Help! What wedding flowers do I need??

Don’t know where to start with your wedding flowers? We have you covered … Here is a quick rundown on the most common wedding flower arrangements – what they are called and where they are used and re-used.

There are 3 main areas of wedding flowers to think about

1. Personal Flowers – for the bridal party and VIP Guests
2. Wedding Ceremony Flowers – for the “I Do’s”
3. Wedding Reception Flowers – for the party!

Personal Flowers

Personal flowers include flowers for the couple themselves – think traditional bouquet and buttonhole, or more modern floral wearables.

Then you have the nearest and dearest in the bridal party in any number of combinations – bridesmaids, best man, ushers, groomsmen, flower girls, page boys, parents, grandparents, children or other VIP guests. Think bouquets, buttonholes, flower crowns, flower wands, corsages. And even sometimes a ‘thank you’ bouquet to present to a family member or friend at the reception.

Wedding Ceremony Flowers – Church Weddings

For a church wedding the basics are a unity arrangement for the altar (this holds the 3 candles – one for each partner to light individually and one to light together to symbolise the new family). Then you can start to add more… aisle décor such as pew ends (rarely do we add flowers to every pew – it’s very common to do every second pew or even every 3^rd pew in a longer church), or aisle meadows.

On the altar you may want to add pedestal arrangements or urn / pillar arrangements. These are normally one or two larger (approx. three foot / 90cm tall) arrangements that match your theme and style. These can be moved then to your wedding reception after the ceremony.

The final areas we look at for church weddings are wedding pillars or broken arches outside the doors to the church, or if there is an unusual style entrance these can be at the start of the aisle inside the church.

These are the main areas we decorate with flowers. Not everyone has all of them. Most people have the unity and then maybe some aisle meadows or pew ends. Larger budgets put the money into the bigger focal pieces and then arrange to move them to the wedding reception venue after the ceremony.

 Wedding Ceremony Flowers – Civil Ceremony

Civil ceremony venues are very different and the flowers that couples choose are normally based on the venue itself and how it is already decorated. There are a lot of similarities to the church flowers discussed above. Namely – the focus on the ceremony space where the vows are spoken and also decorating the aisle.

More and more civil ceremonies are outdoors so aisle meadows have been very popular with our couples.

Above - Aisle meadows

Indoor ceremonies have tended to have two large arrangements at either the start of the aisle or the top of the aisle as focal points or have had décor added to the chairs along the aisle.

And of course, we have also created many wedding floral pillars to create a backdrop to the ceremony space, or a wow factor to the entrance.

 Wedding Reception Flowers

Tables and entrances are the main focal points of wedding reception flowers.

Flowers from the ceremony (think unity arrangements from the church or any ceremony table flowers) can be repurposed for the top table or head table. Simply lift, transport and rearrange.

Larger floral elements from the ceremony (urns or pedestal arrangements) make perfect entrance features one on either side of the doors to the reception space, or at either end of a traditional straight top table, or either side of a cake table.

Wedding pillars or broken arches look great behind a top table, against a wall as a photo backdrop for all those Instagrammable moments, or again as an entrance wow factor.

Then you have the table centrepieces. As a rule of thumb if you have more than 8 tables then having a mix of tall and low table centrepieces will both bring down the costs of your flowers while also creating a much more appealing visual look to the room. Table centrepieces can be as elaborate or as simple as you want them to be and can often be designed in such a way that you can gift them to your guests to take home.

_{Welcome to The Floral Design Hub! We’re a creative flower studio and micro flower farm in rural County Galway, run by Dee—designer, grower, and flower lover. With over a decade of experience you’re in safe (and very enthusiastic!) hands. We believe your wedding flowers should feel like you, so every couple joins us on a relaxed, creative design journey, turning personal stories and unique style into wedding flowers that feel personal, purposeful, and totally you.}