Back when I was first learning how to make a bridal bouquet, I struggled to piece together original designs from my dream list of flowers. Shoot, I still do.
I thought that surely if I had a dozen Juliet roses and some peach ranunculus the details would just fall into place. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Works of art don’t just happen, and adding in 3 extra Juliet roses does not make a bouquet sing.
Maybe you find yourself here, too, glaring at a tortured bunch of blooms in your hand with no idea how to fix it. Broke bouquets are no joke.
I would have paid good money (and did!) to learn how to make those bridal bouquets that stopped me mid-scroll. Along the way I have learned that most beautiful arrangements have about six moving pieces, and I think if you do at least 3 of them well, the end result will be stunning.
These are the elements I fall back on when I’m feeling stuck. It’s not a list to box you in in any way. I feel strongly that the very nature of floral design is personal and organic. Treat these six things rather as a suggestion, a way to jump start the creative process and think outside the box. (When you know the rules, you know how to break them, right?)
HOW TO MAKE A BRIDAL BOUQUET:
focal flowers | filler & floating flowers | foliage | shape | color | texture
FOCAL FLOWERS
These are the big, showy blooms that immediately catch your eye. Blooms like garden roses, dahlias, peonies, and anemone… you know, the ones your brides always request, and the ones that secretly take your breath away, too. Select your focal flowers first and design the rest of the bouquet around them. Just trust me on this one.
FILLER FLOWERS & FLOATING FLOWERS
Filler flowers provide a base for the showy blooms to shine. These can be flowers like lilac, tulips, lace-cap hydrangea, spray roses, astrantia, and standard roses. Floating flowers are delicate and ethereal blooms that dance above a bouquet, like cosmos, ranunculus, and poppies. They provide depth and visual support for those show stealing poppies and peonies.
FOLIAGE
It is so, so, so important to have a good foliage game. Sometimes I go so far as to think it’s the most important part! I’m a greens girl. Greenery sends a subtle, subliminal message about the tone of the entire event. Yeah, it’s THAT important. Ivy for garden party affairs, olive branches for vineyard or sun-drenched affairs, and bright, happy greens like lemon leaf, ferns, Italian ruscus, and pittosporum for soft, romantic bouquets. Eucalyptus has its place (maybe in a rustic barn wedding), but frankly I suspect we florists have shamelessly overdone it. We love to forage greenery from the woods and our gardens for our weddings, simply because it suits that wild & free look we love so much. Blackberry, basil, and birch are favorites.
SHAPE
Creating interesting shapes with flowers is a lot of poking flowers in and pulling them back out. Sometimes the flowers themselves dictate the shape, sometimes you carefully select blooms to fit a shape you have predetermined. Anybody can create a tight, round bouquet, right? But learning how to make a bridal bouquet that dances and sprawls requires space for the following:
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- Voids: To create a void, you intentionally leave gaps and empty spaces in your bouquet that draw the eye to the focal flower. It may take a bit of practice to get the voids right and avoid looking like you simply ran out of flowers. Think of voids as strategic quiet spots.
- Layers: Create dimension by placing flowers on top of each other. When we look at a bouquet, our eyes usually register the color first, then the shape, then the textures. What we don’t often land on is the way that flowers are layered on top of each other to create depth and dimension. Layering flowers feels opulent. Like, hey, I know you cost money, Juliet, but here’s another Juliet on top of you for good measure. Truth is, two Juliets are more powerful than one, and lush bouquets should feel just a little opulent.
- Asymmetry: Ever wonder how florist’s create those stunning asymmetrical bouquets? They do asymmetry with great, precise intention, too. Well, kind of. The best symmetry happens as you create, letting the flowers and greenery dictate the shape. The main thing to avoid is a branch of greens sticking out of the bouquet by itself, like one lonely antenna. If you have a lonely antenna, give it some company with a flower or two. You want to gently ease the gap between it and the bouquet.
- Rivers of Texture & Color: The very best bouquets do this last part well. Flowers of like color are grouped together, creating rivers that run through the bouquet. The idea is to avoid a checkered look.
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COLOR
Nothing taught us the importance of choosing the right colors like trying to force pink peonies and pink tulips into the same bouquet. Pinks can run the gamut from frosty to warm to bright to hot to dark, and combining the wrong shades can be mediocre at best. Using both warm colors and cool colors gives a bouquet depth. If you look at your favorite bouquets, you probably didn’t even register some of the colors present. That’s because they were designed to stay in the background while making the focal flowers pop. Examples of cool colors: lavender, frosty pinks, lemon yellow, purples, blues, and hot pink. Examples of warm colors: salmon, coral, dusty pink, orange, and butter yellow.
TEXTURE
Unexpected detail is your Modus Operandi. It’s what gives you your unique flair as a florist. My favorite unexpected details are things like grasses, weeds, feathers, berries, twigs, and fruits. Your goal is to contrast the elegance of the flowers, and that contrast is couture.
All photos in this post are from our Spring collaboration with Kylie Bricker Photography.
Good bouquets use good ingredients, but excellent bouquets use them strategically.
Knowing these rules will help you know how to break them, how to take them and make them your own. Whether your style is loose + organic, romantic + whimsical, or rustic couture, applying some or all of these principles will help you to produce consistently stunning bouquets.
To download a printable of “How to Make a Bridal Bouquet”, click the photo below.
So now that I’ve told my approach the occasional dilemma of how to make a bridal bouquet, I’d love to hear from you! Are there guidelines I didn’t mention or rules that you think no longer apply? Tell me what you do to create those consistent, beautiful bouquets! I’m all ears.
Happy flowering, friends!
–LaRonda
p.s. Want to know who some of my favorite florists are to follow? For endless inspiration, check out Sinclair & Moore and Jana Brown Design.