A few words about your wedding flowers

 Aside from being the one wearing a wedding gown, nothing screams “bride” more than the bridal bouquet.  Its beauty is second only to the woman carrying it, and yet, despite all the best laid plans and preparations, so many brides can be disappointed about its final appearance and performance on the wedding day.  

To help you best choose between purchasing a fresh floral bouquet and renting a silk one, here are some points to consider.

  

Stem Availability

If you’ve read it once, you’re going to read it here again.  With the exception of roses and calla lilies, not all flowers are available year round, and not all garden variety flowers are available at fresh floral markets.  Having said that, its important to not only do your flower availability research, but to have a few alternate flower choices in mind before speaking with your chosen floral professional.  When researching the type of flowers available we suggest you look at flower seasons two weeks before and two weeks after your wedding date.  This will ensure that you are selecting flowers that are in the height of their season and are most likely to be available for your wedding date.  One of our favorite sites to visit for a list of flowers by month and season is Florabundance.  This site will not only offer you a complete listing of flowers available by month, but will also provide images so that you can see firsthand what the flowers look like (just in case you’re not stem savvy).  By arming yourself with this information not only will you save time in the floral consultation, but will also allieviate any disappointment on your wedding day if alternate flowers were necessary to use to complete the bridal bouquet vision.

Of course if you are using medium to high quality silk flowers (not the type found at Wal-Mart) then availability is not as much of an issue.  Silk botanicals are seasonless, meaning you can get them pretty much all year round and are never subject to uncontrollable elements like heat, drought, rains, winds or import embargoes.  In most cases the only time a silk botanical won’t be available is in the instance of a particular line being discontinued.

Color and Appearance                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Now that you have your stem research done its time to decide on the colors to use in your bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages and centerpieces.  It’s a little known fact outside the botanical (flower) world that with very few exception, white roses, calla lilies and any other “white” flower ARE NOT white; they are in fact a very soft creme color. 

Let me repeat this statement, white wedding flowers ARE NOT white – they are creme. 

So when you are presented with your “white” wedding bouquet on your wedding day there is no excuse for you to become bridelizza over the fact that your bouquet is creme and not winter white; believe me, it happens.  Having said that, there is a small ray of hope for “white roses”, however it comes at a cost.  There are less than a handful of  “white” roses used in the floral industry that meet availability, durability and fragrance standards suitable for wedding flowers.  As a result you can expect to pay $3.00 to $7.00 per rose head.  Here is a list of the most commonly used “white” roses used for wedding bouquets.  The Escimo and Avalanche variety can be round domestically, usually from California, while the Akito and Polo variety are found South America. 

*It should be noted that when photographed, true “white” roses have an odd appearance and look, in my opinion fake.

 

            Variety                 Appearance

• Virginia                 Very large, soft ivory petals, outer ones with a pink blaze
• Escimo                   Delicate smaller size, pure “diamond white”, opens well
• Vendela                Creamy white, medium size, high petal count
• Tineke                    Medium size, pointed bud, cool greenish-white, holds well
• Bianca                    Medium size, rounded bud, translucent ”rice white” color  
• Sahara                   Warm ivory-ecru, rounded petals, opens full
• Clear Ocean         Larger size, fragrant, soft ivory color, opens well
• White Majolika   Spray type, “pure white” sweetheart sized blossom, opens well 

Tineke

Polo

White Majolika

 

Of course if you’ve chosed to use silk flowers, not only are “white” flowers white (along with other shades of white),  but the depth and saturation of color in other flower varieties is deeper and more varied.   This is vitally important when you are trying to match the exact shade of purple, red, oranges or greens.  Case in point, recently we had a bride request “eggplant” colored hydrangea (in nature, purple hydrangea has a blue hue).   After showing her a prototype of her bouquet in silk, she opted to use fresh flowers; however when she came into our showroom to view her fresh bouquet she was greatly disappointed that the colors of the fresh flowers wasn’t as intense as it was in the silk.  Long story short, we ended up making her bouquet in silk flowers instead and she was not only pleased with the outcome but appreciative of our extra effort.                                                                                                                                                                                                      So let’s look at a side-by-side comparison of using fresh botanicals vs. silk:

Fresh Flowers                                                                                                

•  Availability is subject to growing season and import            
• “White” flowers are not white, they are cream colored                                
• Specific colors/shades difficult to obtain and match with attire       
• Hybrid flowers typically void of fragrance, while others have unpleasant aromas

 Silk Flowers

• Available all year round, unless discontinued
• True “whites” are available, as are limitless shades of “white/cream”
• Deeper, richer colors which are easier to coordinate and match attire
• Void of fragrance, however they can be custom scented if desired

In our next post we’ll discuss durability, care and longevity of your wedding flowers.  Until then,  subscribe to our blog so that you recieve our next installment automatically or email us.  We’d love to share with you!