5 Tips for Handling Your Bridal Bouquet on Your Big Day
Written by: Kei Muto
Owner + Head Designer, Quill + Oak
1. Let your bouquet drink!
Make sure to keep your bouquet in water as much as possible. When you are not holding it for photos or during your ceremony, make sure to pop it back into a vase with water. If you have been holding them a while, let the flowers take a break and rehydrate a bit. If you can give the stems a fresh cut all the better!
Diane Askew Photography
2. Be mindful of extremely hot weather.
If it is super hot, those flowers are going to get thirsty fast. Tip #1 is all the more important to observe. Make sure your bouquet gets ample drinking time and also be sure to avoid direct sunlight for long stretches. Get those flowers in water and give them a little spritz/mist if you can. This is especially important if you’re in a dry climate.
3. Cold weather is killer too!
When the temp drops below freezing, flowers will freeze. Eeek! Have you ever had lettuce freeze in the back of your fridge? Just like lettuce, frozen flowers go darker, then kind of translucent and then go brown/mushy. This is especially true of white flowers. If you are super determined to have outdoor photos for your winter wedding (so beautiful!!) make sure you do those photos *after* the ceremony. That means no outdoor first look photos when the weather is below freezing. Also know that repurposing your bouquet during the reception won’t be a great idea unless you want the browning flowers to be documented over the course of dinner!
Diane Askew Photography
4. Hold your bouquet low.
When holding your bouquet, make sure to keep your hands low. Often brides will lift their bouquets up a little too high. Every. Bride. Does. This… Really. Whether you’re nervous or it just feels more natural holding it higher, fight the urge! Your wrists should be between your hip bones and your belly button. This will make sure that your bouquet doesn’t creep up to your boobs and cover the neckline of your dress. Holding your bouquet like this tilts the flowers forward just a bit so they will photograph beautifully.
Kendra Ruth Photography
5. Have scotch tape at the ready.
We always remove any pollen pods whenever possible. However, on warm days some flowers can open more than expected and reveal previously inaccessible pollen. If you ever happen to get pollen on your dress, whatever you do, DO NOT rub the pollen! Start with scotch tape. Use the sticky side to gently pick-up the powder on your dress. Be sure to change the tape out frequently to reduce the risk of redepositing the pollen.
Olive Photography
Kei Muto | Owner + Head Designer | Quill + Oak | 647.504.2880 | info@quillandoak.ca \ www.quillandoak.ca | @quillandoak
