A season for flowers

Today I wanted to look at wedding flowers. They can play such a large part in a wedding and with more and more people wanting to have an eco-friendly wedding I thought it would be a good to look at using flowers that are in season.

The easiest way to have the smallest environmental impact with the fresh flowers you choose is to use seasonal flowers. However at certain times of year this may be easier said than done. I’m going to give a few examples of flowers (that should, weather depending) be in season during those autumn and winter months when you might struggle.

January, February and March

Snowdrops are usually one of the first bulbs to flower in the year and I love seeing them starting to come up in my garden! I was admiring them yesterday thinking how beautiful they’d be as dainty buttonholes or planted up with moss as a natural centrepiece for the tables. Hellebore's come in a variety of beautiful colours; these pale pink and deep purple buttonholes are fantastic! Daffodils are one of my favourite flowers and I always try to have them in the house when they’re flowering. I think they can cheer up any room. They grow in abundance in England in early spring and would be a perfect colour splash to any wedding.

Camellia come in a lovely selection of reds to whites and can add a soft colour splash to a bouquet or flower arrangement. Forsythia, like the daffodil can have a wonderful vibrant yellow colour and make superb, striking centrepieces on tables or in tall vases in a room. As branches they achieve a very different look to an arrangement which is purely floral. Viburnum is a fantastic evergreen shrub which can fill out a display with a beautiful pale green. I love the use of viburnum as a simple bouquet.

October, November, December

These three bouquets are composed of flowers which should still be in flower in October and perhaps November.  I love the simplicity of these; agapanthus are beautiful big striking purple flowers and have subtle changes of colour within each plant. I'm not usually a fan of carnations however I think these ones are a great combination and work really well together. Queen Anne's lace is a wonderful filler and has a elegant quality which it manages to bring to the arrangement. I adore the way that this gypsopghilia (another similar filler) has been placed inside this suitcase to decorate the table plan!

If you're really struggling to find flowers that you like which are in season there are alternatives. A few weeks ago Gemma gave you a tutorial on how to make your own button bouquet! To have another look at this go to http://ablushingbride2b.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/how-to-make-button-bouquet.html . 

Here are some ideas if you don't want to use flowers...

A simple pearl bouquet

A bits and bobs bouquet made from a mixture of metal and plastic flowers

A recycled fabric bouquet

Or alternatively, an edible fruit bouquet!