Some wedding ceremony flowers are absolutely essential, whether you decide to have a religious or civil ceremony, and especially if you are planning a symbolic ceremony. The wedding ceremony flowers will set up the tone of your wedding and contribute to create a colour scheme throughout the event, which is fundamental to give harmony to your wedding day.
Church ceremony flowers
The ceremony flowers in a church should include arrangements for the kneeler, one on both sides. These could be tall vases, or garlands, with flowers and greenery, definitely visible even from a distance, for the guests who’ll be sitting in the last pews. Other church ceremony flowers should be arranged on the celebrant’s altar, a small, low composition, which would also come out very nicely in the wedding pictures. You can then consider another larger arrangement with some ceremony flowers on the main altar at the back of the celebrant’s altar. And possibly arrangements for the pews, even just a single flower. This could be a hydrangea for example, my favourite, since it’s very large and filling. And finally something to mark the entrance of the church and the beginning of the aisle, in both cases something fairly tall, even pots with small trees for a countrystyle wedding.
Civil ceremony flowers
As the civil ceremony flowers, you can consider something simpler. The wedding sites in Rome, namely the Campidoglio and Vignola Mattei, are already beautiful and don’t need many ceremony flowers. The bride and groom will not have a kneeler, but just beautiful red velvet chairs set up in front of the City Registrar’s desk and the wedding ceremony will only last some 20 minutes. Usually, there are also some lovely plants at the wedding sites, so you can just plan for something at the base of the officiant’s desk or at the entrance.
Symbolic ceremony flowers
With the symbolic ceremony flowers you can unleash your imagination. A beautiful arch is definitely what you need. It can be round or squared, or have a more particular shape like an hexagon or even a ring; it may be thin or thick; have a wooden or metal structure. Choose your style! But whatever that will be, some ceremony flowers are a must here too. The ceremony flowers could cover the arch completely, or just a part of it; drapes could be added, and some greenery, or something more special like feathers.
Leading up to the arch, you can create an aisle with either a carpet (not my favourite if it’s on the grass, better in a courtyard), or some rose petals (just on the side of the aisle, along the row of chairs, and not to fill the whole aisle as they might get ruined by people walking on them before the ceremony). You could plan for some tall ceremony flower arrangements at the beginning and possibly end of the aisle. And finally, you can have some small ceremony flowers tied to each chair, or just the chairs along the aisle. In the latter case, a garland of ceremony flowers connecting the chairs might look lovely, but will make reaching seats and leaving them a bit more difficult.
Well, when it comes to ceremony flowers, my main suggestion is: definitely use some ceremony flowers! And save money re-using them at the reception! For more ideas and tips, check Dolce Vita Weddings social pages, and drop me a line.