A Primer on Different Wedding Bouquet Shapes
So I’m totally biased, but I really think that your wedding flowers should be your favourite part of your wedding. Aside from your new husband or wife, that is… ;)
Flowers are an incredibly unique thing in that they are living, breathing art. No two flowers are ever the same - they grow and open up in many minuscule different ways - and so no two bouquets will ever come together in the same way. Your wedding bouquet is a perishable work of ART - I treat it that way, and I hope you will, too!
One of the first questions I like to ask in a flower appointment is about what you LIKE. Tell me, what kind of bouquet shape are you drawn to? And if you’re one of those people who doesn’t know what they like yet, then consider this your primer on different wedding bouquet shapes.
Classic, Round Handtied Bouquet
The classic, rounded bridal bouquet will always be a desired look. Full and sort of voluptuous (never thought I’d used that adjective to describe a bouquet!) , this bouquet shape is best suited to a bride wearing a classic ballgown with an elegant, romantic, timeless sense of style. The setback with this style is that a lot of the rounded bouquets you’ll see are VERY boring and can come across as super dated in style - but it doesn’t have to be that way! With a combination of ruffled blooms mixed with textured fillers, different sized and shaped flowers, and some space and movement between the layers of the bouquet, you can achieve a much more modern take on the classic, rounded bridal bouquet. It does NOT have to be a dome of roses that looks like a generic grocery store bouquet. Let’s elevate it.
Photos by Charmaine Mallari
Cascade or Teardrop Bouquet
The cascade bouquet has seen an uptick in popularity over the last few years, but these bouquets are designed VERY differently than they were in the 80s and 90s! We are not looking for that overly pointed shape and I do not design the bouquets in a plastic holder (which are filled with toxic floral foam, FYI). Instead, we started with a luscious combination of trailing greenery to create the teardrop shape, and then start layering in a combination of focal flowers, line flowers (to evoke that draping feel), and textured fillers to finish it off. The modern cascade bouquet is lush, full, and often oversized. Simply due to the number of stems needed to create the shape, these bouquets can get pretty heavy - just a warning!
Photos by Cynthia Bettencourt
Garden Style Bouquet
If you’ve been following my work for any time period at all, you’ll probably be able to tell really quickly that my personal favourite bouquet shape is a garden style design! Every single gardenesque arrangement is going to come together differently - sometimes they’re wider, sometimes we incorporate a lot of trailing greeneries, often I’ll create an asymmetrical shape. The goal is to create a lot of movement and depth between the flowers, placing each bloom on a different plane, so that the bouquet has an airy quality and feels more natural and freshly picked (though please don’t misunderstand: this design style is not as simple to create as it might look. It’s not simply shoving a bunch of draping greenery at the bottom of a rounded bouquet).
Photos by Charmaine Mallari
Modern Sheath or Arm Bouquet
It’s not often that I get a request for a sheath bouquet (also known as an arm bouquet or a pageant bouquet)! Jessica was having a mid-century modern inspired wedding and this shape was very current then so it was really fun for me to try my hand at this. The design has to be very intentional - a limited number of stems can fit, you need to incorporate some long, reaching stems to create the shape (here I used those gorgeous oncidium orchids and locally grown delphinium), and of course, I need to teach YOU how to hold it correctly! If this bouquet were held vertically, it literally looks like the worst DIY bouquet of all time. Held correctly, over the arm, and it feels somewhat dainty, light, and romantic.
Photo by Brittany Mahood
More to come from this gorgeous wedding soon!
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
2021 wedding dates are now booking! Whether it’s an intimate wedding for 30 or a celebration the likes of which have never been seen before, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!
