Why do we have wedding bouquets?
We have celebrated weddings with long and beautiful wedding dresses, wedding bouquets, veils that cover the blushing bride’s face and the bridal party supporting the bride and groom at the altar while vowing to love one another for eternity. But, where these things come from? Where did the whole wedding bouquet and wedding flowers come from? Here at NetFlorist we just love our flowers, so it is important for us to have the ins and outs of all things flowers. So, for today we are going to share the history of wedding bouquets and the tossing thereof with you. Also, what to keep in mind when choosing your flower types and colours.
Wedding bouquets:
In ancient times a bouquet of strong smelling herbs and spices were carried by the bride to drive away evil spirits, bad luck and ill health. During Roman times, the tradition expanded to include flowers in the bouquet, as a symbol of fertility. The bride and groom wore floral garlands to signify their new life and the hope of fertility. The bride adds her floral garland to her wedding bouquet whereas the groom adds the same flowers as the bridal bouquet to his buttonhole – stemming from the medieval times of the Knight wearing the traditional colours of the lady, declaring his love for her.
In the olden days where superstitions etc. were popular belief, the bride was considered to have tons of good luck. Thus started the tradition of tossing the bridal bouquet.
Tossing of bridal bouquet:
Being the bride and having tons of luck also meant that you where the target of people wanting a piece of whatever luck you had. This ended up badly as sometimes the gown and flowers where torn piece by piece from the bride by the crowd. As a distraction technique, brides later on started a tradition, that stems from England, to toss her bouquet into the crowd and make a run for it. Today, in a more civilised era, the bride tosses the bouquet at the reception to the single women that form a crowd, with the belief that whoever catches it will be the next to get married.
When choosing flowers for your wedding, the type of flower today may not be as important as finding the flower who’s colour matches your colour scheme perfectly.
Choosing the perfect bouquet of flowers:
In the old days when thinking of flowers for your wedding, like the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids and the centrepieces, one tended to choose flowers whose meanings had some significance to you. While flowers with a love connection, like roses and carnations, were (and still is) popular, there are many other flowers that have powerful meanings like daffodils (new beginnings), iris (faith), and calla lily (holiness) to consider.
Colour also plays a significant role in a flower’s meaning too. The favourite wedding flower, the rose, has different meanings depending on the colour. Red roses symbolise passion, the bridal white rose means happy love and the yellow one signifies joy and a promise of new beginnings. The same goes for the chrysanthemum: the red symbolises love; the white kind symbolises loyal love and truth.
Weddings are something special as it marks the start of a new beginning with your significant other. Choosing the flowers for your bouquet is something that needs to be thought about, although it shouldn’t be the very axis your world turns around. Now that you know why there are bouquets, why they are tossed and what are the significance behind them, go forth and choose beautiful flowers from the NetFlorist range that will be perfect for your wedding, from rustic to classic – we have them!