Flowers You Need for Your Wedding

When you’re getting your head straight about your flowers budget, you need to think about how many flowers you’re actually going to need. While you can pick, choose and reuse some of the flowers from this list, you can use it to give you an idea of what you may or may not need.

Most Important Flowers

- Bridal bouquet

- Bridesmaids’ bouquets

- Boutonnieres

- Hair accessories

- Corsages

Naturally, the bridal bouquet is one of the most important parts when it comes to your flowers. Choose your bridal bouquet carefully, according to your colour scheme, your dress, and any other personal qualities you want. Will it be a different colour to your bridesmaids? Will your chief bridesmaid have another different bouquet? These are things you need to speak to your florist about. The same goes for the groom and his groomsmen. Do you want them to match the bridesmaids? Will there be a different one for the groom? You also need to think about your hair. Do you want fresh flowers? These need to be taken into consideration too. What about the flower girl? Is she getting a bouquet, or a basket of petals? Is the page boy getting a boutonniere? Finally, are you giving any extra corsages or boutonnieres to the parents? These all need to be added to the budget and checklist.

Decorative flowers

- Alter flowers

- Decorations for pews or ceremony chairs

- Reception entrance

- Table centrepieces

- Cake table/Cocktail table/Dessert table

- Head table

When it comes to decorating the reception itself, there are a few tips and tricks you should be aware of. Will the church be decorated with some flowers already? How many blooms do you need to actually provide? The same goes for the venue. Many venues, provide centrepieces or flora arrangements for you, which means you might not need as many as you initially think. If you are providing the flowers for the ceremony, you will be able to take them with you to the reception. There’s no need to double up on flowers unnecessarily when you can repurpose them.

Other flowers

- Toss bouquet

- Car decorations

- Petals for guests

While a toss bouquet is not for everyone, some brides might want to keep their bridal bouquet safe for preservation, and may not want to toss it, but still want to do a bouquet toss. Talk to your florist about this, as it can be made up with a lot of foliage and less expensive blooms for the purpose of essentially throwing it away. When it comes to the wedding car, many companies wish to provide their own decorations and don’t allow additional decorations, but do ask. Some will allow certain décor, and others will provide their own, which will save you ordering blooms for the car. Don’t forget to think about petals for your guests if you want them to toss them instead of confetti.

- Jenny Darmody