Wedding Flowers
The Etiquette and Tradition of Flowers - a little bit of tradition here!
Flowers do so much for the atmosphere and ambience at a wedding, that it is very important to give a lot of thought to the floral arrangements and designs you'll use to decorate your fabulous Scottish Castle or Country House.
Flowers not only add softness and brightness to the day, they also act as an important element in the overall design or theme for the wedding. Moreover, each flower has a symbolic meaning which can help the couple to express their feelings for each other.
In years gone by the Groom would have been expected to pay for the flowers in the church and for the wedding party and the bride's parents would pay for the flowers at the reception venue.
Traditionally the men in the wedding party should be given buttonholes, bridesmaids carry a bouquet and the respective mothers receive a corsage. Guests don’t normally receive a buttonhole these days as it allows the money for this to be spent on flowers elsewhere.
There are few hard and fast rules about floral decorations at the reception venue but generally as a rule of thumb, there is a large arrangement on the top table and smaller arrangements on each of the guests' tables. There is usually also a large arrangement at the point where the reception line up is to take place at the point where the guests enter the reception venue.
Smaller rooms are generally quite easy to do but large rooms, hall or marquees take a bit more planning and thought. Since those rooms have a lot of space it can be expensive to decorate them with suitable floral arrangements
The Bridal Bouquet
When choosing the bouquet, keep in mind the two essential features; colour and shape.
The colours and type of flower for the bride's bouquet should ideally be chosen to match her natural colouring and personality. The base colour for the bouquet is traditionally white, to symbolise purity but the proper use of one or two elements of colour can really bring the bouquet alive. Bear in mind the colour of the bridesmaids dresses and the overall colour scheme of the wedding, too when deciding on your bouquet.
The shape of the bouquet can either be long and trailing or compact and bunched. The bride's body shape and style of dress should be major factors in deciding which type of bouquet to go for.
After the wedding it can be a nice idea to take a cutting from some of the stems of the bouquet and to grow plants for the house or garden which can grow along with the marriage. Another idea is to have them pressed and preserved professionally. (Please ask us if you are interested in this service)
The bridesmaids usually carry smaller and much less detailed bouquets. The colour and shape should compliment the bride's if possible, but should certainly match their dresses
Buttonholes and Corsages
The male members of the wedding party wear Buttonholes, which are usually a single flower or small heather arrangement bound with a tartan bow or similar.
The mothers of the bride and groom respectively wear Corsages, which are similar in idea to buttonholes but much larger and more detailed.
These are just some of the traditions behind the flowers we choose, but these days, pretty much anything goes. All types of flowers are available as they are all imported giving you an endless selection to choose from.
Generally we have brides send us photos of the flowers they'd like and we have our florists re-create the designs here. We can also advise you on choosing arrangements to decorate the room for maximum effect.
We're here to help and guide you every step of the way to make sure arranging your wedding is as easy and stress free as possible. Contact us at Scottish Wedding Consultants for more details.
Please browse through our wedding flower options from the listing on the right hand side of the page.
