In the following pages you will be given step-by-step direction on how to create a number of different wedding bouquets.

There are over 180 diagrams and over 100 photographs to help you learn the techniques spoken about within the pages of the book. You will gain information about how to construct bouquets that are affordable to make. You will also learn more about colour, texture, shape, form and placement. Wedding flowers have been used for thousands of years. Ancient Rome and Greece were known for their floral festivals. During those times, the use of red roses combined with purple violets symbolised the cycle of life and death.

During the Middle-Ages herbs such as dill were combined with some hedgerow flowers, these were made into informal bouquets. Dill and garlic were also added to the festivity garlands supposedly to arouse the couple to become ready to consummate their marriage later that night. During the 1930s wedding bouquets were large but light in appearance with light, feathery flowers such as gypsophila (baby’s breath) and asparagus fern being used. During the 1940s, due to the Second World War, many bouquets were made of gladioli which the bride would carry as an arm spray. These bouquets were held securely with large silk or satin bows.

Wedding bouquets appear to reflect the economy of the time in which the wedding takes place. In the early 1980s, Princess Diana’s wedding bouquet was large and made using the traditional Constance Spry methods, whereas, Catherine Middleton’s wedding bouquet of 2011 was small and compact, this possibly reflecting the global recession of 2008.Every wedding that takes place around the world does so because of human emotions and the feelings that two people have towards each other. A wedding is a rite of passage and to the two people involved, it is a very important experience. This is why, when a person is asked to make a wedding bouquet, it is both a compliment and a belief of trust that the florist has the experience and knowledge to carry out the wishes of the bride.