How to Choose Flowers for Your Wedding Date & Season

Depending on the style, location, and aesthetic of your nuptials, an expert florist and event designer will offer recommendations to illustrate your wedding vision in floral form. They’ll also take into account your individual wedding date and the season you’ll say “I do” to find the perfect blossoms that are available around the world to fit your desired look. 

Find out what to expect when selecting your wedding flowers, and get ideas for which blooms may be best for your big day.

Establishing Your Overall Wedding Aesthetic 

Once you have soaked in the excitement of your engagement, it is time to establish your overall wedding aesthetic. Chances are, you already have some ideas in mind, but it’s important to narrow down specifics so you can begin communicating your vision to your wedding vendors. 

Some of the most unique and beloved weddings are influenced by sentimental elements such as family heirlooms, memories from a treasured trip, or even inside jokes between you and your partner. Adding personal touches to your wedding aesthetic will make your wedding unique and help share your love story with guests. 

Consider the color palette you will be using and what narrative it tells about your wedding day. A bright, bold floral color palette will radiate energy and a sense of playfulness, while softer pastels exude calming elegance and sophistication. 

Additionally, take the floral composition into account. Flowers with a hearty, architectural structure like calla lilies, cymbidium orchids, and amaryllises are typically associated with clean lines and a more modern appeal, dainty and airy blooms like lilies of the valley, baby’s breath, and sweet peas are often used in designs with a softer aesthetic, and ruff led blossoms like peonies, ranunculuses, and roses are considered more feminine. Whatever it is you envision, flowers can help convey messages to your guests about who you are as a couple.

Selecting Seasonal Blooms & Flower Substitutions 

Brides across the globe have varying preferences when it comes to the season in which they will be wed. Get an idea of which blooms are available in each season, as well as year-round:

Fall Wedding Flowers

Fall weddings are preferred among brides who envision rich, earthy tones on their big day with hues of orange, purple, green, and red as popular seasonal colors inspired by the changing leaves. Beloved fall blooms include dahlias, scabiosas, amaranthus, and celosias. 

Winter Wedding Flowers

Winter weddings classically include stems of amaryllises, anemones, stephanotises, paper whites, cedar or fir foliage, and textured berries like snowberries, ilex berries, and privet berries.

Summer Wedding Flowers

Summer weddings are popular in geographical regions with a lower heat index and offer stems of gardenias, cosmos, sunflowers, and hydrangeas. 

Spring Wedding Flowers

For brides who love a number of florals, spring weddings are by far the most popular due to the largest variety of blooms available. Oftentimes, spring weddings are associated with softer pastel tones and include stems of coveted peonies, lilies of the valley, tulips, and hyacinths. 

If you have your heart set on cherry blossoms or peonies, however, you will want to consult your florist first. These varieties are very seasonal and are sometimes impossible to source outside of their natural growing seasons, even in other parts of the globe. 

Year-Round Wedding Flowers

Luckily, there are still many options when it comes to flowers that are available throughout the year. Hydrangeas, roses, garden roses, ranunculuses, and orchids are among some familiar choices found year-round. If your favorite flower is not available for your wedding date, consult your florist for advice on another variety that has a similar shape, structure, color, or fragrance.

Designing for Your Wedding Venue 

Once you have secured your wedding designer, it can be helpful to schedule a site visit to your wedding venue in order to start the conversation about the vision and flow of the event. An esteemed florist has likely worked at your venue dozens of times, but visiting the site together early in the process is a great way to add fresh ideas. Be sure to ask your venue about décor restrictions. For example, some churches do not allow petals to be tossed down the aisle, and some event spaces do not allow candles with real flames. 

It is important to read the fine print in your venue contract to avoid any issues the day of your wedding. Then, be sure to have a good idea of how the timeline of events will unfold and how guests will move from space to space to provide a natural flow. Lastly, consider the aesthetic of your venue – the pattern of the carpeting, the paint color of the room, or the style of the existing chandeliers are worth considering as part of the overall design, as you want to enhance and highlight the space, instead of competing with it. 

Choosing your perfect wedding-day blooms should be fun, intriguing, and uncomplicated. A professional florist can help guide you through the major technical and design decisions that will pop up throughout the planning process, and they will ensure you have beautiful, flowering memories to cherish for a lifetime.

This story was originally published in the Winter 2023 issue of Inside Weddings magazine. To order a copy of the Winter 2023 issue, visit our library of Inside Weddings back issues available for purchase.

For more from Bella Flora of Dallas, find out how to prepare for your floral design appointments and view some of their stunning real weddings.

Opening photo by Carter Rose; Floral Design by Bella Flora of Dallas