Search for tropical bridal bouquets and wedding floral displays ideas here with tips and tricks for creating wedding bouquets and flowers around a tropical theme.
Unless you opt for a single-flower bouquet, such as orchids or tuberoses, you can intersperse tropical flowers with other varieties. A bouquet of primarily large tropical flowers deflects attention from the bride, and the bride should be the primary object of attention, not the bridal bouquet.
Hibiscus blooms only last a day, so they are difficult to include in wedding bouquets or floral display. Add Asiatic or trumpet lilies instead for the same effect. If you can't survive your wedding without hibiscus, ask your florist if it's possible to add them to your bouquet the day of the wedding. Perhaps your hairstyle and veil (or lack of veil) can accommodate a hibiscus worn behind the ear or in a bun or French twist.
Bridal Bouquets
Tropical bridal bouquets come in the same varieties as their traditional counterparts, with a couple of additions:
* Nosegay
* Round
* Cascade
* Arm bouquet
* Hand-tied
* Single stem
* Basket
* Wrist
* Hawaiian wedding lei
* Headband
For small bridal bouquets, use small tropical flowers with no more than a few large flowers. Use the smaller flowers to create a palette to highlight the larger blooms, and don't forget to mix tropical and traditional flowers. Use a base of roses, orchids and tuberoses. Add a few protea or calla lilies for a splash of color.
If you carry a single stem, hand-tied, or cascade bouquet, your options for including larger, showier tropical flowers increase. Consider a single calla, Asiatic or trumpet lily in white or a lone protea for a single-stem bouquet. You'll find a protea to work with any color scheme, and a single protea stem adds an array of color as well as an unusual composition, all in a single bloom. Select a ribbon color to match one of the many colors in the protea.
Cascade bouquets allow you the greatest latitude. Their size and elongated, flowing shape allow you to incorporate many large blooms with an abundance of trailing greenery. You can use mostly large, colorful blooms and add eucalyptus for the greenery. If you want to include color in your "greenery," use pagoda blooms from one of the delicate varieties.
Color Schemes
Unlike traditional bouquets, monochrome tropical bouquets are usually white or pink. Hawaiian color schemes rely heavily on pink and white, such as pink or pink and white orchids highlighted against a backdrop of white roses. You can achieve the same look by substituting speckled Asiatic lilies for orchids.
You'll also find interesting color combinations in tropical bouquets such as fuchsia, purple, mint green, yellow and white""combinations you might not think of using in a more traditional bouquet. Tropical color combinations pay little regard to balance and harmony, because that's the way nature designed the wild tropical garden.
Leis and Headbands
Traditional Hawaiian leis and headbands consist of white or pink dendrobium orchids. To include a wider variety of tropical flowers, carry a round, cascade or basket bridal bouquet in addition to the lei. If you do opt to carry a bouquet, limit yourself to either a lei or a headband and opt for a bouquet of delicate flowers. Your wedding floral displays can incorporate the larger, showy tropical flowers in your color scheme.
Corsages, Wristbands and Boutonnières
Orchids and tuberoses extend the tropical theme to corsages, wristbands and boutonnieres. You'll find orchids available in every color of the rainbow and a wide variety of shapes and sizes, if you're willing to pay for them. They combine well with tuberoses and roses. If you opt for a larger orchid, you can use fewer of them set amid smaller roses. You can use one or two larger flowers in a wristband in a bed of delicate blossoms.
Flower Girl Baskets
Don't overlook the opportunity to have your flower girl toss tropical petals on her way down the aisle. Fill her tropical basket with tuberose petals, plumeria petals, or Eucalyptus leaves.
Floral Displays
Larger floral displays lend themselves to giant-sized tropical blooms such as the common pagoda. Don't let the name deter you. The common pagoda (mimetes cuculatus) sports an explosion of spring and summer colors: yellow, pink, white, chartreuse and fuchsia. Birds of paradise and anthurium work best in large floral displays.
Tropical Themes for the Holiday Weddings
If you've got your heart set on a tropical theme but your wedding falls in December, you're not out of luck. Combine the two themes! Eucalyptus leaves add a special touch to Christmastime weddings, combining the tropical and holiday themes. You can substitute red rhipsalis leaves for greenery in a cascading holiday bridal bouquet, or you can combine red rhipsalis leaves with eucalyptus, using the red rhipsalis as an accent.
Add birds of paradise or silver pagoda blooms to incorporate holiday colors into the tropical theme. Large, Asiatic lilies work well in floral displays, and the true white varieties add a crisp touch to a holiday wedding. For an even larger lily bloom, use a trumpet lily. Combine anthurium's bright and bold red with white roses and spiky eucalyptus branches.
Where to Find Tropical Wedding Flowers
Start your search with your local florist. Most cities have one or more exotic florist. If you can't find what you need locally, you'll find it at an online florist. You can order bouquets, baskets, and stems. Your local florist can add the flowers you order to supplement his or her supply for your larger floral displays.
