Want to send a message to your wedding guests without saying a word at all? Then you can by selecting the right kind of flower for your wedding. Traditionally, flowers have been assigned a number of meanings from birth month flowers, to protected national state flowers and emotions as well.
If you want to convey the right emotion with your wedding flowers, you first need to know what they mean. For brides and grooms, ivy, orange blossom and white roses are have special meanings. Here is a list of what each means;
Roses, one of the most popular wedding flowers, have a variety of meanings with each color.
Red: Love, Passion, Respect
White: Purity, Innocence, Silence, Happy love (bridal)
Pink: Appreciation, Grace, Happiness
Yellow: Promise of a new beginning, Joy, Friendship
Yellow with
Orange
Tip: Falling in Love
Orange
: Enthusiasm, Desire
Red and White: Unity
Red and Yellow: Happiness
Peach: Appreciation
Lavender: Love at First Sight
Black: Death
Other popular wedding flowers also have a wide variety of meanings. Be careful when choosing your flower…it could have a bad luck meaning!
Aster: A symbol of love
Red Carnation: My heart aches for you
Pink Carnation: I’ll never forget you
Striped Carnation: Refusal
Yellow Carnation: You have disappointed me
Cattail: Peace and prosperity
Daffodil: Unrequited love, the sun is always shining when I’m with you
Daisy: Loyal love, innocence
Dandelion: Happiness, Faithfulness
Fern: Fascination, Magic
Gardenia: You’re lovely
Gloxinia: Love at first sight
Holly: Domestic happiness
White Heather: Protection
Iris: Wisdom and valor
Ivy: Wedded love, fidelity and friendship
Whit lily: Purity
Calla lily: Beauty
Magnolia: Nobility
Marigold: Cruelty, Grief
Oleander: Caution
Orange Blossom: Marriage, Eternal Love
Peony: Shame
Petunia: Anger
Poppy: Imagination
Primrose: I can’t live without you
Snapdragon: Deception
Sunflower: Adoration, pride
Spider Flower: Elope with me
Red Tulip: Declaration of love
Violet: Modesty
Water lily: Purity of heart
Wisteria: Welcome
Zinnia: Lasting Affection
While these meanings are simply guidelines, don’t worry if your favorite flower has a not so nice meaning. Chances are, most of your guests won’t even know the significance, but its always nice to know. Furthermore, the meaning of a flower may help to assist you in picking out your motif. For example, white roses and ivy are specifically wedding flowers and greenery in the traditional meaning, and combined with other elements that have meaning to you would make for a fabulous flora arrangement.
Furthermore, you can even add significance of your own to a certain flower if you wish. If your partner brought you a dozen lilies on your first date, then to you, that may be a symbol of love at first sight. Flowers can take on a meaning of their own to you and your partner if a loving and lasting memory is attached to them.
Even though it is fun to know the traditional meaning of flowers, don’t let this guideline deter you from using one of your favorites. Flowers mean what you make them mean on your special day.
