{Ask Nancy: Flower Trends}

Miss D'Orsay asks, "what have been the most recent flower trends you've been seeing?".

Once again, this is a terrific question and not only is it great but I love these types of questions because they are my favorite. When I use to work at bebe's and Banana Republic, my favorite meetings were trend meetings.

Our financial situation has impacted the wedding flower trends. In years past, my trend outlook would be based on fashion, pop culture, and art direction, this year our wallets are dictating trends. Streamlining floral details due to budget constraints are pushing floral designers and florists to come up with more green, natural, simple designs. The increase of DIY weddings mean that flowers might be a trifle bit simple.

There's always going to be brides who aren't DIY so for them it's about being authentic and less showy this year. Using products wisely is a huge trend.
(Photography by Annie X)

Here's just my outlook for this year.

Trends 2009

1) Plant it: Replacing all floral centerpieces with plants or flowering plants like hydrangea, azaleas, begonias, maidenhair fern, orchids in beautiful vintage containers is an arrangement that will last beyond the wedding. I love this idea!

2) More the Merrier: Multiple container centerpieces featuring either a repetition of similar containers or groupings of like containers is very popular. I especially like colorful containers in all the same color like the one on the right. With large dahlias, this is fresh and elegant and very impactful. (Photography by James Sanders. )

3) Branch out:Branch, organic tree like materials like birch is still very happening.

4) Still the One: Simple designed weddings using one dominate color palette continues to be trending well

5) Return to Neutral: This year more of our clients are doing cream, ivories, vanilla, white hues. In the past, color was big big big. Now it seems that the absence of color is popular again. Softer neutral bouquets are beautiful especially with layered textures. (Photography by Tara Arrowood.)
6) Why so Modest: I've been saying this for several years but the truth is this. This is the year of the modest flower. Whether your wedding features all baby's breath, carnations, Peruvian lilies, sunflowers. Modest is IN. To me, there's nothing wrong with doing an entire wedding featuring all carnations. I think asters are lovely. There's plenty of beautiful modest flowers. In the early spring, do all Ranunculus. In the summer, do all sunflowers. In the fall, do hydrangeas. In the winter, do carnations. Think modestly.
7) Going to the Chapel: The one place people are foregoing flowers is the ceremony. I for one love ceremony flowers and I think you should do flowers at the chapel, church, ceremony local but I also understand that this is a big trend. Most ceremony designs don't work at the reception. If you are doing an arch for the ceremony, it's impossible to move it indoor for a ceremony. If you are going to do a ceremony design, rethink those large sprays(which I also love doing) and do a table scape. We do it all the time and it's lovely. You can move this to the reception but beware. Unless you give your floral designer time to breakdown and redesign, it's not a good idea.


8) Yellow Mellow: One of my favorite colors that is making a huge comeback is yellow. Thank god. It looks great for spring, summer, fall and even winter. Don't dismiss the lovely range of yellows...from citrus lemon to deep golden hues. It's beautiful with purple. It's lovely with blue(go BEARS). It's elegant with butters and creams. It's rustic with brown. It's fantastic with Kelly green. It's hip with grey. It's chic with black. The only thing that I'm not crazy about is yellow with orange and red. That's been overdone.
(Photography courtesy of Nancy Liu Chin)

9) Naturally Beautiful: I love using pods, berries, wheat like textures in boutonnieres. I'd love to see more this than crystals, wires, and all those little accessories. More more natural please!









10) The Doctor says more Fruits and Veggies: Don't knock it but I think with the economy going the way it is, using more fruits and veggies is not a bad thing. Lemons are lovely in garland work. Over the weekend we used Brussels sprouts in the centerpiece and several people thought they were tight green Peonies. We often use tiny green apples. You can find beautiful artichokes on 2 ft stems at the floral market. There's a wide choice in olives. I love asparagus tips. And think cabbage is amazing. The list goes on and on.
(Photography by Kevin Chin)


What trend do you like the best?