The best seasonal flowers to use in your spring wedding arrangements
Spring is a wonderful time of year to get married, and we are spoilt for choice when it comes to using seasonal blooms in our wedding flowers. I want to show you the best seasonal flowers to use in your spring wedding, and why these types of flowers are not only beautiful, but practical too.
As a wedding florist, I typically tend to go quieter during the winter months, the big outdoor weddings I usually work on are more suited to the warmer and brighter months, and so when spring arrives this is usually when my flowering year begins. From March we are lucky enough to be out of the dreaded long winter and embracing the natural life bursting into colour, with the bulbs blooming and the blossom flowering.
spring bridal bouquets:
If you are getting married in spring your bridal bouquet will likely be full of dainty, textured, scented seasonal blooms. Spring is the key time for bulbs, think tulips, ranunculus, iris, hyacinth, narcissi and these flowers tend to be more on the smaller headed, daintier size say compared to the larger more blousy roses and peonies. Embrace this difference and the fact that your bouquets will be more intricate and delicate, yet still completely natural and flower filled. This bride bouquet is full of double tulips, which really open up to be quite fluffy, and the dark plum parrot tulips really are quite special. I grow these in my garden and have to refrain from picking them every year! The ranunculus are the ruffled, two tone variety and are so unique. They have so any layers of petals, replicating a ballerina tutu and the two tone shades offer that elegance and difference, making your bridal bouquet completely unique to you. The fritillary are a dainty, wispy spring flower and offer such movement and interest to the bouquet, these blooms will be dancing down the aisle with you! White anemone offer that crisp, lighter tone to this bouquet lifting the darker plum colour and bringing it right into the spring season. Again, these are a dainty, yet really impactful flower and a must to use in your spring wedding flowers.
spring wedding table decorations:
Spring flowers lend themselves to low, but full table decorations due to their smaller headed, more delicate nature. I adore using an overflowing bowl of spring blooms to dress a round table, or place them throughout the centre of a banquet table alongside ceramic votives. You can see here the arrangement is natural, loose, yet elegant and romantic, using all of the above seasonal flowers. Alongside magnolia branches for the initial shape and interest, and scented narcissi from Cornwall. It is so important to think of adding scented flowers to your table arrangements, not only will it fill the room with a glorious smell, you will forever be reminded of your special day in years to come when you come across the scents again.
Votives are another great way to dress longer tables, in clusters or against candlesticks and larger floral bowls, they will completely elevate your tablescape and create an atmospheric and intimate dining experience for guests.
my top 5 spring flowers to use in weddings:
Tulips: This has to be one of the most beautiful spring flowers out there, tulips come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. From double, blousy shapes, to crinkly edged, to textured parrot, to simple single blooms. They can be vivid and vibrant, or muted and subtle, and they can also be two tone and significantly textured! An all round spring bloom, and one you must include in your spring wedding.
Ranunculus: A sister of the peony, ranunculus have a similar romantic look, yet smaller headed than a peony. Again, they come in all shades so whether you are having a crisp all white spring wedding, or a more colourful affair, you really must include ranunculus in your wedding flowers.
Narcissi: These blooms bring the scent, and of course the prettiness too! Narcissi are a mini daffodil and are locally grown in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, making them the perfect, sustainable spring bloom. From bright yellow, to cream with orange centres, to pure white, narcissi will fit into the classic spring colour palette. The amount of varieties you can get are staggering, I particularly love the double centre peach against the white petals, and I have grown a lot of these in my spring cutting patch this year. I am counting down the days until they will be ready to pick!
Hellebore: One of the first flowers to bloom in the garden, they offer that much needed colour and warmth when everything else in the garden is still looking tired and bare. The green varieties work well as a kind of base for a bouquet or arrangement, like you would use a foliage say in a summer bouquet. When spring foliage is still a little sparse, consider using the hellebores in this way. I love the deep plum and the paler pink shades as these work well in this romantic wedding colour scheme.
Anemone: A delicate spring bloom with a sticking centre, they come in a range of colours from vivid cerise, red, purple and blue through to the more muted, pastel shades. recently more varieties have come on the market that emulate a sort of watercolour look to their petals, a truly magical flower and a really special one to include in your spring wedding bouquets.
how to care for your spring flowers:
All flowers have their own specific requirements and the beauty of a good florist, is one that knows how to condition and care for each individual variety. Here are a few of my florist tips that I have picked up over the years relating to how to care for your spring blooms. Tulips will grow in a vase, they twist and bend over time, so do not be alarmed if your initial straight bunch, looks a little different the following day. For me, that is nature at it’s best, where the flowers are just doing their thing. The tulips heads may also droop a little over time, due to the heaviness, but again use that as advantage as it means you get a huge amount of texture and interest within your wedding arrangements.
Hellebores are a stunning flower, but they can be a little diva when you cut them to bring inside. My main tip would be to only pick the flower, once the stamens have dropped. This means the flower is a little older, and therefore more robust and will increase it’s chance of becoming a great cut flower. Hellebores also like to be seared with hot water, so before placing your stems in the vase, cut the stem at a 45 degree angle and sear for 5-10 seconds before placing in the room temperate vase of water. You will see the air bubbles coming out of the stem, which is a good sign as this means the stem will now be able to take up more water and therefore increase its longevity.
Above all else, to ensure your spring flowers last a long time, keep your flowers in a cool place, away from fires, radiators or draughts. Make sure the vase is completely clean from bacteria before filling with water, and change the water and cut the stems very few days.
If you are getting married in spring throughout the South West then I would love to hear more about your flower plans! Do get in touch via the contact form and for more information on our past weddings, do look through the beautiful wedding portfolio we have flowered alongside the informative previous blog posts.