Wedding Floral & Decor Ideas

The flowers you select for your wedding floral decorations set a tone and style to your celebration. They support your chosen theme, reflect the color scheme and create a consistent ambiance for events throughout the day.

There’s a growing trend toward using wedding floral decorations throughout the wedding celebration. More brides put extra effort into flowers and decorations for the reception because more time is spent there than at the ceremony site.

You can accent your bridal bouquet and create consistency by placing the same type of flowers in vases and bowls throughout the reception site. Matching combinations also can be displayed on the wedding cake, in entrance ways and stairways, and on windows in order to tie your wedding floral decorations together.

Tradition, practicality and cost dictate some aspects of your wedding decorations, but your flowers should symbolize your tastes, style and preferences. Although new varieties repeatedly debut, traditional wedding flowers almost always are included by floral designers. Popular wedding flowers include roses, calla lilies, stephanotis, freesia, orchids, snapdragons, peonies, irises, daisies, tulips, gardenias and hydrangeas.

Many brides wait until the last minute to get a florist, and by then the best are often booked. Shop for and book a florist at leastsix to ninemonths before your wedding date. When considering a florist for your wedding, here are some suggestions:

• High prices don’t always result in top quality. Focus on the services offered and the people involved. Only then should you make a decision. 
• Find a flower designer with personality, imagination and creativity — one who asks questions about your wedding and is willing to listen to your thoughts and dreams. 
• Make sure you talk with the florist who will actually design your arrangements and do the on-site wedding floral decorations. Be open to his or her ideas, suggestions, alternatives and recommendations. 
• Ask about delivery service. Will the shop move flowers between locations and rearrange flowers as needed? 
• Ask for references, and ask to see pictures. The best florists have extensive portfolios of wedding flowers for you to review. 
• When you reach agreement about a decorating program, establish the price and get the terms in writing. Don’t leave the cost open-ended.

Some flower designers will accompany you to your ceremony and reception sites to understand their requirements and limitations. Besides custom arrangements, most florists offer a range of floral decorating packages. Many will move ceremony arrangements to reception sites and rearrange them into centerpieces and other decorative touches.

Flowers create an atmosphere of beauty and romance to your ceremony and reception sites. When you apply your tastes, style and preferences to selecting wedding floral decorations, you help sweeten a setting already perfumed with your happiness.