The promise of Spring
When the last of the season’s flowers have faded in late autumn, and we’re busy sowing seeds and planting those bulbs, we are already looking forward to the Spring flowers that will be bursting into bloom next year.
Spring has always and will always be a popular time to get married with spring wedding flowers being popular for a variety of reasons. May especially is favoured by brides as it is the first month of the year where temperatures are rising, with sunshine hours averaging very similar to the summer months – perfect to enjoy the evening’s festivities. With the summery feel and all those Bank holidays, May really is a fabulous month for a wedding!
Spring is also a fabulous time of the year for British grown flowers. There are a fabulous selection blooming their socks off, from the early flowering anenomes and tulips to the very first annuals sown months before, the pure promise of spring flowers is unbeatable.
Tulip time
April starts off the main wedding flower season with a bang with tulip season. We only plant the more unusual and spectacular speciality tulips that you just can’t buy from your standard shop, or even from a florist wholesale. From the subtle pinky peach Apricot Beauty to some amazing scented double tulips, to the striking but classy Viridiflora Spring Green blooms, there is a coloured tulip for every wedding style and colour palette… and the perfect match made in heaven for April must be tulips paired with delicate blossom!!
A sumptuous tulip and blossom bridal bouquet.
A meadow arrangement containing lilac double tulips and Viridiflora Spring Green tulips.
Beautiful scented double tulips growing on the plot.
Ravishing Ranunculus
As we head into May the flowers really start to kick off. Once the tulips have finished the gorgeous ranunculus take their place, perfect if you love roses or peonies, they have the most delicate feel and are just the right size for all wedding arrangements, from dainty buttonholes to large installations. For the brighter spring weddings, I have often used the aptly named orange ‘Clementine’, a beautiful shade of tangerine orange ranunculus. The many varieties of pinks including cerise, blush, and stunning picotee, (bi or tri-colour mixed, with dark centres and petal edges), along with fabulous whites and green hued creams is amazing too.
There is only one thing that the ranunculus doesn’t offer however, and that is scent. Luckily there is the perfect companion for them to provide that quintessential spring fragrance which are of course sweet peas. Although they are high maintenance flowers, (requiring regular tying in followed by dead heading to promote those blooms to continue to flower), they are a must grow if you are a wedding florist. Whether you love the single stems amoungst your bouquet or in cute bud vases for your guests to appreciate or longer ‘vines’ to create amazing urn displays, sweet peas are just devine.
Ranunculus in a mini chandelier.
Delicate ruffles of a ranunculus bloom.
There are so many fabulous spring flowers to choose from
Helebores and anenomes are the first show flowers that smaller flower farmers grow in the year, both perfect for wedding work, with the anemone Mistral series having particularly amazing large heads in sumptuous colours of deep plumb and purples to creamy whites with jet black stamens and coloured centers.
Biennials are a British florist’s best friend as they are usually the flowers that start blooming before the annuals get going. Foxgloves are a must have for any urn or for any larger arrangements, with Sweet William and Sweet Rocket having the most gorgeous spring scents. Bulbs and perennials are also so useful, including alliums, lupins, delphiniums, polonium and geum to name just a very few.
Flowering shrubs including viburnums, camelias, azaleas and lilac can also transform an ordinary display into a quintessentially spring display, with the fleeting fruits blossoms creating a magical feeling).
In late spring the early annual flowers start blooming. The whites and pastels of corncockle, frothy ammi and pretty lace fdlowers add a lightness to wedding florals, with Canterbury Bells, Calendula, Iceland and Californian poppies and Snapdragons really packing a colourful punch.
Stunning anenomes in a bridal bouquet.
Camellia, hellebore, tulips and scented flowering viburnum.
A cornucopia of spring blooms including cornflowers, flowering sage, yellow and cream ranunculus, yellow flowering jasmine, polonium, orlaya (lace flower) and grasses.
Statuesque foxgloves.
Gorgeous photos
If you love the outdoors then spring is also a great month for an outside ceremony (although I would always have a backup!), and options for post wedding photos are endless. From walks in a venue’s wooded grounds or alongside a lake, to evening shots on a warm spring eve, try to make time to have a chat with your photographer before your big day to see how you can get your dream outdoor photos at your wedding!!
Nodding daffodils are the perfect backdrop for wedding photos.
How lovely do these ‘Golden Hour’ shots look with the fresh new growth on the trees and frothy cow parsley framing this rustic bride…you really can make the most of those longer days!!
Golden hour shots, with bride holding a ranunculus and clematis bouquet.
Golden hour ‘shadow shot’.
Spring evening photos can be planned for before your wedding day.
Peony heaven
Another focal flower, the larger and showier big cousin of ranunculi are fabulous peonies. In whites, creams, and most hues of pinks, (including my favourite, coral charm, see below), they are known for their fluffy blooms and sweet fragrance. Whether they are used in their tighter, closed petal stage, or in their ‘fully blown’ stage, they are all mesmerizing. So if you are looking for a bold statement for your florals in mid-spring, then peonies are the flower for you.
Coral charm peonies stealing the show in this bouquet!
Baby pink peonies in a cascading bouquet (alongside lupins, cream ranunculus, honeysuckle and cow parsely).
Venue decoration
Spring floral arrangements really can make a venue sparkle and milk churns in particular look amazing. Zesty bright green foliage, with frothy cow parsley, azure blue delphiniums and velvet sweet Williams make beautiful ingredients for spring arrangements. The great thing about milk churns is that they can be easily moved from for example the ceremony area to a reception marquee. They really are one of the most versatile and cost-effective larger floral item you could have at your wedding.
Quintessential spring milk churn with hawthorn, cow parsley, delphiniums, late tulips and arching camassia.
Milk churns are perfect for a woodland wedding.
Floral wedding cakes are a lovely addition for a spring wedding.
Fresh flowers like the blue and white cornflowers below, can be placed on your cake to create a beautiful natural finish linking the tiers together and becoming part of the overall natural floral look. Edible dried flowers could also be used, either placed as a scattered look or more precisely placed onto your cake, and pressed edible pressed flowers can even be used. A great additional touch by the cake provider could be to add spring floral flavours to the cake, such as elderflower or rose that could match with the floral decoration!!
Blue and white cornflowers alongside white flowering borage.
Bright weddings and Blue Flowers
Bold, bright colours can be a great choice for a spring palette. Coral, cobalt blue, orange and magenta alongside brighter green foliage look amazing, and with summer just around the corner what could be better than to have uplifting colours that will make your wedding party and guests smile.
Luckily, spring is also the best time if you would like blue flowers included in your wedding. True blue flowers are not that abundant, and May and June are when the true blues of cornflowers, delphiniums, love-in-the-mist (or nigella), and cynoglossom (a cutting variety of forget-me-not) are in season. I do think that even a touch of blue can really lift a mixed colour palette, and they contrast amazingly with oranges or yellows. The garland below shows just how stunning a zingy orange, golden yellow, deep plumb, coral and blue combination can look.
A foliage garland with blue iris alongside bright oranges, and plumb coloured blooms.
Along with sweet peas, blue cornflowers are also a must grow on the plot. Although they now come in a variety of colours including the dark plumb, blush pink and even white, the original deep saturated blue is still a favourite with a lot of brides....and also with me!!
Cornflowers growing on the plot.
Mid blues look gorgeous amoungst the blush pink peonies.
All-whites (and creams)
Spring is also a gorgeous time for an all-white colour scheme. I always include a selection of white and cream flowers together for a more natural three-dimensional feel, and if you like to add a little colour then a few small pops of pale blues can look gorgeous!! If you want to keep your flowers all-white, then you could add some colour to your bouquet with a textural velvet or cotton ribbon or include some washes of colour to your seating plan or place card settings. White spring flowers are also often full of gorgeous scent, from the first paper white narcissi’s and hyacinths, to sweet peas, sweet fruit blossom and stunning ‘Duchesse de Nemours peonies, your guests will be able to smell your wedding flowers even before they can see them!!
A classic spring scented white and green meadow arrangement.
Gorgeous cream ranunculus.
Ranunculus were the perfect option for the ‘large flower’ buttonholes requested for this wedding.