so that we can match them exactly," says Sheila Hurst.

Ingrid Collins, a colour consultant and chartered psychologist from London, suggests that certain colours are particularly good choices for weddings:

• white the traditional bridal colour, is a good catch-all colour for weddings as it contains all the colours of the spectrum and therefore all their qualities.

• red is the colour of blood and a symbol of family ties.

• orange is the colour of lust!

• yellow is a sunny, optimistic colour

• green is a very balancing colour, as it's in the centre of the spectrum

• blue is calming and serene, but bear in mind that blue flowers are hard to come by!

• pale violet represents spirituality.

If you'd like more help with choosing your wedding flowers, Pressed For Time has produced a video called 'Flowers for the Perfect Wedding' in association with the Society of Floristry.

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