January is generally a dull month, everyone appears to be on either a diet or detox after the Christmas festivities and the weather tends to be just as grey as we all feel. Traditionally it is not a month that many couples choose to get married, however this post is here to inspire you to think outside the box when considering which flowers to choose for your wedding in January. January can also be seen as a month of new beginnings and looking forward to the future so on that positive note I will get stuck into the glory of spring bulbs.
Spring bulbs are a great way to add flower and colour to your wedding in the late Winter and early Spring months and come in a variety of colours and varieties. Above we have white hyacinth bulbs in terracotta pots with moss and ribbon, the bulbs are just beginning to flower, however I would advise that for a wedding you need the bulbs to be fully flowering to offer the optimum impact that they give you. Muscari, also known as Grape Hyacinths, look fantastic in these rustic, weathered terracotta planters and would be great as table centres or to decorate mantel peices or alcoves.
The great thing about bulbs is that they can be planted in a huge array of containers so get creative and use your imagination according to your wedding theme. The above photos show one of my favourite flowers, paper white narcissi, which have been planted up in kilner jars with pea gravel, while these white hyacinths have been planted in a vintage planter. This is where you can scour the charity shops or reclamation yards and auctions, it is possible to pick up a job lot of terracotta pots which would be perfect for planting up. I always like to finish my bulbs off with something to cover the soil, usually moss, or pea gravel, or bark are all good suggestions and just add the finishing touches that are so important when it comes to wedding flowers.
As a wedding florist I always try and work with the seasons and what is in flower and available at that time of the year. In December, January and February the spring flowers are beginning to come through, and the spring bulbs are a great subsititute to using cut flowers. Even more so you get the seasonality aspect as the bulbs are beginning to shoot up in the gardens and this will radiate through to your wedding. Bulbs come in a variety of colours, but the whites, blues, yellows, purples work so well together and match in with nature’s colours of early spring. White and yellow Narcissi, purple, yellow and white Crocus, white and blue Hyacinths, and white and blue Muscari are the true classics that sum up this Spring Bulb theme for me and are a must for early spring weddings.
Pantone’s colour of 2013 has been named as ‘Emerald’ and is sure to be a hit within wedding trends this year. A tricky colour when it comes to using flowers so the emphasis will be on the foliage used and containers. Here we have blue muscari and hyacinth bulbs planted in these gorgeous emerald/teal containers, a great way to introduce this unique colour amongst the more natural elements of your wedding.
Individual bulbs can be planted up into small votives or tiny planters and be used as favors or table settings to add extra floral decoration within the table arrangements. The scent the narcissi and hyacinth bulbs produce is immense and will really fill any room, church or ceremony venue… and the best bit about them is that they are living so if you plant them up in the garden once they have finished flowering, they should come up again next year! What do we all think about the versaitility and uniqueness of using spring bulbs within your wedding flowers?
All credits for these photos can be found here… https://www.pinterest.com/theroseshed/january/