Al'HIl. Ui, I'.'OO. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



627 



Wedding Bouquets. 



Many florists will, (luring the next 

 two months, he puzzled with the ques- 

 tion. "What is the latest, or what 

 would you recommend for a bride's 

 bouquet?" And you know there is not 

 a little dread in the preparing thoughts 

 for your answer. No one likes the 

 idea of losing an order, and tew care 

 to give information which may be used 

 to your disadvantage by another. This 

 is where the value of our Review 

 comes in. for here we can talk to the 

 crowd, and mind you we don't care 

 how we talk, because we have no 

 "boss" to consider. 



We have many, many times com- 

 plained about; the weight of bouquets, 

 and we refer to it here again, because 

 ■we consider it of vital importance. 

 You can make them up as fine as you 

 can, use the most beautiful flowers, 

 have them as large as you like, and 

 get the biggest possible price for thom, 

 and still fail to please. Many of you 

 know how your hand gets tired holding 

 a bouquet whilst you are tying it up; 

 few of you stop to think of the, in 

 many cases, delicate girl who must 

 carry it. through the greatest ordeal of 

 her life, and if you will go to the 

 church yon will see that she carries it 

 upside down, because she is not strong 

 enough to hold it face up. 



Of course, the bride rarely has any- 

 thing to do with the ordering of her 

 bouquet. If she had, they would be 

 different. You deal with the bride- 

 groom, and he, poor fellow, is willing 

 to be overcharged and order some 

 enormous bundle, rather than have it 

 appear mean and small in anyone's 

 eye at that special time. More often 

 than not the bouquets are made by a 

 different florist to the one having the 

 decorations. They are often the cause 

 of much jealousy and chagrin; but it 

 must be admitted that they are gen- 

 erally ordered in a store for the sake 

 of its reputation. We have seen the 

 very worst bouquets— libels on floral 

 art — come from the finest stores, and, 

 to be fair, we would rather consider a 

 poor florist's endeavor than a rich 

 one's tag. 



In "making up" it is necessary to 

 use wire, but it should be used consid- 

 erately; packing greens should be 



short, light and strong, and one wire 

 doubled is quite suflicient; that wire 

 can be any number from 21 to 2:J; the 

 same wire will do for most flowers. It 

 is barbarous to run a strong wire 

 through the bulb of any straight rose; 

 strip the foliage off and then wire it 

 on again like a collar to the 

 flower; that method belongs to the 

 past with its short stemmed vose.i. 

 We leave the straight blooms and 

 foliage natural, cut them off the 

 desired lengths, put one jvire on 

 the bottom to lessen the si7c of the 

 handle only. For the finish line or 

 two it may be necessary to wire the 

 head of the rose in order to conform 

 them to the proper shape, and in do- 

 ing this don't run the wire through the 

 bulb and double it back again, thus 

 making the stem appear more wire 

 than aught else; just stick your wire 

 straight up the bulb or calyx and twist 

 it straight down, leaving the foliage 

 natural. 



In most bouquets it is necessary to 

 use considerable packing to hold the 

 flowers in place, though not quite as 

 much is is generally used. Where one 

 kind of flowers is adopted, care should 

 be taken to hide greens which may de- 

 tract from the flower; in fact, it is best 

 to use the foliage belonging to the 

 flower, and if that is not practicahle, 

 then only such as will enhance, iri the 

 case of roses, we always use sh.orter 

 stemmed roses for the packing. In 

 such a bouquet you must look all 

 around it and through to see all its 

 value. In most of the bouquets we see. 

 every rose seems to say to the other. 

 "I'm as good as you." They are ar- 

 ranged all the one height, smilax or 

 asparagus is seen in bunches between 

 them, and the whole has that Drum- 

 head-cabbagy look about it that speaks 

 of the mechanic rather than the artist. 



A light, dainty, loosely made bou- 

 quet can be a credit to you and a 

 source of much pleasure to the reci- 

 pient. It is not necessary to have 

 either your bunch or its handle too 

 long; no one has a fist a foot wide, and 

 very few care to carry even a bunch of 

 flowers which will hide everything. In 

 the case of lily of the valley, we pre- 

 fer its own foliage for packing greens, 

 but only in moderation, four or five 



lli)\M-i- Spikes to two leaves, and they 

 should be very low and the flowers at 

 irregular heights. The finish is every- 

 thing to most anything, and a fringe 

 of line fern will add much to most 

 flowers. The handle should be very 

 thin; put tinfoil on, then twist ribbon 

 round it; a common pin stuck through 

 will hold it in place. Tie the bow 

 either well up under the bouquet, or 

 in a loop bow at the bottom of the 

 handle; in the latter case the same 

 pieie of ribbon must be used to en- 

 twine the handle with, commencing 

 from the toj) and securing at bottom 

 with a band of No. 1 ribbon. 



Now, as to materials, almost any- 

 thing can be had in spring and early 

 summer, and though white is the most 

 popular color, still it is not unusual 

 for the American girl to break away 

 from the conventional and have her 

 own ideas rule. In this way we have 

 recently made up brides' bouquets of 

 colored flowers, and we would like to 

 see the custom become popular, be- 

 cause white is too much of a dead 

 color, especially for joyous festivities. 

 With regard to ribbons, the very finest 

 quality only should be used for this 

 occasion, and in many cases lace scarfs 

 are best. You must consider the fact 

 that a girl's wedding dress is usually 

 the effort of her life; most of them 

 would make it of diamonds if they 

 could; indeed, there is usually so much 

 thought and preparation given to them 

 that the effect of beauty is most often 

 spoiled; yet the fact will remain that 

 the material is either the richest the 

 girl can afford or the mother will give. 

 Now consider all this when ribboning 

 your bouquet; don't use cheap stuff if 

 the price will allow you to do other- 

 wise, and you needn't put a bolt of rib- 

 bon on it. either. 



Remember when you get a good big 

 price for a bride's bouquet (and you 

 can invariably get it), it does not re- 

 quire you to make it as big as a house. 

 Put your value in quality and the 

 "make up." You can put quantity in 

 it, too, and even make it smaller and 

 lighter. We have dwelt on this so 

 long because we know the women of 

 today are observant; and if the florists 

 don't use more tact and judgment in 

 this regard, it may become the style to 

 dispense with wedding flowers alto- 

 gether; it is even so now with many of 

 the rich, though unpleasant or metal- 

 lic kind of people. 



Be careful regarding the delivery of 

 this kind of work. A first-class house 

 should have special bouquet boxes 

 made so the bouquets can be put in a 

 socket and stand up, instead of being 

 knocked out of shape by being put 

 sideways. Everything should be clean, 

 and an intelligent man sent with them, 

 for many girls don't know the right 

 way to carry the bouquets, and the 

 question is often referred to the fior- 

 ist. The ribbon bows should always 

 be in front, the bride should carry hers 

 in the left hand, the bridesmaids' left 

 and right hands. 



We will merely give you a few hints 



