Everything you need to know about autumn/winter wedding flowers from an expert florist – Floral Quarter
From frosty pastels to golden hues and bold rich tones, here, Vicky Laffey from Floral Quarter tells us what to consider when incorporating seasonal blooms into your autumn/winter wedding.
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Why are wedding flowers so important? The simple answer is that they set your day’s mood and tone.
They’re found everywhere at a wedding – from bouquets to buttonholes and table centrepieces – adding colour, texture and romance to your chosen wedding theme.
They also help you put your stamp on your venue. Many other people will marry there, so putting your stamp on it with flower styles and colours that you like is a great way to personalise it and make it more ‘you’.
Seasonality is important when it comes to choosing your flowers, which is why we caught up with expert Vicky Laffey from Floral Quarter to find out everything you need to know about choosing flowers for an autumn/winter wedding…
MEET THE EXPERT
Vicky Laffey is the founder of Floral Quarter – a North East florist specialising exclusively in weddings. She’s been featured in TATLER and was a winner of The Wedding Emporium Awards 2021.
THE VENUE WILL INFLUENCE THE STYLE
I always say that the venue should be the first booking you make, and everything will fall into place after that.
My advice is to start by thinking about what sort of wedding you’re planning. Is it relaxed? Rustic? Formal? Then book a range of viewings at various venues that suit your style, such as barns and stately homes, city centre and rural – that will give you a feel for the type of venue you like, and then you can refine from there.
Of course, service and experience are super important too, not just how the venue looks. So, make sure to ask the person who shows you around about that sort of thing too.
The venue will impact the style of flowers we might choose, as well as the amount that you might need. Choosing a venue that feels a little bare may require more décor, whereas if you choose a venue that you absolutely love inside out, it will be easier to dress and stay within your budget.
START TALKING TO YOUR FLORIST EARLY
Starting a relationship with your florist early is really useful for couples. We’re experts in our field so can help couples to understand what they want from their flowers as well as come up with ideas and inspiration that can help shape the overall theme.
Get the florist you want, booked in early, so that you can relax throughout the wedding planning process, knowing that you have the one you want booked for your big day.
Your florist will also be able to give you a better idea of the flowers that are in season at the time of year you’ll be saying ‘I do’ or advise on designs that would suit you as a couple. It’s a great way to start getting inspiration for colour schemes that will bring your wedding to life.
However, the best way to get amazing wedding flowers, is to just come to your florist with some inspiration pictures and then let them work their creative magic for you, rather than choosing a list of exact flower types for each design.
I always want the couples I work with to feel like I’m there with them throughout the whole process, so I’m always at the end of an email with advice as their wedding plans start to take shape.
THE AUTUMN/WINTER FLOWER TRENDS FOR 2024/2025
My couples often want something seasonal without being too obviously ‘Christmassy’ or autumnal. So for autumn, rust, toffee, burgundy, nude, ivory and berried foliage are a beautiful looking, without being stereotypically autumnal.
Bride’s and bridesmaid’s bouquets
The bride’s bouquet is probably the most important flower arrangement to nail down, and I always start talking about that first during a consultation. It sets the tone for the rest of the arrangements. It’s one to splurge on as it will be the most photographed piece of the wedding and you have to feel amazing walking down the aisle with it.
The style of the dress will sometimes impact the type of bouquet you choose, so I always love to see a dress pic!
Autumn/winter is a great time to celebrate the season’s natural beauty and you can create a statement bouquet with berries, spray roses and eucalyptus or trailing grasses to make an impact. Berries are my favourite at that time of year, even some of the foliage has berries at this time of year, such as Viburnum, Ivy or Eucalyptus Populus.
To help you stay within budget, I often suggest putting empty vases on your top table, so that after the ceremony, you can pop your bouquets in. Not only does this keep them nice but it also gives a little extra top table decoration.
Hair flowers
These can be a beautiful touch as a hair accessory and in autumn/winter we can choose from some gorgeous bohemian style flowers.
Flower crowns look particularly cute on flower girls to add a magical touch.
Groom’s Buttonhole
Buttonholes for the groom and perhaps other important guests are a lovely way to tie in floral styling at the wedding. They don’t have to be much, but a few simple flowers matching rest of the flowers in the wedding can add a nice touch.
Not everyone needs one though. I’d keep it to just the important few, such as ushers, dads and mums.
Entryway arrangements and aisle decorations
These are usually statement pieces and can take the form of impressive archways, trailing the staircases of stately homes or draped across fireplaces to transform a room.
Autumn/winter is a great time to celebrate the season’s natural beauty – white and green foliage, textured blooms in rich colours such as burgundy, blush and rust, can be used in autumn/winter as a simple way to bring nature inside your venue.
Centrepieces
These are probably the second most important flowers to decide because they have such an impact on the theme and style of your wedding. They also usually form quite a big part of what you spend on flowers, purely because there are so many of them.
I usually spend time during a consultation, talking through a couple of options so that the couple is able to make an informed decision and get a good balance between budget and vision.
Your guests will be sitting in front of them all day so bear things like scent and height in mind – your florist will be able to talk you through this and advise something perfect.
Wedding cake flowers
Wedding cake flowers can be a really simple way to tie a cake into your theme. We’re blessed with many talented wedding cake makers in the North East.
You can find a full list of suppliers I recommend and work with regularly in the Wedding Planning Guide on my website.
To speak to Vicky about your upcoming wedding, email [email protected] or call 07963771509.
Floral Quarter images by Sean Elliott Photography, taken at the beautiful wedding of Sophie & Ross at Woodhill Hall.
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