Wedding Gazette

Renaissance Wedding Flowers

By Jennifer Baumann

Want to Goth up your wedding with bouquets and arrangements straight out of a Tudor castle? Check out our ideas for Medieval and Renaissance wedding flowers.

Use Lots of Ivy

Ivy is not only the traditional Renaissance wedding green, it is a perfect compliment to the dark, rich colors used during this time period. Add ivy greens to your bouquet. Make the men's boutenierres out of ivy for a masculine, Medieval look. Make garlands of ivy to string across your reception hall or church foyer. Place leafy tendrils down the centers of tables for a natural table-runner.

Incorporate Herbs

Historically, herbs represented the antidote to demon and evil spirit fears of the Renaissance Era. Aesthetically, using herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil, and sage will add texture, fragrance, and authenticity to your Medieval/Renaissance bouquet. Fill large baskets with a bounty of herbs and wildflowers for excellent centerpieces and altar arrangements. In addition (although it's not technically an herb), brides incorporated wheat into their bouquets as a symbol of fertility.

Fill Arrangements with Wild Berries and Brambles

Another way to relive the 14th and 15th centuries at your wedding is by incorporating the brambly wildflower look by filling large baskets with holly, pine, ivy, and other lush greens with heavy stems and pointed leaves. Then add herbs like heather to create softness, color, and contrast. Create long garlands of dark greenery and wildflowers to string across your reception hall or from window to window in the church for a real Renaisssance feel.

Use the Richest Color Palettes

Let your imagination go heavy on the color when designing your wedding flowers. To show up against so much dark wood and stone, only the deepest colored flowers were used in Medieval/Renaissance weddings then, so why not now? Go bold with flowers the color of goldenrod, royal blue, scarlet, forest green, purple, and orange.