JANCAET 



1903 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



323 



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THE RETAIL 



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THE BRIDE'S BOUQUET. 



When the florist makes a biide"s bou- 

 quet, his first tliought is to make a 

 bouquet which is above the common- 

 place. He realizes that the best is ex- 

 pected of him, and the bouquet which 

 is to attract notice at the wedding cere- 

 mony will in a measure be a standard 

 by which his capabilities will be judged. 

 He enters into the spirit of artistic ri- 

 valry which is found in the preparing of 

 every bridal party, and therefore the 

 bouquet which he sends to the bride is 

 just as beautiful in its way as the gown 

 that she wears and to which she and her 

 friends have given much thought in its 

 making. At weddings people expect to 

 see the latest fancies in fashions, or 

 simple elegance carried out with much 

 care and foi-ethought, and everyone in- 

 terested in these preparations enlists his 

 or her best endeavors to make the event 

 a success. Let the florist take advan- 

 tage of this opportunity to show his 

 skill and good taste. His work will be 

 impartially judged, for his name on the 

 box in which the bouquet was sent will 

 not be seen nor will the style in which 

 the bouquet was delivered assist to form 

 favorable prejudices, and the bouquet 

 must stand on its merits alone. I>et it 

 be, therefore, a good one. 



This may lead you to think, what is 

 a good bride's bouquet, how does it look, 

 what size is it, what flowers should be 

 used, and what about the use of ribbons, 

 etc. ? And my answer is, it may l)e one 

 of many bouquets. It may be the next 

 that j'ou make provided that you have 

 filled most of the requirements of your 

 special case in hand. If you have had 

 the pleasure of seeing the bride to be, 

 you will have had your first inspira- 

 tion. She is rather tall, a brunette, and 

 dignified in her bearing, and in less 

 time than it takes to write it, you have 

 chosen for her, if your opinion has been 

 asked, a bouquet of white orchids or 

 roses just breaking from the bud, care- 

 fully arranged and formally, too, with 

 ribbon as a simple embellishment. From 

 her bearing you already know tliat her 

 gown will be beautiful in its simplicity 

 of design, and that her personal attrac- 

 tiveness would only be lessened by 

 flounces and a shower bouquet. 



Again the bouquet is to be for a bride 

 of a lighter temperament, and each lit- 

 tle gesture of charming grace adds to 

 her beauty, and you think of a graceful 

 bouquet of forced white lilac or a bou- 

 quet of lily of the valley with a shower 

 of ribbon and flowers, prettily arranged. 

 Nor must the bouquet be too large 

 (your recompense is not determined by 

 the size of the bouquet), for the little 

 bride must not be made to appear too 

 small by the carrying of too large a 

 bouquet. Now is the time that the 

 graceful touches may be added, for they 

 will have a pretty setting. 



From the above, the point that I 

 wish to make is this: Make up your 

 mind what the character of the bouquet 



is to be, and then make the bouquet 

 with your intention constantly in mind. 

 Don't try to remember how you made 

 that bouquet for this or that person, 

 for the chances are that you will try to 

 introduce an idea which will not suit 

 this case at all. The fact that your 

 competitor is making bouquets in an- 

 other way is no reason that you should 

 try to adopt his methods, for the 

 chances are that your ideas are just as 

 good or better than his. Learn to have 

 your own ideas first; have confidence in 

 them and try to carry tliem out the best 

 that you can before you try to imitate 



Of course in the making of the bride's 

 bouquet sentiment is second to handi- 

 craft. Tlie tying of the flowers so that 

 they will fall into the right position 

 necessitates the cleaning of part of the 

 stems, and the lengthening and shorten- 

 ing of them as required. Wlien roses 

 are used all thorns are removed and 

 when, for example, lily of the valley is 

 used, all the leaves should be separated 

 so that they may be lowered a little be- 

 low the level of the flower spikes. This 

 is done so that the finished bouquet will 

 look like a mass of white flowers and 

 not like a bouquet of white and green. 

 The handles of bouquets are made as 

 small and as short as possible that they 

 may Ije conveniently held, and when 

 holding them the stem will be entirely 

 unseen. The use of green in bouquets 

 should receive careful attention. Gen- 

 erallv speaking, the less used the bet- 

 ter. " 



In figure I a very pretty effect is ob- 

 tained by the judicious use of Aspara- 

 gus decumbens. This is so draped that 

 it is thrown into pretty contrast by the 



Bride's Bouquet. Fig. J. 



what someone else is doing. A draughts- 

 man who is constantly adapting his 

 technique so as to comply with the style 

 of this or that artist is not progressing 

 much himself nor has he the pleasure 

 of doing something original. He is not 

 growing in real artistic feeling. 



It takes but few glances to tell if a 

 bride's bouquet is a success or not, and 

 it does not take a connoisseur to tell 

 whether an artist has successfully trans- 

 mitted some particular emotion to his 

 canvas. We can quickly tell when mind 

 and hand have worked together. 



ribbon. The adiantum ferns also have 

 been sparingly used with the sweet peas, 

 so that the bouquet has a snowy white 

 appearance. The flowers are not un- 

 necessarily smothered with green. As 

 sweet peas have little foliage of their 

 own, as we get them, the use of other 

 foliage is necessary. When Swainsona 

 is used much of the green has to be re- 

 moved instead of being added. Roses 

 have a beautiful foliage of their own 

 and no other foliage should be used with 

 the roses except that which is necessary 

 in finishing the bouquet at the base. 



