What your flowers may say about you
After deciding on a date, a venue and a guest list, one of the trickiest considerations for brides can be choosing their flowers. Deciding on what ‘look’ they want is hard enough – whether it’s classic and romantic or vibrant, rustic and a little bit wild. And that’s before you discover that flowers often have historic significance and hidden meanings.
Also, many brides will have their own personal connections to flowers, or a reason for loving one bloom over another. It may be that they were proposed to in a bluebell wood, that their grandmother loved delphiniums, or that their Uncle Bob grows fantastic dahlias on his allotment. Others may have a strong aversion to certain flowers and foliage – a surprising number of people dislike ivy, despite its association with friendship, fidelity and marriage.
It’s important not to get bogged down in the significance of certain flowers but, if you want to add another layer of meaning to your bouquet, or your table decorations, it may be worth giving it some thought. Just remember, the most important thing is to have what you like, what makes you smile, and flowers that you and your guests will remember for years to come. Below are a few floral (and foliage) favourites, and what they signify.
Artemisia
Named after an ancient Persian princess and a goddess of the moon, just the name of this scented foliage is rather beautiful. Also known as Lad’s Love it was historically used as a buttonhole, because of its aromatic scent, and is still used in perfumes today. It’s feathery, silver-green foliage adds a subtle, aromatic touch to a bridal bouquet.
Larkspur
Said to suggest lightness and levity, this form of Delphinium is perfect for the ‘cottage garden’ look, as well as being popular for use as confetti (the individual flowers and petals are harvested and dried). Its tall, pastel flower spikes lend themselves perfectly to large floral arrangements such as pedestals.
Lily of the Valley
The Duchess of Cambridge chose English-grown Lily of the Valley for her bridal bouquet – both for its pretty, white bell-like flowers but also, one imagines, for its incredible perfume. She was no doubt also aware that Lily of the Valley symbolises ‘trustworthiness’ when she paired it with myrtle foliage, representing love and hope.
Peony
Peonies not only have huge, abundant flowers, but they also have an abundance of meaning. The traditional floral symbol of China, with their lush, round blooms, in pastel to dark pink, embody romance and are regarded as an omen of good fortune and a happy marriage. In Victorian Britain they were also associated with bashfulness – though this quality is hard to imagine in a flower that’s so out-there and blousy.
Ranunculus
According to the book, The Language of Flowers, from 1875, ranunculus suggest that you are ‘radiant with charms’. The flowers themselves are certainly radiant, and come in a variety of colours, from bright orange and yellow – hinting at their origins, in the buttercup family – through to pastel shades. They are a spring flowers which, in recent years have been specially bred for cutting – with long straight stems and large, papery flowers.
Roses
As well as being the classic symbol of love, roses are also associated with beauty and grace. Many modern, cultivated roses have lost their scent so, if you want a truly sensuous experience, go for old-fashioned varieties which smell incredibly. Roses come in every colour, and with a poetic list of names, so if you want to be really clever, choose something topical, like Sweet Juliet or Wedding Day – but perhaps not Anne Boleyn.
Blooming Green is based at Loddington Farm, Linton near Maidstone and specialises in floristry using their own, home-grown, seasonal and chemical-free flowers. They are ‘foam-free’ and use eco-friendly and compostable packaging materials.
www.bloominggreenflowers.co.uk
