The Fall Wedding Flowers Blog

That cottage garden favorite (and popular fall wedding flowers), the hydrangea, is one that often evokes memories of playing in our grandparents’ yard.  The huge blooms nodding away in the breeze as carefree as the children themselves.  My grandfather pruned his hydrangeas to the ground in winter.  I was always amazed that the beautiful, enormous pom poms could grow from seemingly nothing in a just a few short months.

Hydrangeas are versatile fall wedding flowers.  They are available in a range of colors:  pure whites, pale greens, pink, raspberry, lavender, purple, sky blue and deep blue.  What’s more, they are relatively easy for your florist to tint, so the color possibilities are almost endless!  Pale green hydrangeas will co-ordinate well with any color and are worth considering as part of the “greenery” in your arrangements.  Multi colored blooms are also available with a base color speckled with another color (pink on green for example).  These tend to create a rustic feel, perfect for a fall theme.

Hydrangeas work well for centerpieces.  They will create an impact when used alone, or they combine well with other blooms for a lovely contrast in forms. Arranged around the base of a hurricane lamp with contrasting roses they create a delightful picture.  Used alone in a row of low vases they create a more formal look with just a touch of whimsy.

Imagine a fall centerpiece - large clusters of dusky green and red hydrangeas, contrasting against their leaves.  Peeking through the blooms are fruits of the fall harvest - apples, pomegranates, decorative pumpkins.  What better way to incorporate the season into your wedding.

Or a bouquet of white blooms with the bracts prettily outlined in a soft pink, creating a very graceful mood.

A natural looking bouquet with a “just picked from the garden” feel can be achieved by combining blue, white and lavender hydrangeas with roses, eucalyptus and stock in complementary colors.  For a more “girly” look try green and pink speckled hydrangeas and pink roses and lilac.

A simple, hand tied bouquet of hydrangeas is a wonderful option.  As the blooms are large, only a few are needed to create a very full bouquet.  White is a lovely choice for this type of arrangement and will create an air pureness and serenity.

Hydrangeas are happy to combine with other flowers too.  Again their size means they can be used as fillers in an arrangement of more expensive or more showy flowers.  By choosing the color wisely, they will create a perfect background for your stars to shine.

Hydrangeas also dry extremely well.  The dried blooms keep their shape, with the colors slightly fading to a potpourri like hue.  They add the perfect autumnal feel to an arrangement.

The large pom pom blooms are probably the most common type of hydrangea seen in wedding flowers.  There is also the lace cap type which can add a different dimension all together.  These are available in the same colors as the more common hydrangeas.  They differ in the shape of their bloom.  A rough circle of the large flowers with bracts (the colored petal like parts) surrounds a center of tiny bractless flowers.  These are tightly packed and give the appearance of lace, hence the name.  They work extremely well as fillers or background flowers.

Photos:  collage (hydrangea collection), Hydrangea macrophylla

Tags:   fall wedding flowers · hydrangeas · wedding flowers bouquets1 Comment