If you think flowers will make an appearance in your bouquet and on your reception tables, think again! If you love flowers, and you want to use them in new and creative ways, here are some great suggestions!
Flower favours
Flowers can make fabulous favours, especially for your female guests. If your favours are presented at table settings, they also add extra decoration to your tables. Here are a few ways they work well:
- tiny posies of flowers on the napkin of each female guest
- a fresh flower tucked into a bow on a favour box
- a fresh flower in a tiny individual vase (or candle votive) for each guest
Take the cake
Wedding cakes are often decorated with flowers, and these can be sugar flowers, artificial flowers or fresh flowers, whichever you prefer. Well-crafted sugar flowers can look so amazing that it’s hard to tell them apart from fresh flowers! They also have the advantage of being made beforehand, so there’s no need to decorate the cake on the day of your wedding.
If you decide on fresh flowers, it’s crucial to arrange communication between your cake designer and florist. The cake designer will need to let the florist know the exact dimensions of the cake, and the florist will need to let the cake maker know how he or she plans to decorate it.
Flowers at the reception venue
From table centrepieces to chair back decorations, flowers are a crucial part of your reception venue decoration. Your reception venue is the place where you’ll be spending the most time. It’s the setting for your wedding breakfast, speeches and the cutting of your cake, and probably for your evening entertainment, so it’s wise to spend the most money on decoration here. Depending on your venue, you might consider:
- pedestals in the entrance areas
- chair back decorations
- table arrangements
- fresh petal confetti over the tables
- floral favours
- wedding cake decoration
Pedestal arrangements can look wonderful if you have a large entrance area. They can be expensive though, so an alternative might be to hire topiary trees. Also, if you’re having pedestal arrangements in your ceremony venue, consider having them moved to your reception venue so you get full use out of them!
Flowers for chair backs
Adorning your chair backs with floral decorations can look stunning. Keep costs down by opting for simple arrangements, decorating every other chair or just decorating the chairs on the top table. The key is not to have the top table chairs against the wall so this works best with a round top table in the centre of the room.
Flowers for tables
Some kind of table arrangement is a must for your reception tables – even if you decide to have a bowl of sweets or disposable cameras instead of a floral arrangement. If you opt for flowers, speak to your florist to see what they can suggest to fit in with your budget and reception style. The most successful arrangements are either tall enough to allow your guests to see each other underneath, or short enough to allow them to see each other over the top! Save money by opting for plants instead of flowers and sticking to seasonal flowers and simple arrangements.
Scent is also crucial when it comes to table arrangements. Bear in mind that your guests will be eating at the table so the scent from the flowers shouldn’t be too strong. The smell of flowers combined with food can become rather sickly!
Petal power
Another way to incorporate fresh flowers into your reception is to sprinkle fresh rose petals over the tables. It’s always worth considering, however, that these petals will gradually grow dull, so preserved rose petals are a good, long-lasting alternative.
There is lots of great advice about wedding flowers on Confetti!
