Flowers at the Wedding

Flowers alone harmonize with the atmosphere of weddings and give voice to their gladness... just as the song of nightingales harmonizes with the bright gardens of summer!... At every wedding, flowers appear as the gift of bountiful nature to the virgin bride — nature blessing her with them, and showering upon her something of the sweet, pure fragrance overflowing from its heart...

...The bride's own wreath nature prefers to make of the traditional orange-blossom buds — those buds that still look out at us from the keepsakes of our earliest grandmothers, who preserve among the folds of their white garments the petals that have lost their color and their scent through long years... yet which still recline coquettishly, for all that, among the half-worn silken folds... as a living memory of the loveliest day of a lifetime!...

...The armful of flowers that rests upon the bride's arm is best made, on grand occasions, of Madonna lilies; at simple weddings a bouquet of pink carnations or of roses is thought well of... These two kinds may be carried by the bride or by her maid of honor... And in some places, when these flowers cannot be had, any cluster of flowers serves the purpose, provided they are all pink in color.

...If the bride's choice falls upon pink carnations, then it is preferable that her maid of honor carry carnations as well, but of a simpler or less beautiful sort, so that the bride herself keeps first place for the eye and the gaze is drawn to no one else...

...Nor may we cheat the bridegroom of his right to enjoy these flowers. The best thing the groom can pin in the buttonhole of his jacket is a gardenia, a white rose, or a pink carnation — and among all these the choice is his alone.

...A large bouquet of yellow or white roses perfumes the air and beautifies the general scene in the great hall where the wedding ceremony is celebrated.

As for churches, the finest adornment for them is white flowers, which suggest purity and piety... provided they have long, straight stems. The most widely used of these are the beautiful gladiolus, or white lilies of every kind...

...And there must be an elegant vase to adorn the wedding table; it should be simple and close to the surface of the table — that is, short-stemmed — so that the sight of it does not prevent a full view of the bride and groom...