Florals for Weddings and Ceremonies
Wedding bouquet styles have changed and evolved over the years. In the 1940’s wedding bouquets for the affluent were huge. All of the work was hand wired. Strings of stephanotis (a small waxy star looking flower) hung from bouquets mixed with gardenias that trailed to the ground! This style is referred to as the cascade. It was not unusual to have six to eight bridesmaids carrying bouquets not quite as large as the bride but still voluminous. In the early l970’s the nosegay (or tussie-mussie) was popular. The bride wore a white gown, her bridesmaids wearing pastel pink, yellow, green, peach and blue dresses. The bride often chose to carry a nosegay of white daisies and the bouquets carried by the bridesmaids were the round nosegays of daisies in those pastel mixed colors. By the late l970’s the cascade was back in. Roses were the flower to use, whether it was to be white, red, yellow or pink. Many brides were carrying the cascade and the bridesmaids carried a semi-cascade. If budget was a concern, the bridesmaids carried single roses presentation style. Some florists offered to dry flowers from bridal bouquets and remake them into bouquets suitable for their home. Certain flowers could also be dried in a solution called silica gel and then arranged into a bouquet that was then placed under a glass dome as a keepsake. It was also during the 70’s that plastic flowers lost out in popularity to the much more appealing silk flowers. “Silk” flowers were pricey in the beginning because many of them were literally handmade from silk and shipped to the US from Japan. Those interested in giving the consumer a more reasonably priced flower created the polyester artificial flowers and greens. Brides who were ‘cost conscious’ chose these artificial flowers for their weddings due to the fact that they and those in the wedding party would have a keepsake from the wedding.
In the l980’s floral bouquets took on a more stylized look meaning they were very lined in appearance. Fewer flowers were used and yet taking up space. The rule of design became ‘there are no rules’! More of the tropical flowers, antherium, birds of paradise, spray orchids and unusual greens were used. As noted before, flower styles followed design style with home styles and colors. Floral arrangements in homes were equally lined in appearance.
Swinging back in the pendulum of time, in the l990’s and 2000 the round bouquet was back in popularity. Only this time, accenting the stems of a bouquet calling it a “clutch bouquet”. Some of the bouquets were given a loose ‘just picked look’ which were especially popular with the outdoor wedding. But again (in a more structured look) the round bouquet with flowers placed very tightly together and stems being bound together with fancy ribbon tied technique had a very formal look.
