Beyond Blooms

First, brides added color to the traditional white bouquet, everything from a subtle touch of it to bold and bright, like all red. Now their bouquet choices are going beyond flowers to feathers and jewels — some are even choosing fruits and vegetables!

Jessica Christoferson, a designer for Cymbidium Floral in Exeter, recently did wedding bouquets with grapes, cherries and strawberries (see above) accenting the flowers. “The bride planned to use bowls of fresh fruit as centerpieces and said she wanted to find a way to incorporate fruit into the bouquets,” says Christoferson. “It’s such a natural pairing of elements.”

Other natural elements she’s used include crab apples, kiwis (“they’re only for centerpieces because sliced open they do stain”), kale, artichokes, dates, figs and fiddlehead ferns (“there are purple ones the color of eggplant”).

To keep the fruits or vegetables fresh, the bouquets are made the day before the wedding and kept in a cooler. “You don’t want oozing,” Christopherson says.

Teresa Lauterbach of Blooming Acorn in Bedford says feathers and rhinestones, both clear and colored (like those in the bouquet on the opposite page), are big with today’s brides. “You tuck them in between the flowers, “she says. “It’s not a focal point, it’s an accent.”
She says feathers evoke the popular vintage look. “The look of the ’30s and ’40s — small veils over the face and hats with feathers,” Lauterbach adds.

Karyn Robichaud, designer/wedding coordinator for Ford Flower Co. in Salem, used pheasant feathers for a bride who wanted “an autumnal, harvesty look.” Beaded gold wire was added as an accent. Robichaud sees cascade-style bouquets coming back, but with an updated look. She says, when cascades were popular in the 1980s, they had a very stiff look. Now the mix is looser, with the traditional ivy being replaced with elements like the cascade of pearls shown here. “It’s perfect for a long dress without a lot of detail in front.” In recent years, Robichaud says, she got virtually no requests for cascade bouquets, but this year about 20 percent of brides asked for them.

Also a choice of many brides — attaching a rhinestone initial of the bride’s new last name to the bouquet’s handle or tucking it into the bouquet. “We’ve also done the entrance to weddings on church doors or those of the venue with both initials — the groom’s on the right,” says Lauterbach. And, speaking of grooms, she says these days they are much more involved in choosing colors and styles of flowers. NHB