As always, there were lots of celebrity weddings over the spring and summer months in 2011, not least that of Catherine Middleton and Prince William. We thought it would be good to look back and see what wedding flower choices some of them made.
On 29 April, Catherine Middleton, the now Duchess of Cambridge, married Prince William. Her choice of bouquet is bound to start a new trend amongst brides to be in the months and years to come. The simple style of her bouquet was the perfect choice and suited her understated elegance and classic beauty. Her choice of fragrant flowers was very interesting, and included Sweet William, which symbolises gallantry, Myrtle, which is the Hebrew symbol of marriage, Lily of the Valley, depicting sweetness and humility and Hyacinth, which, quite appropriately, symbolises loveliness.
Since Queen Victoria’s reign, Myrtle has been a particularly traditional flower to carry in a royal wedding bouquet. Although she didn’t have myrtle in her own wedding bouquet, Queen Victoria was very fond of this plant, which is said to bring good luck and fidelity. Queen Victoria was presented with a posy that contained myrtle on a visit to Prince Albert’s grandmother in Germany. From this she prorogated her own myrtle plant in the garden at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. When her daughters married, each of them carried bouquets that contained myrtle from their mother’s plant. On 29 April 2011, Catherine Middleton continued this tradition by carrying myrtle from the same plant at Osborne House in her bouquet when she walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey to become Prince William’s wife, and our future Queen.
On 1 July, supermodel Kate Moss married rock guitarist Jamie Hince at St Peter’s Church in Southrop, Gloucestershire. Kate chose a small posy style of bouquet, containing some traditional blooms. We believe there to have been camellias and marguerite daisies amongst other flowers in her bouquet along with some very light green foliage, possibly lady’s mantle. Her sixteen bridesmaids also carried small posies of flowers that we believe contained sweet peas and marguerite daisies. They wore their hair loose and natural with a simple ribbon, decorated with small rose buds and marguerite daisies, tied at the back.
On 30 July there was another royal wedding, that of Zara Phillips and Mark Tindall. The wedding took place at Cannongate Kirk in Scotland on a gloriously sunny summer’s day. The bride carried a hand-tied bouquet containing calla lilies, alpine thistles and senecio cineraria, perfect for her white and green theme. The bridesmaids carried smaller versions of the bridal bouquet. The entrance to Cannongate Kirk was decorated with a massive garland of ivory flowers and foliage. The inside of the church was also decorated with large urns of ivory flowers and foliage to carry the theme through. This was obviously a much less pressurised occasion than that of Zara’s royal cousin earlier in the year, and was an opportunity for everyone to relax and enjoy the day.