History of Wedding Flowers

Today, wedding flowers are basically synonymous with a proper wedding: you will seldom see a wedding that does not incorporate flowers.  But, how did we get here?  Join us today as we take a look back, and see how the wedding-flower tradition started. While flowers have had many different implications in the ancient world, we can attest that the first use of flowers for a wedding originated in ancient Greece.  As opposed to carrying a bouquet of flowers, the bride would wear a blend of flowers and plants, made into a wreath, upon her head.  Now, among these plants, garlic would also be incorporated, as to ward off any evil spirits that might taint the ceremony or the wedding.  Creating this wreath was one of the principle duties of being a bridesmaid,  among many other things. Over time, the wreath transformed into a bouquet, and became much popular in the ancient Greek and Roman empires.  Greek brides moved to carrying ivy, as a symbol of everlasting love, while Roman brides brought along herbs, as to represent fidelity and fertility. As the Western traditional slowly began to shift from ancient civilization to the Middle Ages, flower bouquets became much more common, as both a way to signify lover, and to cover up smell.  In an effort to look and smell beautiful, the bride would pull out all the stops, even if that included picking every strong-smelling flower she could find into her bouquet. Wedding flowers really picked up in Victorian England, where people were obsessed with flower meaning and symbolism.  It is there where we get our modern tradition of wedding flowers, and all the conventions of a modern wedding. However, with all of the changes in wedding flowers and their implications over the years, one can only imagine what it will be like in the next 100 years or so.  While we cannot tell you the future, we can tell you that the Garden of Eden Flower Shop is here to help with all of your questions for wedding flowers.  Just come on in, sit down with our wedding-planning expert, and see what we can do for you.