• Tie napkins with a piece of sprayed cord or ribbon, and slip a flower underneath the cord
• Place a decorative bowl of water on each dining table. You can add fragrance to the water and fill these with floating candles and flower heads.
• Incorporate candles or nightlights into the flower arrangements
• Place terracotta pots planted with flowers on each table, decorated with gold and silver motifs
• Use leaves for place name cards with the guest's names written on them in gold or silver pen
• Incorporate objects into flower arrangements, such as ornaments, shells, feathers and even photographs
• Spray flowers and foliage different colours, and sprinkle some glitter over them to add extra sparkle in the light
• Freeze small flowers or leaves such as camomile, forget-me-not, violets, ivy and mint leaves into ice-cubes, to serve with drinks at the reception. They add style to the reception, but cost little to make
• Incorporate fruits and vegetables into the flower arrangements, especially for weddings at harvest times. Suitable fruits and vegetables include aubergine, ornamental cabbage, chilli pepper, cranberry, currant, fig, grape, miniature leek, radish, squash, baby turnip, strawberry apple, orange, lemon and raspberry
• For autumnal weddings, use leaves, berries and cones with a touch of gold
• For winter weddings use the seasonal colours of green and red with candles to create a cosy atmosphere. Add a variety of nuts to each table arrangement again with a touch of gold or silver, to look like frost
• For spring weddings, place pots of bulbs on each dining table, along with miniature Easter eggs incorporated into the arrangements which your guests will enjoy eating
• For summer weddings, place fruits in the flower arrangements, which your guests will enjoy eating. Include strawberries and other berries

sweet smelling	cacia, amaryllis, arum lily, carnation, freesia, heliotrope, hyacinth, lily of the valley, rhododendron, rose and sweet pea
spicy scent	chrysanthemum, hypericum and stock
exotic scent	gardenia, jasmine, narcissi, stargazer lily and tuberose
aromatic scent	basil, broom, rue flowers and foliage, eucalyptus, laurel leaves, lavender, marjoram, myrtle leaves, orange blossom, rosemary and sage
citrus scent	mimosa and wax flower

Your florist will be able to advise you on which flower fragrances work well together. However, if you choose to have silk flowers at your wedding, you will lose out on the appealing fragrances that fresh flowers possess. To solve this problem, you may decide to use a delicate floral fragrance that is easily sprayed onto the artificial flowers.

A floral room spray at a marquee reception will not only save you money on fragrant flowers, it will also eliminate the damp smell that sometimes comes from canvas. Another way around this problem is to put herbs on the floor of the marquee. As the guests move around they will release a delicate fragrance throughout the day. Herbs can be bought from supermarkets, or grown simply from seed in the run up to your wedding.

Colour Schemes
Some brides still choose to have the traditional white and cream colours for their wedding flowers, although many are now going for brighter colours like orange and pink. Burgundy and gold also seem to be very.

There are four different colour schemes made up from the colour wheel that will help to guide you with your choice of colours, although you are free to choose which ever colours you like for your special day:

Monochromatic - stay with one colour which is determined by the colour of your bridesmaids' dresses. For example, if they wear violet coloured dresses, you may choose pansies and violets.

Complementary - choose colours which are opposite each other on the colour wheel. If your bridesmaids are wearing yellow, the flowers should be violet; yellow and violet are opposite each other on the colour wheel. If the colour of their dresses is a light shade, the complementary shade should be light, and darker shaded flowers should complement darker shaded dresses.

Triadic - a colour triad is made up of three colours that are the same distance apart on the colour wheel, for example, green, violet and orange. You can either have your bouquet made up of three different colours, one being the colour of the bridesmaids dresses, or two colours with the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses being the third colour.

Analogous - this type of colour scheme involves using shades which are next to each other within the colour wheel, for example, green/yellow, green and blue/green.

You should consider the colour of your hair and your complexion before you decide upon the colours of your flowers. If you have dark hair and/or skin, then you should choose dark and rich coloured flowers. If you have light hair and fair skin, then choose softer and lighter colours as vivid colours can drain the skin and be overpowering.

It is a nice idea to choose seasonal shades for your wedding, to create a seasonal atmosphere.

• Spring - yellow, lilac, blue and white
• Summer - yellow, orange, red, pink, gold, hazy purple and green
• Autumn - yellow, orange, red, gold, brown, russet (reddish-brown) and cream
• Winter - strong dark red, russet, green, orange, gold, silver and white

Introduction to choosing your flowers
Budgeting for your flowers
Create your own flower bouquet
Flower preparation and checklist
Choosing a florist
Choosing your bouquet
Floral arrangements and accessories
Flowers to suit your star sign and birthday
The symbolic meaning of flowers
Flowers A to Z