The Meaning of Wedding Flowers

Flowers were brought into weddings to represent purity, fertility, new life and never-ending love. Tradition often calls for the bride to carry a bouquet of flowers and the groom to wear a boutonniere (a flower that appears in the bridal bouquet and represents his declaration of love).

The history behind the bridal bouquet:

Wedding flowers have origins deep in history. The ancient Roman bride and groom wore garlands around their necks to symbolize long life and fertility. As history reveals, the bridal bouquet symbolized a maid in bloom. The flowers were chosen based on scent, color and decoration. Later on, when the couple would come across the same fragrance, it would bring back memories of their happy day.


The tossing of the bouquet:

Tossing of the bouquet comes from an English tradition where women would attempt to tear pieces of the bride´s dress and flowers to possibly obtain some of her good fortune. To escape from the women, the bride would toss her bouquet into the crowd and run away. It is believed today that the woman that catches the bouquet will be the next to marry!

This year’s trends:

When it comes to selecting a bouquet, brides often look for a bouquet that expresses their personality. Here are some trendy ideas for making your wedding special.

Do as the Romans did in times of celebration. Add stalks of herbs to your bouquet, such as sweet-scented, pale purple lavender. Or take a bundle of typical white wedding blooms, like stephanotis or calla lilies, and tie the bouquet with a celadon-green wrap secured with a purple snap or button.

Colorful adornments -- from ribbons and fabric to beads and baubles -- will make any mundane bouquet meaningful.

Learn the meanings of these popular wedding flowers and incorporate a little bit of history into your wedding day:

Calla lily -- beauty

Freesia -- innocence

Rose -- love

Lily of the valley -- happiness

Sweet pea -- pleasure

Violet -- faithfulness

Perhaps the most meaningful way to make the most of your wedding bouquet is to incorporate a part of yourself into it, whether you choose yellow roses because you were born in Texas or bunch together peonies, grown in your mother's garden, for a homemade, homespun bouquet. Consider beading a relative's pearls around the soft rose petals of your bouquet to include an added oomph of sophistication (as well as a personal touch) to your city-chic wedding. Another idea? Accent your traditional wedding bouquet with a few stems of the flowers that represent your and your fiance's birth months or wedding date.