Using flowers that are in season is your best bet in terms of getting the most beautiful blooms and keeping your budget in check. Out-of-season flowers are available but expensive. You’re better off working with your florist in regard to what flowers will be most readily available for your wedding. Below is a seasonal flower guide so you can pick your blooms with confidence.
If a particular flower or colour is important to you to fulfil your dream of the perfect wedding, consider florals first when planning your big day, and everything else will follow. If you want lots of pale hues, then a fall wedding might not be your best choice. If you love deep, saturated reds, golds, bronzes, yellows and browns, you might not want a summer wedding.
Note: These lists are grouped seasonally according to flowers that are generally in season during that time of year, but may vary depending on the region where you live or plan to marry. So if there’s something you really love, just check with your florist to make sure it’s in season in your part of the country.
A few tips:
- Remember that you’re looking at more than just your bouquet and centrepieces. You have to select flowers for the bridesmaids, mothers of the bride and groom, and flower girls, as well as the groom, groomsmen and fathers of the bride and groom
- Start thinking about your flowers as far in advance as possible and select your florist or floral designer. Order between six and 12 months prior to your wedding.
- Make sure that everyone you hire has had prior wedding experience.
- Get everything — the flowers, the location, the times, etc. — in writing.
Spring Flowers
Spring’s glorious, beautiful, multicoloured bursting blooms tell us we made it through yet another winter. They’re naturally celebratory and thus perfect for a springtime wedding. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus are the typical hallmarks of the season, and roses abound. Think of fragrant lilies, lilac and gardenias, and everything from exotic orange Birds of Paradise to abundantly petaled ranunculus in oranges, pinks and reds.
In terms of variety, you’ll find everything you need in spring’s abundant colours, hues and textures.
- Agapanthus
- Amaryllis
- Anemone
- Bell of Ireland
- Bird of Paradise
- Boronia
- Brodea
- Casa Blanca Lily
- Cherry Blossom
- Columbine
- Cornflower
- Daffodil
- Dahlia
- Delphinium
- Dogwood
- Forsythia
- Foxglove
- Freesia
- Gardenia
- Goldenrod
- Helleborus
- Hollyhock
- Hyacinth
- Hydrangea
- Larkspur
- Lilac
- Lily of the Valley
- Lisianthus
- Magnolia
- Orchid
- Pansy
- Pear Blossom
- Peony
- Phlox
- Poppy
- Protea
- Pussy Willow
- Ranunculus
- Rose
- Stargazer Lily
- Statice
- Stephanotis
- Stock
- Sweet Pea
- Tulip
- Viburnum
- Violet
- Waxflower
- Wisteria
- Zinnia
Summer Flowers
One of the best things about summer wedding flowers is that there’s so much to choose from. And because summer is the most popular season for weddings, and because there is such variety, and because your florist is handling a lot more than just your wedding, you’ll want to start discussing your flowers as soon as you can so that you can place your order.
Summer flowers have a gorgeous colour range with delphiniums, gladioli and snapdragons. You can go tropical with orchids and hibiscus and or just go classic and revel in the season’s overabundance of roses.
With summer, you’re generally guaranteed better weather — no winter snowstorms or drenching spring rains — and people seem to have more time and are just more relaxed. And all these elements combine to ensure that you have a wonderful and memorable wedding.
- Alstroemeria
- Aster
- Begonia
- Blackeyed Susan
- Celosia (Cockscomb)
- Chrysanthemum
- Clematis
- Cosmos
- Daisy
- Delphinium
- English Lavender
- Forget-Me-Not
- Freesia
- Garden Rose
- Gardenia
- Gerbera
- Hibiscus
- Hydrangea
- Larkspur
- Liatris
- Lily
- Lisianthus
- Nigella
- Pansy
- Plumbago
- Poppy
- Queen Anne’s Lace
- Rose
- Rosemary
- Snapdragons
- Solidaster
- Statice
- Stephanotis
- Stock
- Sunflower
- Tuberose
- Viburnum
- Violet
- Yarrow
- Zinnia
Autumn Flowers
An autumn wedding is the perfect occasion for the rich yellows, golds, bronzes, oranges, reds, burgundies, rusts, browns, deep purples and greens of the season, which will contrast beautifully with your dress. They’re naturally dramatic, offer tremendous variety and their deep and saturated hues give your florist the opportunity to truly personalize your wedding.
Also, autumn gives you the opportunity to experiment with unusual choices like Chinese lantern fruits, seedpods, hypericum berries, vines, seeded eucalyptus, fruit and ornamental cabbage. And fall foliage cuttings make exquisite centrepieces and arrangements.
- Alstroemeria
- Amaranthus
- Amaryllis
- Anemone
- Aster
- Autumn Foliage
- Baby’s Breath
- Bittersweet
- Cabbage
- Calla Lily (miniature)
- Carnation
- Chinaberry
- Chrysanthemum
- Celosia (Cockscomb)
- Cosmos
- Crabapple
- Dahlia
- Echinops
- Eucalyptus
- Freesia
- Galax
- Gerbera
- Gladiolus
- Hydrangea
- Hypericum
- Iris
- Juniper
- Kalanchoe
- Kniphofia
- Lily
- Lisianthus
- Marigold
- Orchid
- Ornamental Berries
- Pepper Berry
- Protea
- Queen Anne’s Lace
- Quince
- Rose
- Rose Hip
- Rowen Berry
- Salvia
- Sassafras
- Scabiosa
- Solidago
- Star of Bethlehem
- Statice
- Sugar Maple
- Sumac
- Sunflower
- Yarrow
- Zinnia
Winter Flowers
Winter brides may be concerned that they won’t have the nicest flowers possible at their wedding. Untrue. While the selection is less than that for spring or summer, the flowers themselves are stunners, like dramatic amaryllis, elegant cymbidium orchids and brightly hued ranunculus.
Work with what’s in season: Think about holiday colours and incorporate holly or poinsettias, or consider the white and blue of Hanukkah. Or go completely classic with an elegant winter-white floral decor.
If you live in a warmer winter climate, you’ll have a little more variety. And, of course, if you have a generous budget, you can get anything you’d like, but out-of-season blooms are expensive.
- Acacia
- Anemone
- Bell of Ireland
- Camellia
- Daffodil
- Dogwood
- Dried Flowers
- Evergreen
- Forced Bulbs (Casa Blanca and Stargazer lilies, Narcissus, Daffodils)
- Forget-Me-Nots
- Forsythia
- Fruit Blossoms
- Gerbera
- Holly
- Ivy
- Jasmine
- Ornamental Berries
- Paperwhites
- Ranunculus
- Seedpod
- Star of Bethlehem
- Tulip
- Waxflower
Flowers Available Year-Round
- Anemone
- Baby’s Breath
- Bachelor’s Button/Cornflower
- Calla Lily
- Carnations
- Casa Blanca Lily
- Delphinium
- Eucalyptus
- Forced Bulbs
- Freesia
- Gardenia
- Heather
- Ivy
- Lily of the Valley
- Orchid
- Protea
- Ranunculus
- Rose
- Scabiosa
- Stargazer Lily
- Stephanotis
- Vines
