You’ve got the venue, the dress, and the Pinterest board bursting at the seams – but no Insta-worthy wedding would be complete without some beautiful blooms.
Well, rest easy – we’re here to help! We’ve got plenty of wedding flower ideas that are just a little bit unique to match every budget and wedding theme. It might be cheesy, but we think that as you step into married life, the flowers you choose will bring love and colour to your wedding day.
We’ve got a handy guide to seasonal flowers, to make sure your wedding bouquet is at its most naturally beautiful – so if you need winter wedding flowers, you’ve got a beautiful selection of blooms, and not just a sad little snowdrop wilting at the altar.
Let us steer you through the wild and wonderful world of wedding flowers, and show you how to pick the best of the bunch. Pun fully intended.
How much will my wedding flowers cost?
Okay, basics first: sort out your budget for flowers. And we know what you’re thinking – “But what do wedding flowers cost?” Well, according to Hitched, the average cost of wedding flowers is between £1,00 – £1,500, or about 10% of your wedding budget.
That’s a significant chunk of cash, so decide your must-haves and your nice-to-haves to determine where you want the cost of your wedding flowers to go – do you want an absolutely show-stopping bouquet, or maybe a Kim-Kardashian-eat-your-heart out flower wall? Or maybe you’re committed to your bridesmaid #GirlSquad having the best bouquets money can buy. (Speaking of which, allow us a cheeky shoutout to our range of quirky be-my-bridesmaid cards here.)
Once you start thinking about all the decoration and flowers you might need, it can be a bit overwhelming – so let us help. Here’s a quick checklist of what you might need for your big day:
The wedding party
- The bride’s bouquet
- Bouquets for bridesmaids and flower girls
- Buttonholes for groom and groomsmen
- Corsages for the wedding party
- Hair flowers for the bride/bridesmaids
The ceremony
- Flowers for the pews, or along the aisle
- Decoration for the altar
The reception
- Centrepieces for tables
- Flowers for the cake and cake table
- Anything really ‘wow’, like a flower arch or flower wall
Yup, that’s a lot of flowers – so you see why it’s important to pick what you really want to keep your costs from growing. (Pun intended. Ba-dum tssh.) If you really want to keep your wedding bouquet costs down, you can shop directly with wholesalers – but you’d better be sure your flower-arranging skills are up to scratch.
No one wants a single sad flower in a jug on the wedding table! (Thortful tip – check out Instagram accounts like @blog-content.thortful.comswallowsanddamsons or @blog-content.thortful.combride_and_bloom for beautiful arranging tips).
Matching your flowers to your venue
So, you’ve chosen where you want flowers – but an important part of choosing your wedding flowers is making them work at your venue. If you have a big country hall with fine furnishings, you might not need as much ‘set dressing’, but venues like marquees and barns are blank canvases that you can really put your mark on.
If you’re full of quirky wedding ideas, keep that vibe going in the floral arrangements – forget the red roses and spring for potted plants and succulents amongst more traditional wedding flowers (thortful tip: succulents in jars make great wedding favours. Also, a sure-fire way to please the plant crazy person in your life – let’s be honest, everyone has one.
Bear the seasons in mind too – a winter wedding will mean people spend more time inside, so you might want to splash out a little more on flowers and give them something pretty to look at – apart from you in your bridal best, obviously.
Choosing your seasonal wedding flowers
Realistically, no one is saying that you have to tie your flowers in perfectly to the seasons – but choosing flowers to tie in with the seasons is pretty cool for a couple of reasons (and not just because that sentence rhymes).
Choosing seasonal wedding flowers means you’ve got a better chance of finding local, sustainable flowers – and who doesn’t love a little bit of shopping local?
While most florists can find you any flower at any time of year, ask about using seasonal flowers – not only does it mean you’re more likely to get a wedding bouquet of flowers that are at their natural best, but you’re cutting down on unnecessary airmiles to get out-of-season flowers flown or shipped to you… which also means – ka-ching! – your wedding flowers will cost less. Saving the planet, saving money, AND doing your bit for the local economy? Look at you go, wedding hero.
If you’ve decided to go for seasonal blooms, don’t worry that you’ll get stuck with cliché picks – there’s always space for something unexpected. You might be saying ‘Alright, so seasonal is best, but what naff flowers are growing in December?’ To which we say, relax, put on a cuppa, we’ve got you covered.
Spring wedding flowers
If you’re thinking of spring wedding flowers for your big day, pastels are always a winner – soft pinks and blues look their best in spring. Another bonus? More delicate colours won’t pull focus from your wedding dress – and let’s be honest, you probably spent good money to make sure people were looking at your dream dress.
Take inspiration from the wedding that launched a thousand Pinterest boards, and steal the classic vibes from Kate Middleton’s spring wedding bouquet – but add a twist with yellow daffodils and pretty narcissi, for beautiful spring wedding flowers that won’t break the bank.
Summer wedding flowers
Summer wedding flowers are where you can get a little bit crazy with colours – hyper-bright roses, lilies and gerberas are popular picks for a summer wedding bouquet.
But if you’re not after a bold colour scheme, you’re still in luck – pink peonies with green foliage and baby’s breath say ‘summer wedding’ in a more subtle way and make great flower crowns for bridesmaids. Plus, even better, these flowers go with just about everything, so there’s no need to stress about getting dresses that match the exact Pantone shade of your flowers.
Autumn wedding flowers
For autumn brides, there’s plenty of ideas for dramatic autumn wedding flowers. Think deep, dark leaves with burgundy blooms, with cosmos, dahlias, and delphiniums all in season during the autumn months.
For fun autumn wedding flower ideas, couple your blooms with touchable textures, like a rustic burlap bow for your bouquet, or velvet accents on your table settings to give a really lush, rich feel.
Winter wedding flowers
For winter wedding flowers, lots of whites and greens create a romantic look – think white roses, anemones, snowdrops, and hellebore, all of which are grown in winter. Eucalyptus leaves can fill out the spaces in your wedding bouquet, and their blue-green colouring looks a bit like a frosty winter morning without bashing you over the head with a Christmas colour scheme.
So, there you go – a handy, horticulturally-friendly guide to choosing the best wedding flowers for your wedding, no matter your budget, venue, or season. With all of this knowledge under your belt, you’re sure to have a wedding that is simply… blooming beautiful. (And yes, once again, pun intended. We’re sorry).
For more planning ahead of your big day, why not check out our blog? There you can find our other wedding guides, including how to choose your wedding dress and your essential wedding planning checklist.
