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tips for wedding bouquets

Wedding Flower Tips

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Wedding Flower Tips

To achieve your ideal wedding flower look, it’s essential to be an informed bride or groom by knowing wedding flower trends and expert tips. One of the most fun parts of planning your wedding is selecting your wedding flowers. We put together all the must-know tips so you can plan your wedding flowers even better than you imagined.

Keep in mind your wedding dress.

Floral appliques are a huge wedding dress trend. If your wedding dress has a specific floral look, such as roses, include that type of rose in your bouquets. This will help your wedding dress and flowers be cohesive, both as you walk down the aisle and in your wedding photos. If you choose a sleek wedding dress instead of a floral one, you can select even more elaborate flowers as a perfect contrast to your sleek bridal look.

Roses, roses, and more roses…don’t get stuck on the title, go by look.

Roses are timeless wedding bouquet flowers. Have you ever seen an unfamiliar flower and are shocked to find out it’s actually a rose? Roses come in so many shapes and sizes. When you meet with your florist, bring your budget and photos of the bouquets you like. If you love an out-of-season flower that tends to be more expensive, say peonies, many Bourbon, Hybrid Perpetual, Alba, Portland, & Damask roses are the perfect look-alike choice that may be less expensive if they’re in season. Don’t get stuck on the title of your ideal flower, two different flowers could look so similar. Your budget will thank your flexibility.

Bigger isn’t always better.

In recent years, the beautiful focus of some bouquets has been the smaller, filler flowers that surround the larger ones. If you are planning a bohemian-style wedding, smaller flowers are the perfect choice either as the focus of the bouquet or even the entire bouquet. Some popular smaller flowers include Cherry Blossom, Baby’s Breath, Queen Anne’s Lace, Craspedia, Quince, or Phlox. The filler flowers are the perfect way to add texture and dimension to your bouquets.

Bring your ideas and budget, but trust your florist!

Florists are truly artists! While you should absolutely bring your plan and budget, be open to their ideas and input. They may have flowers in colors, shapes, & textures you didn’t even know existed. This is why choosing a great florist matters so much. Look on social media, wedding websites, and florists’ own websites to see photos of other bouquets they’ve created. Then you’ll be able to trust them to exceed your expectations of your wedding bouquets. An added bonus is they are experts in knowing how to give you the look you want while staying within your budget.



Choosing your wedding flowers is an important part of designing your wedding day and planning your wedding. Be sure to prepare as you meet with your florist. Bring photos of bouquets and flowers you love to show your florist and don’t forget to be transparent with your budget. A good florist can deliver stunning bridal bouquets at any price point. Happy Planning! For more wedding planning inspiration and tips check out more Chicago Wedding Blog posts below.

Greenery contrasts and stand out

Wedding Flower Inspiration to Stand Out with a Popular Wedding Color

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Wedding Flower Inspiration to Stand Out with a Popular Wedding Color

Every wedding year has a popular wedding color. Once you know three couples with the same wedding colors you may find it difficult to have the on-trend colors, but still, have your wedding stand out. One great way to solve this common color mishap is by having unique wedding flowers. You can stand out if you choose a popular wedding color. Here is some wedding flower inspiration to stand out with a popular wedding color.

Choose a unique cascading bouquet shape to stand out.

A uniquely shaped bouquet can be such a show-stopper! A cascading bouquet blends your bridal party’s attire and the flowers together. Often, only the bride’s bouquet is a cascade. If you choose to do this for your entire bridal party, it would be unique and add drama to a popular wedding color.

Choose greenery to add a contrasting color.

When you choose a popular wedding color, it’s important to have a contrasting color as well. Greenery is a great classic contrast color for your wedding day. No two shades or kinds of greenery are alike, so you can incorporate many different shapes and shades of greenery into one bouquet, even without flowers. If you still want to have flowers in the greenery even mixing in just a few flowers can go a long well to pull together the contrasting color with your wedding color.

Wrap your wedding flowers with ribbons.

Speaking of contrasting colors, who says you have to have only one wedding color? A distinct addition to the contrast between your wedding color and greenery is a pop of color with ribbons! Wrap ribbons around the stems of your flowers to introduce a pop of color, without having the flowers be the pop of color. The ribbons can even drape down in a cascading fashion for extra drama. If you are an all-or-nothing bride, tie it all together by introducing a pattern such as stripes, sequins, or floral to tie all your colors! Nothing like tying your wedding colors together with ribbons in a nice bow, get it?

A classic style will tone down a bold wedding color.

Choosing a tight, round, classic shape is a solid option if you are choosing a modern and bold wedding color. If you choose simpler flowers that will ensure your wedding colors are the focus of your color scheme. Classic white roses never go out of style. If you like the idea of a classic bouquet, but would miss having texture in the bouquet, add baby’s breath to incorporate texture while keeping the classic style.

Bohemian-style bouquets add a unique touch to a popular color.

Another way to have your wedding stand out from your popular wedding color is to have dramatic, artistic flowers. The Bohemian bouquet styles tend to incorporate everything from wildflowers to wheat, to greenery in an unconventional way. Often wedding guests are in awe of the unique flowers they haven’t seen in wedding flowers before. If you’re trying to tone down your wedding color and turn up the avant-garde style of your wedding, Bohemian bouquets are a great way to do that. This style is sure to become a conversation piece, as well as an eccentric touch to your wedding day.



As you plan your wedding, choose the color that you love! There is no need to sacrifice uniqueness simply because you choose a popular wedding color. We hope these bouquets inspired you to choose wedding details to set your wedding apart from the rest. For more wedding planning tips and inspiration check out more Chicago Wedding Blog posts below! Happy Planning!

Recycled Wedding Rings

Ways To Recycle Wedding Items

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Ways to Recycle Wedding Items

It’s no secret that weddings generate a lot of waste not only in leftover or unused food, but also in items people won’t use again like favors, your dress, or wedding décor. We’ve got some great ideas on how to help the environment and recycle those wedding things!

You can re-purpose your dress.

If you’re not terribly sentimental and don’t mind parting with your wedding gown you can sell it. There are a lot of great stores that buy pre-owned wedding dresses. You could be helping someone else out whose on a tight budget. If you’d like to keep your wedding dress but don’t want it sitting in the back of your closet, you can tailor it. We love turning a wedding dress into a cocktail dress, Christening gown, or prom dress! Your daughter could go to her prom with a one of a kind dress or get baptized in something very special to you.

Another way to recycle wedding items is to give them to a secondhand shop.

Some places take gently used wedding décor to re-sell. If you are tight on your budget you can even consider getting your wedding rings from a family heirloom or secondhand shop. Keep in mind if you want to donate wedding decor it may be difficult to find a place for it if it has your initials all over it. Call around and see what stores take wedding décor.

Re-use those flowers!

It’s bittersweet that all the time and effort into decorating with flowers and they’ll just wilt and die within a few days. We love programs that use wedding flowers as donations to hospitals or nursing homes. You’ll be brightening someone else’s day with your pretty floral arrangements. If you and your bridesmaids have the time and desire, you can also take apart the bouquets at the reception. Then you can re-gather them into small favors for your guests to take home. This does require more work and attention when all you probably want to do is celebrate at the reception. So, it’s worth asking if your wedding coordinator or some very helpful family members would be in charge of that so you don’t have to worry about it.

It always feels good to contribute to a green environment. We love the idea of using your joyous wedding items and brightening someone else’s day too. Did you use recycled wedding decor for your wedding? We would love to feature your green wedding. E-Mail credited photos and vendors to hello@chicagoweddingblog.com . Happy Planning!

Presentation Flowers

Wedding Flower Styles

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Wedding Flower Styles

Wedding flowers are one of the most important visual elements of your wedding. Consequently, it’s important to look determine your floral style. Once you determine your wedding flower style you can easily play with other colors and textures. To help you with this here are wedding flower styles to inspire you.

Bohemian Organic Flower Styles

This flower style has been popular for some time now. Different than the clean, classic style these looser bouquets have asymmetrical shapes and textures incorporated. One aspect of this style is flowing greenery, stalk, and cascading wildflowers. Some examples of bohemian, or organically shaped, bouquets are cascade or hand tied bouquets. If you like bigger bouquets with organic shape this is your wedding flower style.

Classic Circular Wedding Bouquet

This style is a great idea for those who like a clean symmetrical look. Typical classic nosegay or biedermeier bouquets look tighter than the bohemian style. Because of this, they’re usually rounder and incorporate less cascade elements. If you like a look that is smaller and less dramatic for your bouquet, look into classic, circular bouquets. This style is perfect for a classic wedding.

Angled And Horizontal Wedding Bouquets

If you don’t like the vertical look of flowers, a presentation style bouquet may be the perfect choice for you. Think of the bouquet given to beauty pageant queens. This shape is one with which they cradle in their arms. Typically longer stemmed flower are better for this choice. If you like that look, search into a presentation bouquet option.

Unique, Fresh Vintage Flower Styles

Some vintage shapes are slowly making a comeback. One idea we’ve seen used as decoration and as a bouquet is a hoop wedding bouquet. These flowers are attached to a metallic or plastic hoop. This style is perfect for you if you like to be one of a kind! Another circular shape option is the Pomander bouquet. This type of bouquet is a ball shape. This is attached to a ribbon or loop from which it is carried. If you like to be unique with a vintage flair, these flower styles are perfect for you.



For more wedding planning inspiration, tips, & ideas take a look at more blog posts below! We know there are so many places to look for wedding planning inspiration. Thank you for reading Chicago Wedding Blog. Happy Planning!

Spring Blue Table Inspiration

Blue Spring Wedding Inspiration

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Blue Spring Wedding Inspiration

One way to get out of the winter wedding planning blues is to look forward to spring. You have heard of the proverbial something blue, but this blue spring wedding inspiration goes further. Here is some unique blue spring wedding inspiration that will get you spring wedding ready!

Blue Marbled Trends

You can incorporate this design to save the dates, invitations, wedding cake, or flowers. A marbled design brings together multiple hues of blue. For the more indecisive couples, you don’t have to choose choose one shade of blue if you go with this marbled trend!

Fifty Shades Of Gray/Blue

A pretty way to soften a blue color scheme is to add grays, whites, and different shades of blue. We recommend you choose a few areas to add strong color. Then, you can balance the more pungent colors with soft grays and whites. The easiest way to do this is with the bridal party or flowers. Men can wear any blue, gray, or black color to coordinate.

Light Blue Spring Bridesmaids Dresses

One trend we love for 2020/2021 spring weddings is a return to light blue bridesmaids dresses. A soft blue says spring without being too overdone. Your bridesmaids love that many shades of light blue are flattering on all skin tones. We all look forward to lighter hues of spring clothes after a long midwest winter. Don’t you?

Blue Spring Wedding Decor

We love dramatic tablescapes with mixed textures and shapes. This past year hanging canopies of glass baubles and flowers have been popular. You can use different shades of blue fabric as a table runner. There are plenty of light blue glass ornaments that can add a whimsical touch to your wedding. Another trend for this year is velvet. You could tie blue velvet ribbon to a lantern, or centerpiece. Keep in mind it is important your guests can see each other to speak across the table. Avoid going too big or tall with centerpieces. Sometimes the simpler the better.

Are you having a blue spring wedding? We would love to share your photos! If you would like to share, please e-mail us (at hello@chicagoweddingblog.com) your photos with vendors credited. In the meantime, share this post with your engaged friends to inspire them! Happy wedding planning!

Best Wedding Flowers

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When it comes to the best wedding flowers there are quite a lot of choices for you! Which ones do you gravitate towards – roses, lilies, daisies, plumeria, dogwood or lilacs?

This year, we are seeing a lot of orange and butter yellow shades. These flowers compliment both summer and fall weddings. You can use Peonies, Icelandic poppies, Juliet roses, chrysanthemums, carnations, and ranunculus to make a beautiful bouquet or bouquets for your bridesmaids. Add a delicate chandelier and you’ve got a very romantic space.

Another trend we are loving this year is moss! Who would have thought this greenery would replace the lush leaves we’ve been seeing for years? Moss adds a fabulous fairy tale element to your wedding space. Technically moss isn’t a flower, but you can add flowers to it to make it gorgeous.  You can use a moss wall as an indoor ceremony backdrop or place it as a runner down the center of a long banquet table. Different flowers can be placed in the moss to add a great splash of color.

Another flower we love is the arthurium. It appears like a tropical flower but can be placed with more traditional flowers like tulips, roses, celosias, calla lilies and mini gerberas. The arthurium gives your bouquet a very unique look. This flower is especially fun for both summer and fall due to the range of colors it comes in.

New Age Bohemian

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Welcome to 2018 brides! We are taking a look at a trend for the new year: New Age Bohemian. This may sound like hippie nonsense but give it a try. The Bohemian look is going to replace all the rustic wedding trends we saw last year.

What entails a New Age Bohemian wedding? First, let’s look at where your guests will start – the invitations. Bohemian is all about florals, romance and non-fussy. We love a touch of elegant flower on your invitations to set the mood. You can set the tone you want depending on which flowers you choose and the color scheme. Romantic doesn’t have to mean all pinks or reds. If you’re a more dramatic bride you can incorporate plenty of dark greens and blues.

Let’s not forget where flowers are also a big hit – on a hair piece! The New Age Bohemian look is perfect if you are a bride who wants to wear flowers in her hair and dance barefoot. You can put together a lovely crown of flowers with greenery for both you and your bridesmaids.

The most important aspect, to go with this crown of flowers, is your dress. There are hundreds of Bohemian style dresses out there and we’ve picked out a top few! As an added bonus, the flowy, lacy dresses also look quite comfortable to wear.

Feel free to go all into the Bohemian wedding trend this year! We love that it is fun, elegant and romantic.

Get Your Craft On

Get your Craft On

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Get Your Craft On

Calling all Martha Stewart wanna-be’s! This is your time to embrace your inner crafts(wo)men and tackle your wedding one delightful little detail at a time. Do it yourself most commonly known as DIY is the art of creating, replicating, etc. goods. With the right tools, a little creativity, and some patience you can practically recreate anything out there!

Want to learn how to emboss? Take a quick tutorial here: http://lovelylittledetails.com/2011/11/30/lovely-little-diy-embossing-101-lld-video-tutorial/

Get Your Craft On

Want to learn how to make fun little décor such as pomanders check out this fun step-by-step guide: http://ruffledblog.com/do-it-yourself-tissue-paper-pomanders/

Get Your Craft On

How about fun votive candle favors for your bridal shower. Check! http://www.heygorg.com/2011/07/diy-vintage-teacup-candles.html

Get Your Craft On

Want to create an aisle runner with your monogram? Or how about a unity candle? http://diyweddingplanner.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-A-Monogrammed-Aisle-Runner-For-Your-Wedding

Get Your Craft On

There are so many wedding planners, designers, and the like that are dabbling in Marthaville-type projects that the possibilities are seemingly endless! Just think of all the fun projects you can learn to do and save some green while doing so.

If you have a Michaels, Archiver’s, Joann Fabrics, or Hobby Lobby in your neck of the woods…well you are in luck! These crafty spots always seem to have great prices, sales, and even coupons! Who doesn’t like 30-50% off?! In the long-run, every little discount, sale, or coupon can add up to save for your bottom line.

Of course, Martha is the queen of crafting, and her site is an unbelievable resource for all wedding things related, but especially DIY. Still seeking more inspiration? Check out Pinterest- http://pinterest.com/. Pinterest seems to be taking over the (wedding) world one pin at a time. With Pinterest you can search by the interest, look, design, or desired project such as “paper flowers.” By golly, you’re in luck. You can find the picture that peaks your interest, click, and away you go to learn how to master that craft.

Be bold and creative, save some money honey, and get your craft on!

British Themed Wedding

British Themed Wedding

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Brides, listen up for the next hot thing in 2015! As always there are options for you to customize your day but we’re loving the British Themed Wedding.

Who doesn’t love Princess Kate’s flawless style and elegance? Downtown Abbey is also making quite the splash in the U.S. To get this royal look it’s all about simple: tables bare or covered in vintage lace and think about trying floral decorations hanging. Now your guests won’t have to head bob around the centerpieces to see each other. You can use flowers that are in season to save money and you’ll also save money because the centerpieces should be natural and flowing.

British Themed Wedding

For your wedding hair we’re liking the loose, wild moor waves brides are sporting. You can add pieces like flowers or jewels to highlight.
British Themed Wedding

The English tea theme can’t be taken too far and it’s not just for the bridal shower! You can use this to tastefully decorate your entire wedding reception. From big bows to striped chair decorations, you can create the illusion of being in a castle garden. Also, how about using lanterns to further that illusion of being in a fairy ring or in the old highlands. They are easy to assemble, some don’t even require real candles so the fire hazard aspect is taken out.

Whatever your vision for a British invasion on your wedding, let your imagination take over. You can do upper London elegance or go for a more rustic, Celtic magic theme.