Nothing complements a white wedding dress better than a colorful bouquet. Florals enhance the ceremony with color, fragrance, and all-around elegance. Whether you prefer cultivated blooms or wild, environmentally-friendly flowers, celebrate your nuptials with nature.
Check out these five wedding flowers for every season.
Spring
Spring may be the easiest season to select wildflowers for your wedding. You'll see tickseed, purple coneflowers, and beach sunflowers everywhere you look. But if you're looking for flowers that scream "romance," be aware it's not always easy to grow the cultivars in Southern Florida’s heat zone. That's where The Bride Candy comes in, providing the flowers that symbolize love and romance.
Roses are a symbol of beauty and love. Roses blooming in South Florida during the spring come in many shades and colors. White roses enhance your bridal bouquet with a fresh look.
Carnations come in many natural colors, and can be dyed to match your wedding décor. Carnations make hardy floral arrangements.
Dahlias make nice centerpieces for buffet and guest tables. Heat-tolerant varieties like “Elsie Huston” can hold up well in outdoor weddings, but they do need to be kept moist.
Proteas do well in the Florida heat, and hold up well in outdoor weddings. “King protea,” “blushing bride,” “pin cushion,” and “queen protea” are tropical beauties that won’t tucker out in extra-warm temperatures.
Tropical greenery is popular these days, and it handles the Florida heat well. Ranunculus, orchids, and ginger highlight foliage from palms, vines, and groundcovers placed on serving tables and laced through bouquets.
Summer
From spring to summer, these hardy blooms can handle the Miami heat.
Astilbe is a hearty stem in either pink, crimson, mauve, or white. Its feathery look is suitable for boutonnieres.
Orchids make stunning wedding bouquets in shades of magenta, purple, deep blue, yellow, red, and everything in between.
Anthuriums spice up a wedding bouquet with color and texture. Green heart-shaped leaves with white, red, or pink blooms will handle the heat of the day.
Pink roses look great in bridesmaid bouquets or floral arrangements. With so many varieties from which to choose, The Bride Candy can help you decide the type for your nuptials.
Tulips withstand heat quite well, and because they grow in so many hues, you can order them year-round for any color scheme.
Fall
Autumn flowers make a nice wedding theme, but they’re tough to find in Florida. Thanks to The Bride Candy, they’re easy to order from other parts of the United States.
Lilies, asters, chrysanthemums, gerbera daisies, marigolds, and zinnias add to the bold rich colors of your autumn wedding décor.
Color up outdoor garden weddings with toffee or cappuccino roses.
Amaranthus feature rope-like flower stalks. Choose from magenta flowers on “love-lies-bleeding,”or “Joseph’s coat,” -- no flowers, but this plant has colorful foliage in shades of orange, red, or green.
Sunflowers scream “fall” with bright golden petals and brown seed centers.
Fall dressingsof curly willow, fig branches, Indian corn, pinecones, gourds, crabapples, and pumpkins dress up wedding and reception venues.
Winter
White and ivory are popular hues for winter weddings, but you can spice things up a bit with brilliant colors of red, purple, blue, and pink.
Christmas collections of mistletoe and “snow” tipped pinecones bring elements of a cold-weather winter to your warm Florida wedding.
Holiday flowers like red Asiatic lilies, holly, juniper, and anemone are perfect for bridal bouquets and centerpieces.
Dusty Miller blends into just about any color scheme. Silvery leaves pair up nicely with blue and purple flowers, but also work well with orange and hot red blooms.
Tweedia covers the “something blue” aspect of your wedding, and you can add these fragrant blooms to the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets.
Mixes with gardenias, spruce, eucalyptus, red amaranthus, jasmine, orchids, poinsettias, roses, camellias, and narcissus are perfect for winter weddings -- blend these colorful blooms into backgrounds of ivory and frosted white.
Flower Power
Don’t underestimate the importance of flowers on this special day. They’re more than just an accessory. Florals are an essential part of the bride’s outfit, and often set the scene for the ceremony and reception. Maybe the flowers won’t last forever, but the photos and memories will last a lifetime.
Ask your floral and event designer for advice on how to arrange these flowers to make your dream wedding into reality.
Kim Hess is a nature lover and wedding planner who enjoys incorporating a hometown feel in the ceremonies and receptions she designs. She also enjoys tasting food at venues around the country, so she can recommend the best wedding day feasts. (Hey, somebody’s gotta do it!)