How Is Balance Important For Your Wedding Flowers?

How Is Balance Important For Your Wedding Flowers?

Do it yourself wedding flowers don't magically fall into place and look wonderful.  There are so many things to remember and balance is one of them.  The elements of your wedding bouquet or arrangement (your container, flowers, foliage, and accessories) need to "fit" or work well together.

We as people have a natural pull toward balance and order.  Imbalance is naturally avoided - it's in our subconscious.  We naturally avoid things that are dangerously imbalanced such as a tottering ladder or a crooked shelf.  Even though an imbalanced floral bouquet or arrangement isn't a threat to us, we have a natural tendency to balance and order.  A bouquet or arrangement needs both physical and visual balance.

Physical Balance
Physical balance can also be called mechanical balance.  To have this type of balance, the arrangement simply needs to be able to stand up on its own without falling over.  The container you use needs to be the right size, weight and shape for the flowers you put in them.  You also need to have your flowers and foliage arranged so they are evenly distributed.  If you have them placed so your design is either top heavy or so that the flowers are mostly on one side, your arrangment will fall over.

Visual Balance
This is when a floral design looks balanced.  If it is mechanically balanced yet looks like it's about to topple over, your instinct is to reach out your hand to catch it from falling over.  You want it to look stable.  You can have 4 different types of visual balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, and open balance.

Symmetrical  -  This is created when you have exactly the same flowers and foliage on both sides of an imaginary line.  Bouquets with symmetrical balance are formal and are often seen at graduations, funerals, and weddings.  You need to be careful that this type of design doesn't look stiff or forced.  You can avoid this by using near-symmetry where you use very similar (but not exactly the same) flowers and foliage on both sides of your imaginary line. Asymmetrical  -  You achieve this by placing more weight on one side of your imaginary line than the other.  You don't place too much weight on one side so it looks imbalanced.  You need to have something on each side of your "line" to balance out the other side.  This is harder to create than symmetrical balance, but it's more pleasing to look at and remains interesting much longer than perfect symmetry.  You can have some large, light colored flowers on one side and off-set them with either darker or bright small flowers on the other side.  Darker flowers look "heavy" so they have enough weight to balance a greater number of larger, light colored flowers. Radial  -  You create radial symmetry by having your flowers and foliage radiating out from a central point just like the spokes of a wheel, the rays of the sun, the petals of a daisy, the lines of a hand-held fan or the pattern of a shell.  The central point can be in different positions.  The spokes of a wheel and the petals of a daisy radiate out from the center whereas the lines of a hand-held fan radiate from the center of the bottom and the pattern of a shell radiates from one side.  Radial balance is most often in bridal bouquets. Open  -  Open balance isn't symmetrical or asymmetrical.  It is open, relaxed and unstructured.  You will find this in contemporary design where there are no formal rules, yet the overall design looks balanced.

 

If you are a beginner, symmetrical, asymmetrical and radial balance are easier to achieve because you have some "rules" to follow.  Open balance comes with practice and experience.  Your do it yourself wedding flowers need to be balanced.  Choose which type of balance is most appealing to you and work with it.

 

Wedding flowers, how to pick them

Wedding flowers, how to pick them

Flowers are an integral part of any wedding. Flowers have been used for centuries to decorate not only the church and the reception, but the bride and bridesmaids too. They add beauty and perfume, and they can carry a lot of hidden meaning.  Even the buttonhole for the groom has its origins in Knights carrying the favours of their ladies.

It is not just a case of choosing flowers to match the colour scheme. From the 1600's meanings were attributed to flowers, and in 1716 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu brought the tradition from Constantinople to England. The Victorians were very keen on the symbolism of flowers and several books on the Language of Flowers were published throughout the 1800's. Care had to be taken however, as not every book attributed the same meaning to each flower. Giving daffodils, for instance, could mean respect or deceit!

With a carefully chosen bouquet, a bride can express love, (roses, tulips) happiness, (orange blossom, lily of the valley) affection, (daisy, honeysuckle) faithfulness, (violets) and fidelity (ivy). Not all flowers are considered appropriate, though, in some parts of the country the combination of red and white flowers are thought to be too closely linked with funerals, as are lilies.

It is well worth finding a good florist, who will be able to advise on the most suitable flowers for the day, what will be in season, and which colours will best suit your overall theme. She will also help arrange a beautiful and meaningful bouquet for the bride that will withstand the rigours of posing for the photographer and being thrown to the waiting bridesmaids. With money being tight you may be tempted to make your own bouquet, just think for a moment how much additional stress you could be adding to the few days before your wedding. You could spend a lot of time and money practicing, making your perfect bouquet , then you have to make it again with pristine flowers a day before your wedding.

Fresh flowers can be expensive, and dried or silk flowers can be used to equally good effect, with the added advantage that they can be kept as a memento long after the day. It is also quite permissible for the ushers to move the displays from the church to the reception while everybody else is being kept busy by your wedding photographers.

 

What are the Most Popular Wedding Flowers?

What are the Most Popular Wedding Flowers?

Knowing what are the most popular flowers is very useful for you. If you know what are the best and most favorite, it is easy for you to make a good wedding flower. You can make it as simple as cut it & tie it. You can also combining several popular flowers to make it unique. So, what are the most favorite flowers for brides? Listed below are the most favorite wedding flowers in ascending order:

Hydrangea

Hydrangea is native to southern and eastern Asia. White is the most species color. Other species can be pink, blue, purple, and red. Hydrangea has a unique shape. Its shape is suitable for making a nosegay bouquet.
Carnation

The carnation, scientifically known as Dianthus caryophyllus is a species of Dianthus. Colors include pink (natural color), red, white, yellow and green. Carnations usually are used for showing love and fascination. But cultivars of many colors can bring different symbol from each color. For example, white carnation may symbolize the purity of Mother's Day.
Stephanotis

Stephanotis can make a simple cake become elegant. The flower has white petals, star-shaped flower, and dark green leaves. The best known stephanotis species is Stephanotis floribunda whose are popular component of wedding bouquets.
Tulips

If you think that tulip is a flower that came from the Dutch, you get wrong. Tulips are native to Central Asia & Persian Empire. The vast majority of tulips are being exported from Holland to all over the world. These cut flowers come with hundreds varieties with typically have one flower per stem and are available year-round.
Gerbera

The name was taken from the last name of the German naturalist Traugott Gerber. Gerbera is a genus of sunflower family. The flowers grow with less water, so they are suitable for home gardening. Gerbera is popular for wedding bouquet because it is vary greatly in shape, color, and size. The capitulum is composed of hundreds of individual flowers.
Calla Lilies

Calla lilies are elegant flower. The flowers are very popular choices for bridal bouquets, flower arrangements, & home decoration because of its range of colors available with unique shapes. Calla lilies are poisonous plants, so if you want to arrange a bouquet made with calla lilies, consider keeping it far from children.
Roses

Roses is one of the most favorite flowers in the world. It symbolize love with various color (white, pink, & red), beautiful shape, and more than a hundred species. Its beautiful shape with good smell can touch the heart of many people. Rose is also a durable flower. The characteristics of a good rose are: long stemmed, bold petals, & has minimum five petals.

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