Nothing suggests romance, colour and flair more than flowers.  The ones you choose for your wedding should convey the atmosphere you want to achieve.  They should look amazing, smell fantastic and compliment the feel of the wedding venue, not to mention your dress, hair and make up!

The bridal bouquet you choose to carry should match the look of your wedding dress.  If you have a dramatic dress an equally gorgeous choices is a cascading bouquet of flowers (ideally roses) and some green foliage.  A cascading bouquet is full at the hands and trails like a waterfall, giving balance to a full dress.

Thick grand prix roses in pink, white or red also look wonderful as a bouquet; a dozen would suffice.  Mixing colours together can add a nice touch; especially if one of your flowers matches the colours of your bridesmaid’s dresses for example. 

When creating a centre piece, you have lots of options.  A traditional vase means you can have huge bouquets on the table.  You can also use a fish bowl and place a few exotic flowers inside, such as orchid heads, with some long grass twisted round the circumference of the bowl.   As a completely different idea, how about a small rose tree?  As a centrepiece, it is definitely a show stopper! 

Remember that you can always hide ugly stems with thick green leaves, dried leaves, grass or colourful fruit into the bottom of the vase (lime for example is a good choice).

Don’t forget the confetti!  Red rose petals are a romantic choice and placing them into home made paper cones (handed out to the guests as the bride and groom come out of the venue).  Hydrangea petals are a combination of pastel blues, whites and greens giving a soft effect that will look wonderful on photographs.  Dried petals make a colourful choice and they will also be very fragrant.

Whether you decide to buy the flowers and arrange them yourself or get a professional to do it, the most important thing Is to make something you are happy with that has impact.   Don’t forget you don’t have to spend a lot to achieve a great result.

The use of fresh flowers at a wedding usually requires the services of a professional florist. Working with real flowers is an art that probably shouldn’t be taken on by a novice. If you do commission a florist, avoid if you can mentioning the word “wedding”. This is often a signal that higher prices should be charged and you will likely end up paying more than if the flowers were some random non-wedding event.

A middle-ground option could be to get in contact with your local community college for your flowers. Many local colleges offer courses in flower arranging. For a small fee, you may well find that they are quite accommodating in allowing their students to “practice” for your wedding at a hugely discounted price – often just for the cost of the flowers alone. You do need to be prepared for what you might get, though: It might be beautiful, it might be mediocre. At the end of the day, though, don’t place too much emphasis on the flowers – they are simply garnishes, after all. There’s no need to go overboard with nosegays or hand-held masterpieces for the ceremony. The real stars of the show are you, your intended, and your wedding party. The flowers simply add to the overall package.

That said, the cheapest option of all, of course, is to do it yourself. And it is perfectly possible to order fresh flowers from online wholesalers or to purchase flowers from your local farmer. However, you will be responsible for all of the prep work of cleaning, trimming and arranging them, not to mention keeping them alive and looking healthy until the wedding day.

If you are not that green-fingered, you could consider using silk flowers. You can then concentrate on the aesthetics, without having to worry about them wilting away before you are ready. There are plenty of wholesale stores – both online and offline - that will sell silk flowers at a greatly discounted price.

Working with silk flowers is easy and can be done by almost anyone. You’ll need some basic equipment to get started: floral wire, floral tape, wire cutters, flowers, greenery and decorative accents like baby’s breath or smaller flowers.

For example, a beautifully simple idea for a gorgeous bridal bouquet is to take several white roses, bunch them together into a bouquet, wrap the bottom with floral tape tightly, and wrap satin ribbon around the stems. Attach long pieces of satin ribbon to flow down as you hold the bouquet and it’ll be stunning!

Similarly, a flower girl basket is probably the easiest of all wedding ceremony flowers. Just take a small basket – preferably white – and decorate it with ribbon and some small flowers. Many local florists will sell you rose petals for the flower girl to strew down the aisle quite cheaply. If they have some roses they aren’t able to sell that are going bad, they will usually part with the petals at a low price.

As far as the flowers for the ceremony is concerned, you should check to see if any other brides have booked for the same day. If the two of you can coordinate flowers and split the cost, you’ll save a lot of money. I would imagine both of you wouldn’t turn your nose up at saving a ton of money on church decorations and flowers!