The Bold & The Beautiful
Perhaps one of the most striking elements of any given flower is its colour. Each vibrant hue can evoke a host of emotions, and mixing and layering colours and shapes dynamically to craft the perfect bouquet only deepens their significance on your special day. Jacqueline Foy of Western Australia Wedding & Bride sits down with Tangerine Suares, owner and floral designer at Willetton Wedding Flowers, to share in her wealth of knowledge on creating gorgeous, bold florals to ensure your wedding day flowers are showstoppers – from the bouquet and beyond!
Image Credit: Lecamo Photography
Flowers have been a key part of the bridal look for thousands of years – even the ancient Romans wore garlands of flowers at their wedding ceremonies to convey a symbol of fertility, fidelity and new beginnings. It was during the Victorian era that flowers became part of the wedding bouquet as we now know it, and the tradition has prevailed ever since. With some modern brides now selecting flowers for their beauty and placing less emphasis on the meaning behind them, your choice in florals becomes a way for you to let your individual style and personality shine. You may opt for an energetic, free-flowing floral arrangement or a structured, understated design for your bouquets, but know that whatever you choose, the versatility of your wedding flowers cannot be overstated.
Go Against the Grain
The language of flowers dates back to Victorian times, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it as a hard and fast rule when it comes to your wedding florals. The significance ascribed to flowers in Western culture vary, with multiple associations being attributed to almost every flower based on its appearance or the behaviour of the plant itself. “We have found our couples choosing colours like black and brown, lilies and various unique blooms which they love,” Suares says, noting a particular example where fresh black mamba roses were used to contrast the pale-coloured blooms of the bouquet to achieve a gothic vintage look. Although black is not a common colour to use for a wedding and are often associated with more sombre occasions, the florals helped convey the couple’s personalities and their feelings towards each other.
Wilson goes on to explain that through painting she has the ability to include or exclude whatever elements a couple may request. She notes that she can easily include beloved pets or deceased family members, or alternatively, she may exclude guests from the painting and solely depict the intimacy between a couple alone, such as during their ceremony or first dance. This leaves you and your partner with a beautiful, one-of-a-kind memory of your big day.
Bold Bouquets
Suares loves to encourage clients to step away from traditional white florals, saying that the belief they hold that all flowers are naturally beautiful gives them the freedom to feel confident with any colour story a bride throws their way. When it comes to creating a standout look, colours play an enormous part. “A brightly coloured arrangement can not only enhance a backdrop of a white dress but also create emotion,” Suares says. The flowers and colours should always complement the couple’s overarching theme, so it’s important to remember that the bride and her dress play a major part. From the very beginning of the floral planning process, Suares’s first step is to suggest flowers that complement and contrast a client’s colour theme with flowers that are in season at the time of their wedding. “Showing clients our supplier’s catalogues of flowers available allows couples to see just how many various flowers and colours are available to them – some they have never seen before – and this creates a lot of excitement,” she says. “Seeing the examples of fresh blooms in real life can really create some emotion and charge,” she adds.
And Beyond
There’s more to your wedding flowers than just the bouquets you hold as you walk down the aisle – flowers can elevate the environment for your reception and ceremony and can help you make
the venue your own. Again, the overall theme of the wedding informs Suares the most when she is designing floral arrangements. She notes that she takes careful consideration of the location, surroundings, backdrop and colours of the venue to advise best on what touches of foliage would suit the space and bring the location to life.
“Arbour flowers provide an excellent backdrop for the ceremony and can be repurposed to the bridal table to complement all those photos taken of the bridal table,” Suares suggests. She also has affinity for adding chair and pew arrangements, saying that they are a lovely way to create a frame as the couple walks down the aisle for the ceremony. Suares says flowers can also be a way to bring your guests into the day. “Table arrangements are an ideal way to bring flowers into the reception area and make the guests feel part of the day,” she says. And for a further intimate touch, the flowers can be given away to guests at the end of the evening.
Taking It Personally
A personal touch can always bring about emotions and sentimentality to the day, no matter where you apply it. “One of our unforgettable experiences was when one of our couples wanted to use their own home-grown flowers from their mother’s garden,” Suares says. “They were so proud that their mother had planted and grown those flowers and even some other foliage especially for their wedding day,” she says. Although Suares’s team had never used some of the foliage in a wedding bouquet before, the result was beautiful and the bride loved it. “Even today we cannot forget the narrative behind those bouquets and the lovely, strong fragrance of their mother’s flowers,” Suares
says.
Suares leaves us with the following advice: if you would love a bright colourful wedding and flowers to complement the events of the day, you must choose those bright colours that you’re drawn to. Do not be dissuaded by anyone else – it’s your own special day after all. “Colours make people smile,” she says. “Colours are memorable and are wonderful to use for such a memorable day,” she adds.