IBYE Badge

IBYE Badge

Tradition Of Throwing The Bouquet

Tossing the bouquet is a wedding tradition that has lasted through the centuries. Today it is great fun to throw the bouquet at the reception into the crowd of single ladies to see who may be the next to marry. Unfortunately long ago it was taken far more seriously and often ended in disaster. It is said to originate from Medieval Europe when women would try to rip pieces of the bride's dress in order to obtain some of her good luck, leaving her in tatters. The wedding guests believed that a piece of the bride’s dress was a fertility charm and would bring good luck and prosperity.

Source - weddingvows.mobi 

As times changed wedding dresses became a cherished keepsake and brides did not want their expensive dresses to be ripped or torn. Instead brides preferred to keep the dress for its sentimental value and to hand down to future generations.

 To escape from the crowd the bride would toss her bouquet as a distraction and run away. The tradition has filtered down through the ages and is now a fun tradition for modern weddings. Some modern brides and grooms do not like the tradition of throwing the bouquet and either modify it or do away with it altogether. Some brides choose to order a special throwing bouquet so as not to destroy their own. Others choose to pass a flower from their bouquet to their friends and family instead of throwing the bouquet at the reception.

Source - topnotchdj.au 

Wedding Flowers

Tara and Declan were married in Bofeenaun in June 2014. Here are some of their gorgeous wedding flowers which included pale blue, soft pink and ivory.

Wedding Flowers

Caroline and Connor were married in Lacken Church in April. Their wedding flowers consisted of cream roses with delicate white filler flowers to add that extra touch. The church was decorated with a variety of flowers in cream, white and green which complimented the church perfectly.

Wedding Flowers

Claire and Declan were married in the Our Lady of the Assumption church in Ardagh. Claire chose pink and white Peonies with natural twine bound around the stems. The bride carried a bouquet of fluffy pink peonies while her bridesmaids were given all white peony bouquets. The summery scent from our work room while working on these wonderful flowers was such an enchanting aroma.

Wedding Flowers

Michelle and Steve's Wedding - Bofeenaun

These beautiful designs were created with an autumnal theme in mind. The dark orange callas mixed with snowberries, viburnum and mini cymbidium orchids give an elegant and classy look.

The theme was continued at the ceremony location. Dark orange Gerberas mixed with autumn greens.

A huge Thank You to Michelle and Steve for choosing Connacht Wedding Flowers to be part of their special day. 

Flower of the Week

Tulip

Source - www.wallconvert.com

Common Name:  Tulip

Botanical Name:  Tulipa

Colours:  White, Yellow, Pink, Peach, Orange, Red, Lavender, Purple and Bi-colours. Almost every colour except true blue and black.

Origin:  The origin of the tulip can be traced back to Hungary, Turkey and the Middle East.

Description:   The Tulip is a genus of single seed-lobe from the Lilium family or Liliaceae. There are up to 75 wild species of tulips in existence and an astonishing 3,000 different varieties of cultivated tulips. Most tulips produce only one cup or star shaped flower per stem however the tulip comes in a multitude of different forms including the gorgeous ruffled Parrot Tulips or Fringed Tulips.

White Parrot Tulips
Source - www.redbubble.com

The Tulip first became a popular spring flower in Turkey where it was adopted as a symbol for life and fertility.The name tulip stems from the Persian word for turban 'tulipan' after its rounded form and in fact it is believed that Ottoman Sultans would wear a tulip in their turban as a symbol of their importance. It was first introduced to Europe in the middle of the 16th Century via Antwerp to the Netherlands where it has remained and become synonymous with Spring. The season lasts from late December to early April and during this time the flower fields of Holland become a striking display of flowering tulip bulbs bursting with colour.

Tulip Fields in Netherlands
Source - www.idealmagazine.co.uk

Traditions Of The Wedding: Brides Bouquet

The tradition of carrying flowers on your wedding day is centuries old and the exact origin of this tradition is unclear. They range from practical reasons to superstitious reasons but whatever the origin, the wedding bouquet is a beautiful accessory and marks a very special occasion.

It is believed that in Medieval times most brides would carry bouquets of fragrant herbs to enhance their aroma on their wedding day and to ward off evil spirits while welcoming goodness and happiness into their life. The bouquet also signified that the bride was in bloom.

As time passed by and we came to Victorian times the flowers had even more significance as couples would send each other flowers. Each flower had its own particular meaning and it is this association that is still adopted to this day by many brides. The groom generally wears a flower that can be seen in the bridal bouquet. This dates back to medieval times and the tradition of a Knight wearing his brides colours to declare his love and respect for her.

We will be continuing the Traditions Of The Wedding series and we will cover everything from the veil to cutting the cake so pop back here in the near future to check it out. 

As always if you have found our blog to be helpful or interesting please feel free to show us some support and like our Facebook Fan Page. We appreciate your continued support. Thanks for visiting folks!

Free Giveaways and Draws

We are giving away a €50 Bouquet to someone on our Facebook fan page list of likes. If you already liked our fan page you will be entered into our draw. If not you can like it now to be entered into all our draws folks! You will then also be entered into any other future giveaways that we have! Like our fan page to enter the draw.

We will be celebrating our second anniversary of our shop in Erris St, Crossmolina. To celebrate we are giving away a gorgeous €50 Bouquet to one of our Facebook friends and another lovely €50 bouquet to one of our local shop customers. To be in with a chance to win simply like our fan page or spend 20e instore. Winner of the Facebook draw will be picked by random from our fan page only you must go direct to the page to like it folks !! Once you are on the list of likes for our fan page you will then be entered into all free giveaway draws in the future!! 

Click the link here to be re-directed to our fan page where you can like it !!http://www.facebook.com/ConnachtWeddingFlowers . 

The other winner will be drawn by random in store on June 7th !! Good Luck everyone!!

Bouquet Inspiration

Here is a blog post about bridal bouquets that may give upcoming brides some inspiration or help them decide what bouquet would be perfect. This post consists of some amazing photographs by Mark Capilitan who we have had the pleasure of bumping into at quite a few weddings now. Click the link below and have a look guys.

Bouquet Inspiration with photographer Mark Capilitan.

                                     

Flower Of The Week

Pincushion Protea 

Pincushion

Common Name: Pincushion

Botanical Name: Leucospermum

Colours: Red, Orange, Yellow

Origin: This flower is native to South Africa in particular the Cape Region. It hails from a massive family of over one hundred species including trees, shrubs and plants. This family is commonly known as the Proteaceae family.

Description:  The Pincushion is a long lasting cut flower and adds beautiful texture to arrangements. It has a very distinctive appearance. It gets the name Pincushion because it resembles a pincushion filled with pins. This blossom is very popular with the more contemporary florist. It has an all year round availability but some of the species are limited by season.

Pincushion Vase Arrangement
Source: flowerville.net

Wedding Flowers

Here's a wedding we did last year incorporating Pinks, Purples and Mauve's  These colours work exceptionally well together. Perfect for a Summer Wedding!

Bridal Bouquet, Bridesmaid's Bouquets and Flower Girls wands

Altar Unity Arrangement

Antique style Aisle Lanterns with matching floral arrangements

Lecturn arrangement matching Lanterns

These flowers have an almost antique feel to them with the Lilac Rose, Soft Pink Rose and Lime Green Rose. They worked very well with the bridesmaids dresses.

Order Your Mothers Day Flowers now

Click here to order your Mothers Day Flowers for delivery

Confetti Magazine Interview

Above is a snippet from our Confetti Magazine Interview

Wedding of Elaine and Martin, Achill Sound, Co.Mayo

Elaine wanted to keep it fairly traditional with plain greens and whites/creams. For her bridal bouquet she brought in a picture from a magazine of the bouquet she wanted us to re-create for her wedding. Her Bridal Gown was an oyster colour dress with very little embellishments except for some lace around the neck line so this meant Elaine had more options when picking her Bridal Bouquet. Her bouquet consisted of Akito Roses, Avalanche Roses, Lisianthus, White Veronica, Babys Breath, Spray Roses, Hard Ruscus, Diamantes and Silk Ribbon.

Bridal Bouquet

   

Bridal Bouquet

Elaine maintained this cream traditional theme throughout all her flowers. Her bridesmaids wore a peachy colour dress. The cream really worked well against the peachy colour and it was also a far safer bet than trying to match colour schemes with the bridesmaids dress as the dress they wore was quite an unusual colour. Also to throw another colour into the mix the entire back wall of the church was painted blue. Elaine and I both agreed that the cream colour scheme was the best way forward for her wedding theme.

Bridesmaids Bouquets

Bridesmaids Bouquets

On the morning of the wedding I had to deliver the bridal party flowers to Elaines house in Achill and also set up the church, but first I had to deliver buttonholes to the grooms house. I rang Eugene, one of the grooms men before I arrived in Achill. He gave me a rough idea of where the house was and he said "you can't miss it, it's decorated outside with balloons and flags". The only thing the grooms men didn't know was that every single house for miles would be decorated with flags and balloons. I couldn't believe it. I stopped at every house for miles before I actually found the grooms home. It was amazing. There were flags, bunting and balloons at almost every house and gate in Achill. Even the fencing on the sides of the main road was decorated. I never seen so many well wishers before. When I finally arrived at the grooms home I described the decoration to the grooms men and they got a good laugh from it. They hadn't been outside the house that morning to see any of the effort that family, neighbours and friends had gone to. It seems this is a bit of a tradition in Achill. It was an amazing sight. There was no mistaking the fact that there was a big wedding in Achill that day. 

Mother of the Bride Corsage

Mother of the Bride Corsage

Buttonholes

Three Flower Girl Wands

Above are some examples of the bridal party flowers. Here we see some buttonholes, corsages and flower girl wands again matching the cream theme.

The church is a lovely bright building with a simple layout. Its perfect for a wedding, in terms of decoration it's a very easy church to make look classy because it's already bright and tidy. Elaine and Martin had church music provided by Brenda Grealis who I had the pleasure to listen to while setting up the church. She really set the atmosphere. Elaine had videography with John Murphy from Avalon Video. John agreed the church was a lovely setting for any wedding also.

Rose Trees at entrance

Wicker Hearts with Roses and Silk Ribbon

We decorated the pew ends with a wicker heart and cream roses. The wicker hearts are draped with a cream silk ribbon.

Church Pedestal Arrangement

Elaine had two pedestal arrangements either side of the altar.  Again in keeping with the cream theme for her flowers.

Window Arrangements

We decorated each window with a small floral arrangement. All cream/white again.

Unity Altar Arrangement

Unity Altar Arrangement

Three Memorial Wreaths

Pedestal Arrangement and Lecturn Arrangement

Church Decor

                                                                                           

In the pictures below we can see the blue colour which Elaine and I discussed in relation to her colour scheme. This may have thrown her professional photography if she had the peach colour bridesmaids with this blue colour in the background and then a different colour for her flowers. It was on these grounds that we both agreed that the cream theme would work best.

Altar Arrangement and Floor Lanterns

Church Decor

Church Decor