After a week away in stunning Dubronik (if you haven’t been before you need to add it to your places to visit list!) I am feeling recharged and refreshed from the busy wedding season and have spent this week working on some exciting projects and catching up on admin, it feels good to have some time to breath, think and plan. Today we’re talking wedding ceremonies and sharing with you floral ceremony ideas, inspiration for your big day. Often when it comes to planning your wedding, particularly the flowers you probably have an idea of the colours that you like and the overall look and style but it can be a little overwhelming pinning down different ideas as there are just so many floral aspects to your day that you need to think about. From the bouquets, to the centre pieces, reception decor and the ceremony florals that sometimes there are just so many many options, where do you begin to start?

My first piece of advice would be to think about your ceremony venue, are you getting married in a church or not? Is it a grand space with high ceilings? If so it may need tall designs to fill the space. Does the interior already have a lot of pattern and detailing that you would like your decor to compliment or is it a blank canvas? Maybe you’re planning an outside ceremony? All these questions once you start answering will help you with your design decisions a little further down the line.

Statement Urns

Statement floral arrangements placed on plinths (or sometimes free standing) are a great way of creating an impact at your ceremony and are versatile as you can use different containers and plinths that compliment with  your venues surroundings. I often suggest re-using these too so that you get the most enjoyment out of them throughout your day for example if you are getting married in  a church then they can be moved to the reception venue to dress the entrance. These style arrangements work well when placed at the front of the aisle one either side of your registrar table where you stand and say your vows as it frames you nicely and works well for your pictures too.

As I mentioned previously, you don’t necessarily have to use stone urns for these (although these are a stunning choice for churches & stately homes) our gold trumpet vases worked well in the Vine Room at Northbrook Park as the venue is elegant but light and airy at the same time which gives it a modern feel. The ceremony room also has ornate gold details like the large gold mirror that hangs above the fire place so it tied in nicely with the interiors of the venue along with the couples overall look and style for their day.

Arrangements placed on whiskey barrels are a great option for an outside ceremony if you’re after a more boho or rustic look. Equally they would also work for an inside ceremony at a rustic or industrial style venue.

Arches

Whether it’s free standing, asymmetric, hanging or a half arch it will most certainly make a statement with your ceremony florals. Free standing arches are great for indoor ceremonies or creating a grand church entrance. They are also a good option if there is no existing frame work or mechanics (nails etc.) to attach to.

An arch doesn’t necessarily need to be really grand and voluptuous either if you don’t feel that’s really ‘you’ opt for a minimal arch, like the copper one pictured below, perfect for a modern industrial style wedding.

Aisle Decor

The pantone colour of the year for 2017 is greenery which has set the trend for all things foliage when it comes to wedding florals and decor and this looks like it sets to stay for 2018. Foliage alone without flowers can create the wow factor for your ceremony florals and works particularly well for botanical inspired schemes where lush foliage and texture is key. Glass house inspired venues such as conservatories and orangeries lend themselves nicely to foliage decor as this is where you would naturally expect to find plants growing, inside a green house such as the ones at Kew Gardens.

For the ceremony florals that we created at the Horniman conservatory pictured above the style was very much about bringing the ‘outside in’ so we used tall tree birch trees as the focal arrangements at the end of the aisle with lush green natural style hand ties made up of olive tied to the ends of the chair to line the aisle, a great example of less is more which in this case works really well, don’t you think?

Another option could be to not have hand tied chair posies but instead you could have cascading foliage arrangements such as the ones above, this style design lends it self well to pew ends in terms of the shape. They wouldn’t really work on normal chairs as it would be tricky to attach them and they wouldn’t sit flush to the chair as they do on the pews so that’s something to maybe bare in mind when thinking about your aisle flowers.

Also think about the colour of your flowers in comparison to the colour of your ceremony room, do the two work together? The blush tones pictured above compliment the beige/mink colour of the walls, the white chairs and white carpet beautifully and create a romantic feel.

Another option could be to have arrangements on the floor as opposed to on the chairs to line the aisle, like these ‘runner’ style arrangements that are perfect for both indoor and outdoor ceremonies. For floral ceremony ideas, that really pack a punch you could choose to have continuous ‘runner’ arrangements that run the whole length of your aisle on both sides to create the wow factor. What’s marvellous about opting for this style design is that your aisle arrangements then become your focal flowers as they create a lot of impact on their own which means you don’t necessarily need to have two focal plinth arrangements at the end of the aisle too, of course it’s entirely up to you though.

Instead of having the continuous runner arrangements another floral ceremony idea is to have runner sections, one placed on the floor at the end of each row. This creates impact and still lines the aisle but it also allows space for your guests to get to their seats easily from either side as opposed to only being able to access their chair on one side. These style designs are ideal if your wanting your day to have a more modern and relaxed, boho vibe.

I hope this has helped with pinning down some of those initial floral ceremony ideas you had, and maybe even given you a few new ones to consider? You can also check out our ceremony decor and Pew Ends & Aisle Decor pinterest boards for more gorgeous inspiration for your big day! I would love to hear what your floral plans are, if you have any questions feel free to leave us a comment or drop us an email hello@joannetruby.co.uk

Image Credits: Francis sales | Kerry Ann Duffy | AE Wedding Photography | Lola Rose Photography | Rebecca Douglas | Ruby Roux | Millar Cole Photography | Anushe Low | Kat Hill | Matt Badenoch Photo | Paul Grace | M&J Photography