13 Most Common Wedding Bouquets

Bouquets are like the handbag to your bridal party’s entire ensemble, choose the perfect bouquet and it completes the look, miss the mark and you’ll be stuck wondering what happened for forever (no pressure right?)

There are 13 common bouquet types and today we are going to break them down and talk about which bouquet type goes with which theme. Let’s get to it!

Bouquet Types

1.) Hand-Tied Bouquet

Historically bouquets would be given to brides in a plastic-holders, verses being curated by florists for the big day. That’s where this terminology stems from (stems? No pun intended). Today however, hand-tied bouquets refer to any floral arrangement formed in the hand of a florist and are typically decorated with a loosely tied ribbon. You may even decide to carefully wrap a ribbon around the entire base of the floral arrangement, covering the stems or very gently weave the stems together.

2.) Composite Bouquet

A composite bouquet though whimsical and funky, tend to require a lot of attention to detail and time. Composite bouquets take different pieces of a flower and makes one big flower. For example, take a carnation and instead of doing multiple carnations, you gently pull off each petal and glue it the base of one whole flower until you have one large carnation.

3.) Dried Flower Bouquet

To incorporate fun textures and muted/natural hues try making a bouquet of non-fresh flowers, but dried flowers. There are some serious pros and cons to consider when choosing dried flowers for a bouquet. A big pro is that the flowers are already dried so they bouquets last for months on end. On the flip side, just because your flowers are dried does not mean you are going to save any money. Due to the popularity of this trend these dried flowers cost about as much as fresh flowers.

4.) Nosegay Bouquet

THE Nosegay bouquet is the smallest bouquet we are covering today. This option is perfect for the bride looking to make a more modest and muted statement with her floral selection. This bouquet type typical consists of a small bushel of a few flowers of the same type. Keep in mind that due to their simplicity some brides feel they should be reserved for flower girls or the mother of the bride, but I’ll let you decide.

5.) Pomander Bouquet

You’ve probably seen this bouquet as you were Pinterest-ing pictures of flower girl dresses. These 360-degree ball shaped bouquets hang from the wrist of your flower girl. Like the dried flower bouquet, don’t think that the smaller bouquet for flower girls is any cheaper to make. This selection is going to cost you a pretty penny since most floral arrangements don’t extend past 180 degrees of floral coverage.

6.) Asymmetrical Bouquet

A very popular bouquet style is the asymmetrical bouquet. Obviously, this means that the arrangement doesn’t look identical on both sides. For these arrangements, one side may be higher, color selection on either side is contrasting, or even major accents one side aren’t on the other. This arrangement is typically a mix of florals and foliage and when done well can be truly eye catching and captivating 

7.) Cascading Bouquet

Cascading bouquets to exactly what they say in that some element of the arrangement cascades down like a waterfall. This is commonly done with orchids since their vines typically grow that way. For brides that aren’t interested in using orchids foliage is a great option as well to help the arrangement have shape and an element that draws the guest’s eyes down through the length of the dress.

8.) Pageant Bouquet

Pageant bouquet or presentation bouquet got it’s name from the position in which you hold the arrangement. These bouquets are draped of your arm, as though you just won an award (like a pageant) and you need one hand free to wave and say thank you to the crowd. This style is most commonly seen at vintage-style weddings but could easily be adapted for a more modern wedding style.

9.) Crescent Bouquet

Very common and classic for romantic outdoor weddings hints the name. The crescent bouquet gets it’s name from mimicking the shape of a crescent moon with a side on the left and right curing downward. Now I know what you’re thinking. How does that work? These bouquets typically have foliage that naturally curves or droops downward.

10.) Posy Bouquet

This my friends is the same style bouquet that Meghan Markle carried in her wedding to Prince Harry. It’s also likely the most common style you’ve seen. Just think traditional round shape arrangement, where the stems are cut down to the same length and they our bound together. Think traditional!

11.) Round Bouquet

The round bouquet is a classic one just like the posy bouquet with the main two differences begin, that round. Bouquets typically features one type of flower or the same shade or blooms. Think round and monochromatic. Just like with posy bouquets this arrangement style is typically more classic but can pop up at more glam weddings

12.) Hoop Bouquet

Hoop bouquets are just now making their way to the scene and are typically pretty easy to make. To create this bouquet a metal or wood hoop is obtained, and a mix of differing blooms and foliage are looped around the hoop freely and decoratively. This is a common option for boho weddings or weddings more “earthy” weddings.

13.) Single – Stem Bouquet

Last but not least, for this week is the single-stem bouquet. This is the hardest one to pull off because you only get one flower to get this right. Typically, this style bouquet is just a single flower with some foliage at the back as support. Very simple and minimalistic. Perfect for anyone going for simple and willing to try their hand at finding the perfect flower for the occasion.

Conclusion

Hopefully before you started reading this article you thought there was only a single bouquet style that was done for weddings, and now look at you! An expert on all things flower arrangement. As with all decisions in the wedding planning process just be sure to take your time and get what you know you’ll love.