Interesting facts on the history of a bridal bouquet!!

While I sat here pondering about interesting blog posts and all things wedding related, I was flicking through some photos of our bridal heirloom bouquets and a thought struck me…..why on earth do we carry bridal bouquets anyway?!  And sure enough… I found myself on google reading article after article on bridal bouquets and wedding dress styles… here is just a snippet of what I happened to learn about wedding bouquets…..

It doesn’t appear to be clear as to why brides traditionally carry bouquets, however some sources claim that originally the bouquets were made up of garlic and herbs or dill.  I have found 3 main reasons for why they were made up garlic and dill and to be quite honest, neither are either romantic or pretty!!  Firstly, it is claimed that the garlic and dill were to ward off evil spirits on a wedding day.  The second, quite unpleasant reason was that they were to mask the smell of body odour !! (eewww) The third and quite frankly unromantic reason I found was that brides carried garlic & dill to cover their noses in times of the plaque, in a desperate effort to survive the wedding let alone the marriage 😉

Thankfully, times moved on and it would appear in and around the Victorian times, garlic and herbs were replaced with pretty flowers.  Flowers were thought to have a significant meaning and were passed between bride and groom prior to the wedding.  To this day, brides will often choose flowers based on their meanings.

Moving on from the Victorian times, it was in the 1930’s that Constance Spry, changed wedding bouquets forever!  Constance Spry (who spent some of her life in Ireland!), brought bouquet wiring and decorating to a new level.  It would be safe to say, Spry wanted bridal bouquets to be pretty masterpieces.  She worked on many royal & celebrity weddings creating beautiful flower arrangements.

*photo Of Constance Spry from NYtimes

From then until now, bouquets have changed little, different trends from large bouquets to small posies have come and gone and come around again.  One new trend which is taking the world by storm is Heirloom bouquets and quite frankly we here at Designed 4 You love them!!  Our heirloom bouquets are made up of both real look flowers and brooches, however, many opt for bouquets made solely of brooches.  I love the mix of flowers, harking back to the traditional bouquet and the brooches which bring the new trend!  Both options are sparkly and pretty for any bride to carry up the aisle.  And we can be thankful, we don’t need to have a strong scent from our bouquets these days to ward off evil sipirts, illnesses or (hopefully not) bad body odour!!

To show you just how pretty the new heirloom bouquets are, here is one of our stunning customers with her very own custom made bouquet with a matching Designed 4 You handbag!

If you enjoyed reading this post, you may like to read about why Heirloom bouquets are becoming so popular with the modern bride?  Read it here!