- Photos Phillip Huynh
- Floral Styling Simone Gooch
- Set Design Mariska Lowri
Simple Ideas for Stress-Free Wedding Florals
Arrangements by Simone Gooch.
- Photos Phillip Huynh
- Floral Styling Simone Gooch
- Set Design Mariska Lowri
ABOUT: Simone Gooch runs Fjura, a floral design studio based between Sydney and Europe, where she styles arrangements for clients that include Gucci, Hermès and Loewe.
TIMING: Gooch advises that you might be surprised how much time and effort is involved in creating beautiful arrangements if you’re not used to working with flowers. If you are doing it all yourself, expect it to take four times as long as you think it will, or else have four times as many people assist you than you think you need. Many hands make light work—especially on your wedding day.
SEASONAL: The first step in creating striking arrangements is always to ask your local florist or market seller what flowers are looking best at that time of year. If you are marrying in the winter or in a region where flowers aren’t blooming, there are still options. You can design arrangements using branches from local apple and cherry trees, for example, or else dried flowers.
WHEN TO BUY: Unless you’re planning to buy your florals on the day of your event, you will need to consider how long different flowers last—and how long they will take to bloom—so that everything looks its best at the same time. Gooch recommends asking your florist or market seller to advise you on what to buy depending on when you need them. This might mean staggering your buying over the course of around five days. Roses, for example, are best a few days after they open, whereas sweet pea, lilac and cyclamen are best bought the day before or even on the day, as they only last a short time and don’t change significantly once cut.
Give a Wild Welcome
For a larger centerpiece, which you can place on a welcome table, Gooch recommends selecting a combination of branches from flowering trees, some that have movement and others that are straighter. “Here we used quince and magnolia, which we placed in the middle of the table,” she explains. “And instead of using a vase, you can tie the larger branches together to keep them in place, threading other smaller pieces through to create the final arrangement.” Make sure to snip the branches to allow space for guests to sign a guestbook, or be able to sit or stand comfortably nearby.
TIMING: Gooch advises that you might be surprised how much time and effort is involved in creating beautiful arrangements if you’re not used to working with flowers. If you are doing it all yourself, expect it to take four times as long as you think it will, or else have four times as many people assist you than you think you need. Many hands make light work—especially on your wedding day.
SEASONAL: The first step in creating striking arrangements is always to ask your local florist or market seller what flowers are looking best at that time of year. If you are marrying in the winter or in a region where flowers aren’t blooming, there are still options. You can design arrangements using branches from local apple and cherry trees, for example, or else dried flowers.
WHEN TO BUY: Unless you’re planning to buy your florals on the day of your event, you will need to consider how long different flowers last—and how long they will take to bloom—so that everything looks its best at the same time. Gooch recommends asking your florist or market seller to advise you on what to buy depending on when you need them. This might mean staggering your buying over the course of around five days. Roses, for example, are best a few days after they open, whereas sweet pea, lilac and cyclamen are best bought the day before or even on the day, as they only last a short time and don’t change significantly once cut.
WHY THESE WORK: When picking a vase for an arrangement, consider the shape and scale of the flower. “Here, the sweet pea suits a short wide vase,” says Gooch, “while a vase with a narrow opening and large base keeps the magnolia stem upright and, when filled with enough water, ensures it won’t tip over with the weight of the flower.”
Make a Commitment
Using one type of flower en mass requires less work than making mixed flower arrangements and can have a stronger visual impact. “It’s easier to fuck it up if you have a lot of variety,” says Julius Værnes Iversen, a Copenhagen–based floral artist. “It takes a skilled florist to work with 20 types of flowers in a bouquet. My advice to most people is that the less variety, the cleaner the aesthetic.”
WHY THESE WORK: When picking a vase for an arrangement, consider the shape and scale of the flower. “Here, the sweet pea suits a short wide vase,” says Gooch, “while a vase with a narrow opening and large base keeps the magnolia stem upright and, when filled with enough water, ensures it won’t tip over with the weight of the flower.”
A NOTE ON PLACEMENT: Gooch says it’s important to always consider your guests and catering. Low arrangements will ensure that your guests can see each other across the table; if there is some height to your centerpiece, make sure it is sparse enough to allow people to make eye contact. It’s also important to think about how much room to leave so there is space for the table settings.
Show Some Love
After buying your flowers, stems need to be recut and placed into water, and they should be recut and have their water changed daily. “Just like humans, flowers have pores and the temperature of the water you give them can affect how long they last,” says Værnes Iversen. “Flowers grown from a bulb, which is most flowers that grow in the winter and spring, need cold water whereas flowers that grow on a root system—mostly perennials or flowers that grow on trees in the summer—need warm water.” Another way to tell is if the flower has a soft stem, like a tulip, in which case it needs cold water; if it’s hard, like a rose, it needs warm water. Get it right and your bouquet will last three or four times longer.
A NOTE ON PLACEMENT: Gooch says it’s important to always consider your guests and catering. Low arrangements will ensure that your guests can see each other across the table; if there is some height to your centerpiece, make sure it is sparse enough to allow people to make eye contact. It’s also important to think about how much room to leave so there is space for the table settings.
DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
POSIES: For posies, Gooch suggests selecting flowers that will not perish too quickly out of water, like this simple porcelain white cyclamen. Keep the flowers in water until the very last minute. When you’re ready to create the arrangement, tie the stems together tightly with string and cut the ends so they are all the same length. Dry the stems thoroughly with a towel, to avoid water dripping on to your clothes, and wrap with a ribbon to cover the string.
BOUTONNIERES: “Boutonnieres are best left to the professionals,” Gooch says, “as they involve the use of wire to create a structure to support the flower.” If you do decide to make your own, she recommends taking a single flower, wrapping its stem with a very thin ribbon, and securing it in the buttonhole with a pin. Make sure to use a flower that can be out of water for some time, is not too heavy and sits relatively flat against the chest. Having extra flowers, ribbon and pins on standby is recommended.
WORDS:
JULIUS VÆRNES IVERSEN
How to Build Your Own Bouquet:
VARIETY:
I find that making a bouquet can feel like you are crafting an extension of yourself and comes quite naturally, but there are some key elements to take into consideration. As a general rule, work with three to four flowers. Less is better—it will give you a cleaner look and be easier to control.
SPACE:
When you look at a perennial garden or a flowering tree, you’ll see that the flowers are not all grouped together. Of course, it’s not possible to do it on the same scale as you would have in a garden, but you want to try give the flowers in a bouquet the same free space they would have in nature. It’s a way of thinking that comes from the Japanese art of ikebana, a meditative form of flower arranging that requires you to respect each individual flower.
SHAPE:
The biggest mistake florists make when creating a bouquet is to be too controlled. For a more organic bouquet, use flowers that are different heights and create different levels within the bouquet or arrange them with more dynamic shapes, like diagonals.
COLOR:
I often use contrasting colors from within the same color family, like a very light yellow and a dark red for warm tones, or blue and a dark purple for cold tones. And I always use a lot of green, to reflect how these plants grow in
the wild.
VESSEL:
You can use a beautiful vase for your bouquet, but I personally prefer to create decorations without a vase. I feel that the artists and designers who make them deserve to not have flowers overshadowing their work. Rather than use flower foam, which contains microplastics, I create a form in chicken wire, into which I place reusable plastic tubes that I fill with water and the flowers. It also means the flowers last longer than they would do in flower foam.
DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
POSIES: For posies, Gooch suggests selecting flowers that will not perish too quickly out of water, like this simple porcelain white cyclamen. Keep the flowers in water until the very last minute. When you’re ready to create the arrangement, tie the stems together tightly with string and cut the ends so they are all the same length. Dry the stems thoroughly with a towel, to avoid water dripping on to your clothes, and wrap with a ribbon to cover the string.
BOUTONNIERES: “Boutonnieres are best left to the professionals,” Gooch says, “as they involve the use of wire to create a structure to support the flower.” If you do decide to make your own, she recommends taking a single flower, wrapping its stem with a very thin ribbon, and securing it in the buttonhole with a pin. Make sure to use a flower that can be out of water for some time, is not too heavy and sits relatively flat against the chest. Having extra flowers, ribbon and pins on standby is recommended.
