Orchids of all kinds, roses, hydrangeas and the premium florals of any given season will forever remain popular choices for wedding flowers.

However, I was very pleasantly surprised recently while perusing through one of those luxury wedding magazines – the name of which escapes me – I noticed that in one of their feature luxury weddings the wedding florist had used in great abundance to great effect a flower that is generally considered a filler seen really only in everyday arrangements and under normal circumstances not even really noticed.

The dramatic effect of the design  was so inspiring because it shows that both clients and florists are really acknowledging that in some ways there is no such thing as a “wedding flower” and that all types of flowers regardless of what they are for potentially suitable for wedding work.

I for one think that all flowers are beautiful, but I appreciate that I am understandably biased. Right along side the carnation and another flower I mentioned a couple of weeks back, it’s exciting to see it come to the mainstream.

This is also great because for those who want grand flowers for their wedding because they could probably get a similar effect with less traditional options for flowers which would work well not only on the pocketbook, but creating a unique and beautiful look for their flowers.

It’s probably the furthest thing from anyone’s mind…

How could a little volcanic ash on the other side of the world affect anything to do with a wedding here?

Well, I guess it’s true UNLESS your flowers at least some of them come from there.

For those of you who may not know the ultimate originators of the commercial flower markets  – The Dutch – are over there and I was told that at one point, with the airports shut down nothing was going in and out.

I suppose it’s another good reason for trying to stick with flowers that are grown locally or at least on this continent, but sometimes there’s nothing quite like a bloom from that part of the world and for the most part it’s not an issue until the volcano decides to erupt and cause a little havoc.

For the longest time, the predominant style for bouquet has been the hand-tied or round bouquet which I think was made most popular by Martha Stewart.

But as with all things, I can see that the preference for shape is slowly changing to the style famously carried by Princess Diana when she married Prince Charles.

The long flowing seemingly large and probably heavy bouquet known as the Cascade is coming back updated in a more streamlined and cleaner look.

Even a few years ago, I was hard pressed to remember being asked to make one, but now more and more clients are leaning toward the elegance that such a bouquet brings with it.

So, if you’re getting married in the next year or so, you may end up with one, but a few years ago you might never have considered it.

I always tell my clients. Go for colour first.

It’s especially important when the budget is not opened ended because you’ll open a large door to options that you wouldn’t otherwise have and might be relegated to having a traditional wedding flower in a colour you didn’t want.

Purple and varying shades of it is the colour of the moment and I had the pleasure of making boutonnieres in purples that weren’t roses.

For Elaine and Darshan’s wedding earlier this month, (I’ll feature more flowers from their wedding shortly), we used alstromeria for the boutonnieres which offered the symmetry of the all popular orchid and the colour that seemingly didn’t come in any other flower other than a rose.

Alstromeria Boutonniere For The Groom | Floret.ca