Your wedding is all about expressing your love and the hope for a bright future with your soon-to-be spouse. But it’s also an opportunity to let your personalities shine through, welcoming your friends and family into a special event that is reflective of who you are as individuals and together. Flowers throughout the event space and in your bridal bouquet are a great way to be expressive.

Yet, making another decision in a sea of decisions — even a fun one like choosing bouquet flowers — can be overwhelming. Cue the professionals!

When you work with a florist, trusting them to translate your bridal bouquet vision can take some of the stress off of you. And it will ultimately make for a better end product. Florists who are given specific guidance but with a little autonomy take more of a personal stake in your event.

Your taste, expression, and vision for wedding flowers coupled with a professional’s experience and creative eye can cut down on the overwhelm. You may even have time to… do we dare say it? Stop and smell the roses. (Groan.) Florists will also be up to date on trends, what’s available and what will make your bridal bouquet your bridal bouquet.

Here we explore 10 bridal bouquet ideas that will help you zero-in on styles and suggestions to take to your florist for the best possible wedding day bouquet.

10 Bridal Bouquet Ideas for You and Your Florist

1. One Color – A monochromatic, or single-color, design for your bridal bouquet can make quite the statement. Using one color creates drama and drips with elegance. The bouquet can be made with all of the same kind of flowers or a variety of flower types in the same color. When using one color, bouquet texture and shape become all the more important. Let your florist know if you have a favorite kind of bloom to use as a building block. Depending on which direction you take this, the monochromatic look can be edgy or traditional, bohemian or formal.
2. Symbolic and Sentimental (in a good way) – Forget-me-nots are so specifically named, they leave little room for interpretation. But other flowers and plants also have not-so-obvious symbolic meanings, many of which go back thousands of years. For example, did you know red carnations represent pure love, dedication and marital faithfulness? Yeah, us either. Are you looking for a flower that says “love is pure” or one that says “I love you but I’m still my own person”? (Or both?) Relay what you have in mind to your florist, emphasizing a few keywords you would like to convey via your bridal bouquet. The Knot has an overview of common flower meanings, which is a good place to start.
3. Color Blocking – Color blocking, or chunking colors together for visual effect, has been a thing in fashion, home decor, graphic design, etc. for many moons. It’s now taking over flowers, with bridal bouquets increasingly sporting this statement look. If you like clean lines and modern vibes, but you also want to embrace some whimsy, a color block might work well for you. You can make it dramatic, like carrying a rainbow to a more subtle ombre-effect from light to dark with one particular color. This can be combined with the monochromatic approach where each person has a single-color bouquet, but each color is different.
4. Keep it Local – Farmers’ markets and local farms are a great way to find unique bridal bouquet ideas — and sometimes even florists. Local growers will have a different variety of flowers and greenery than the typical flower shop. For example, if you’re having a late spring wedding, rhubarb leaves have distinctive stalks and could make a great alternative to your typical bridal bouquet greenery.
5. Modern and Minimalist – Whether you are low-maintenance/low-key, appreciate nature in its naked organic glory, or love a cutting edge avant-garde design, consider keeping your bridal bouquet and wedding flowers simple. Simple doesn’t necessarily mean plain, either. That can translate to having one show-stopping bloom or a nice collection of simple cascading blooms loosely tied together with twine. Minimalism in its different forms can help accentuate the feel of your ceremony. For example, a single, long-stem red rose against the antique cream of a bridal gown can build that vintage-but-modern vibe. You will want to work closely with your florist on getting the flower and supplier just right on this since there are no other distractions.
6. Dried and Natural – It might seem a little weird to think of using dried flowers in your wedding bouquet. Typically flowers symbolize life and vibrancy and dried flowers are, well, not that. However, they can be quite beautiful. According to FloraNext, dried flowers have made an unexpected comeback, particularly in wedding bouquets. Bonus: If you want to keep your bouquet as a keepsake, voila! The work is already done.
7. On-trend Colors – Each year Pantone, the design industry leaders, designate a Color of the Year. You may not know that they also work with WeddingWire to establish wedding color trends as well. The benefit to using tools like the wedding color palette is that once you choose a color, the coordinating choices have essentially been made for you. The colors they choose are often early-trend, so you can maintain your style-leader status. Additionally, if you’re having trouble translating the emotion you’d like to tap into for your bridal bouquet, tools like the Wedding Color guide give you something to show your florist.
8. Natural Habitats – Let your favorite space inspire your bridal bouquet. For example, if you love going for hikes with your soon-to-be spouse in the woods, why not tap into some of that forest spirit and carry some birch bark and moss down the aisle with you? If meditating in the desert is more your jam, talk to your florist about what might work to capture its essence. Textures, colors, and smells can easily be incorporated into a more classic bridal bouquet, or you can go all out and make it your own bouquet biome. Oh and if you do a desert-inspired cactus bouquet complete with pickers, think of how much fun you could have during the ritualistic tossing later. (What? Love is a battlefield, people.)
9. Get Silky with It – Say you’re having a destination wedding and while most things are fine to figure out from a-far, getting a florist and/or flowers set up is just outside of reach. Or if you’re traveling somewhere expensive, the price for floral services skyrockets too. Or you love flowers, but: allergies. A good solution may be high-quality silk flowers that look and feel real, but just like your love, will remain undying. Can you tell the difference?
10. The Un-bouquet Bouquet – So, this may not make your florist happy, but it could work for you — and that’s what your wedding should be about. Whether you’re an allergy sufferer and having flowers everywhere you turn may feel like some kind of torture or you just want to try something different, the sky is the limit. Non-flower bouquets have featured paper flowers, just greenery (no flowers), candles, feathers, fruits, vegetables, and our personal favorite, a puppy.

We know details are important for your wedding, but yet, getting bogged down in them is exhausting. That’s the rub of wedding planning (whether you have a planner or not). Having a central theme or concept like those highlighted here can help guide decisions. But being able to lean on the experience and guidance of professionals — for your bridal bouquet and other design elements— is a great way to remove some of the stress.

That’s what we do at Linen Hero. We strive to be both the hero you need and the hero you deserve, by making your event linens as convenient and creative as possible. You can work with one of our Design Heroes or look for inspiration to get started!