Flourish - Wedding Flowers & Floral Design, Florist

The etiquette of boutonnieres and corsages

I am often asked who should receive boutonnieres and corsages at the wedding. Here is a list in order of importance:

Boutonnieres:

Groom

Best man

Groomsmen

Ring bearer (if he is at least three years old)

Fathers

Grandfathers

Ushers

Friends helping at the wedding (officiant, guest book attendant, musicians, readers)

Special family members and sponsors

Corsages:

Mothers

Grandmothers

Friends helping at the wedding (officiant, guest book attendant, musicians, readers)

Special family members and sponsors

Of course this list is a complete list of everyone who could recieve a body flower. But you should adjust this list based on personal preferences, cultural issues and budget. Very often the bride and groom choose not to give out flowers to anyone beyond the bridal party, parents and grandparents.

A few etiquette notes:

Step parents: Your wedding day is not the time to let the world know how much you dislike your new step-mother by giving her a smaller corsage or not giving her flowers at all. Step parents should be honored in the same fashion as your blood parents. Better to keep the peace.

Everybody or nobody: If you are going to give a boutonniere and corsage to your God parents make sure you do the same for the groom's God parents. The same goes for aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings.

Personal preferences: Some people really, really dislike wearing a boutonniere or corsage. Ask your family what they would like. Women can wear a pin corsage, wrist corsage, hair flowers, flowers on a purse or they can carry a posy bouquet. Men are limited to a boutonniere. But if your wedding is especially casual and the men are not wearing a jacket with a lapel you can choose to omit the boutonnieres altogether.

Let them choose: If your mother would like a pin corsage and the groom's mother wants a wrist corsage it is okay. They do not need to match. Let them choose whatever makes them most comfortable.

It goes as it grows: I cannot tell you how many times I have seen corsages and boutonnieres pinned on upside down! Just remember-it goes as it grows. If there is a ribbon it goes at the bottom of the corsage.

Image by: Lydell Photography

Labels: boutonniere, corsages, Lydell Photogrpahy

Boutonnieres with attitude

A couple of good friends of mine are getting married soon. The groom is the guitar player in my Husband's band, Desario.

I love this boutonniere for the shreddin' Groom. In fact I love all the boutonnieres on Fritts Rosenow.

Now why didn't I think of that?

Labels: boutonniere

Aisle Dash

Aisle Dash wrote a blog entry about our boutonnieres!

Quoted here:

Boutonniere art
by Ilona Peltz on Apr 22nd 2008 11:58AM
Filed under: Flowers
Sometimes it can seem like the men are afterthoughts to a wedding (even the groom!). The women get the color -- the men, if they're lucky, get a pocket handkerchief, or maybe a cummerbund. The women get the showers and the parties; the men might get a stag. The women get lavish bouquets, the men get boutonnieres.

Boutonnieres. Let's stop there. Just because they're small doesn't mean they're unimportant. Often undervalued, these small delights add punch to the less flamboyant side of the wedding party.

More than just a rose and a bit of greenery, today's boutonnieres can be floral, textural, even sculptural. In the words of Shannon Cosgrove-Rivas, owner and head designer at Flourish, they are "a little world unto themselves."

Take a look through the gallery, and we're sure you'll see what she means.
Gallery: Boutonnieres as art

Labels: aisle dash, boutonniere

Where do you get your flowers?

When I started in the field of floral design, 20 years ago (yikes!) cut flowers that were grown and shipped from another part of the world for the average florist to use were rare. Partly because of the cost of expedited shipping and partly because communications between growers, wholesalers and the florist were cumbersome and difficult. With the advent of the Internet and improved shipping channels it has become commonplace for florist to use product from all over the world every single day.

This picture below is of a Groom's boutonniere I designed this past October. Where did those flowers come from? Let's break it down-
Dendrobium orchids- Hawaii
Ruscus- Florida
Hypericum berries- Columbia

I find is fascinating that such a small item's parts hail from three different parts of the world.

What about the picture of the bridal bouquet above?

Roses- Eucador

Lilac- Holland

Hypericum- Columbia

Blushing Bride Protea- New Zeland

Scented geranium- USA- Oregon

Lisianthus- Columbia

Seeded Eucalyptus- USA- Florida

Hanging amaranthus- Columbia

Isn't that amazing?

Over the past 20 years our world has changed dramatically. With the ease of communication the world has become such a small place. Countries and cultures that used to seem exotic and far away have become an intricately entwined with our everyday life.

Photo credits: Tee Taylor, True Love Photo

Labels: boutonniere, bridal bouquets

One of my favorite boutonnieres

I loved this boutonniere! It was made of white spray roses, succulents, green hypericum berries, white wax flowers and variegated Italian pittosporum.

The bridal bouquet featured succulents so I thought it would be sweet to sneak a few little succulents into the Groom's boutonniere. The bride's gown had a green velvet sash so the Groom's boutonniere had a touch of green velvet in the stem.
Photo by Lori Makabe

Labels: boutonniere, Groom, Lori Makabe, succulents