I NEED TO POSTPONE MY WEDDING – WHAT’S THE IMPACT ON MY FLOWER DECOR?

Flower Availability and Natural Colour Palettes in the Environment Vary Through the Year.

 

“OMG I need to postpone my wedding”…I’m sure in the current climate you might have heard this sentence being pronounced about a million times, either from a family member or friend planning a wedding. Or maybe this has personally affected you. Sadness sets in, emails fly around, and you come up at the other side having to pick another date for your celebration. Many couples planning to get married in spring and summer 2020 have now decided to rebook in late autumn 2020 or next year. In some cases it has not been possible to get the exact same date, or even month, and couples have resorted to booking a date in a different season than the original one.

What does this mean for you flower décor? Will you need to rethink the entire colour palettes and overall concept?

Here is a quick guide for you on how you can approach the situation:

 

 

KEEP A SIMILAR FEEL GOING

Changes from a spring to an autumn/winter wedding (or vice versa) have potentially the biggest impact on your florals, as flower availability differs quite substantially between the two periods and dominant shades change in the environment around us. However, you can still achieve the same style, feel and palette you had planned for, the important thing here is to be flexible in the choice of flowers, trust your florist and be smart. There are many blooms that can be used to achieve a similar look and feel. For example, if you were looking at peonies for May-June, you might want to incorporate luscious garden roses in your arrangements, they are available all year around and they are as beautiful and impactful. Or if you planned to have lily of the Valley, you could substitute this with touches of waxflowers throughout your designs, which have similarly small blooms. If the shades you are going for cannot all be covered with using flowers, introduce them with accents on the décor, it can be as easy as using a ribbon on your stationery!

 

 

INCORPORATE A NOD TO THE NEW SEASON

If you are changing from a Spring wedding to a celebration later in the year, and want to make the most of the new season, why not welcoming a couple of new shades into your colour palette? This will allow you to continue along the lines of what you have been planning in terms of flower arrangements, and can be the base for stunning designs. For example, a light peachy-pink spring palette, translated into an autumn one could benefit from pops of deep purples, burnt oranges, or reds, to achieve a modern, sophisticated look.  It’s super easy to adapt the palette especially if your core one is based on muted tones like whites, blushes and creams. However, this is completely achievable even if you had planned  to have a predominant colour as navy blue for example.  If you are not feeling too adventurous, my top tip for you is to add only one shade to your florals, and a second one can be instead incorporated into other smaller elements of your wedding day to keep it visually to a minimum, or even utilised only for the ceremony and not the reception.

 

 

THROW THE ORIGINAL COLOUR PALETTE TO THE WIND AND FULLY EMBRACE THE NEW SEASON (ALSO KNOWN AS LET IT GOOOO)

Getting married later in the year is a chance to make the most of some stunning jewelled tones of the seasonal flowers available. I’m thinking of the ruby red of Ranunculus , the terracotta hues of Dahlias, the dramatic burgundy of Amaranthus and the golden tones of the greenery.  Deep, rich colours are super impactful and can create such a bold statements.  Ask your florist to guide you through this process, depending on what you want to achieve, a full immersion in warm shades or a tone on tone approach.

 

LET IT SNOW

If you are changing your spring-summer date for a winter wedding, why not go all white? It’s definitely a very elegant and sophisticated choice, the keys to make this match any particular style of wedding is to choose carefully what kind of flowers to pair together. Do you want something dynamic or minimal, opulent or natural? How much greenery are you thinking of incorporating? A sea of single white roses in small bud vases  is perfect to achieve a very chic effect for example, while coupling hydrangeas with medium-sized and smaller flowers creates textured arrangements which look a little more traditional. The best part is, white works beautifully with absolutely any other colour you are planning to use in your décor!

 

FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT

If you are adamant you do need to have peonies or lily of the valley in November, you have two choices, cross your fingers that imported blooms might be available, and of good quality (speaking of an expensive miracle most of the times), or turn to great quality silk flowers. Most florists  prefer to be inspired by the seasonality of flowers, and work with what nature makes available. However, it’s possible to mix fresh and silk flowers with great results, making sure you have exactly the focal flowers you had envisioned.

 

I hope these tips have given you some inspiration and renewed excitement for planning your wedding and floral décor for your new date!

 

Take care,

Love

Anna Fern