Choosing a Bouquet to Match your Wedding Gown

So, you’ve found your gorgeous wedding gown. It’s beautiful, it’s perfect for you and you feel like a superstar when you’re wearing it. Now it’s time to add in your accessories. Of course this includes things like jewellery, veils, shoes and more, but it also includes your wedding bouquet. After all, it spends the majority of the time sitting front and centre in the middle of your dress, so it has to match up.

The thing is, just as all wedding dresses aren’t created equal, neither are all bouquets. There are hundreds of styles and combinations that you can choose from, and like all other wedding accessories, they’re not all going to play nicely with your dream dress.

It can be difficult to work out which bouquet is going to go best with your wedding gown, after all, it’s not something you have to do every day! There are details to think about – like if your nuptials are going to be a big outdoor party or an inside event. This can make a difference in the flowers you choose. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Let’s find out how to choose a bouquet to match your wedding gown.

Colour

First things first, you’re going to want to think about the colour of your bouquet, together with the colour of your dress. Although you’re probably going to be choosing your floral arrangement colours based on your wedding venue decor and theme, rather than based on your dress, you do need to factor your dress design into this choice.

For example, if you have a colour tinge to your dress, like a blush, you’re maybe not going to want to have blush tones in your bouquet. This will make the look very one tone and you’d need a lot of greens, creams and whites to make this work well.

Similarly, if you’re wearing a heavily embellished dress with tons of sequins or beadwork on it, you’re going to want to opt for colours that work with the way the light hits your dress. With dresses like this, they’re the show stopping wow moment, so you don’t want a statement bouquet as well, so opt for something a little bit more simple and low key with ivories and sage tones.

Shape

Next up, let’s consider the shape of your bouquet. There are a few to choose from including rounded globe styles, cascading waterfalls, traditional, and posey styles. There are tons more, but these four tend to be the most popular for bridal looks.

The general rule of thumb is the more formal your wedding theme, the more structured your bouquet. For cathedral style weddings or ones that have ballroom receptions, with either princess dresses or ones with a large train, there’s a leaning more towards traditional or rounded styles to match the formality and structure.

With more laid-back weddings where there are floaty dresses with a bit more whimsy, this is where you’ll see more cascading and posey styles. This is because there tends to be more wildflowers and foliage that doesn’t conform or work with the more formal bouquet structures.

Size

Similarly to thinking about the shape of your bouquet, size is also important. If you’re wearing a tea-length dress, you’re not going to want a giant waterfall style bouquet that swallows the dress. In the same way, if you’re wearing a big princess dress, a small posey bouquet is going to look completely off.

Ideally, you want your bouquet to sit in the middle of your waist with a little bit of dress showing on each side. At the most, it should be the same width as your waist, otherwise, it’ll make you look wider than you actually are and no one wants that on their wedding day!

With cascading waterfall style bouquets that tend to be longer than they are wide, you need to make sure these taper out towards the bottom of the bouquet. You ideally want these ending at the mid-thigh so that they don’t become too heavy or you don’t end up kneeing them all day!

Also if you have a belt detail on your dress or waist detailing, keep this in mind as you don’t want to cover up all that beautiful dress decor.

Flower style

Next up we have the style of flowers in your bouquet. Most brides will be able to name the one type of flower that they want to include, but you can’t really have a bouquet with just one flower style. To give your bouquet depth and fullness you need to vary the sizes of the flowers in the bouquet as well as add in enough greenery and foliage to balance it out.

If you have a statement dress, you can afford to use some big statement flowers like birds of paradise or orchids. If you’ve got a more laid-back wedding dress, you might want to go with more relaxed wildflowers like baby’s breath, willows or sunflowers. Traditional weddings have traditional flowers in their bouquet and laid-back more casual weddings have wild and free flower varieties in their look. It’s a simple rule of thumb, but it’s a good one!

Once you have the main flower that you want to include, let your florist know that together with a photo of your dress and venue style, and they’ll be able to advise what’s best. If you have any reference photos from Pinterest or wedding magazines, make sure to bring them with you to your floristry appointment.

Tie style

Increasingly, couples are tying their wedding bouquets into their overall theme using different tie styles. This is the bit of the bouquet that the bride holds and often hides the stems away from view. Although your hands mostly cover it, it can poke through slightly and will be seen in your wedding photo shoot and when you throw the bouquet.

Ways that you can bring your theme into your tie style include wrapping the stems in hessian twine for a more rustic theme, using sheet music for a musical couple, using the colour ribbon that you use throughout your decor, and more. There are so many ways to weave your theme into your wedding bouquet, and especially if you have a more simple wedding dress, you can make it a feature of your bridal look.

The Beauty of a Flower – an Exquisite Bridal Editorial

Inspired by flowers and the natural beauty of a bride, this exquisite bridal editorial shoot from Irina Klimova Photography exudes classic, European wedding style in the best possible way! The ultra feminine wedding gowns work in perfect harmony with the ranunculus, peony, thistle, and Anemone-filled floral designs and the entire look is one of timeless elegance.

From Irinia Kilmova Photography – “This shoot was conceptualized around the idea that women are like flowers in that they’re naturally beautiful. We set the tone for the editorial with soft, warm colours and sprawling, stylish bouquets and centrepiece designs. We wanted it all to look as light as air and showcase the latest feminine trends in European wedding style.

From Irinia Kilmova Photography – “For the first portion of our inspiration shoot we wanted to showcase classic, European style. The wedding dress is embroidered with lace and we styled the bride with a chic low bun and long, ornate earrings. For the second portion of the shoot we went a little bit on the rustic side: a natural, loose hairstyle, light makeup and a bouquet tied with twine.”

Credits: Photography: Irina Klimova // Hair & Makeup: Tatiana Obukov // Floral Design: Kristina Kaberne // Wedding Dresses: Anna Mores // Location: Moscow.