Fbbecaex 5, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



395 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



THE BRIDESMAIDS' BOUQUET 



What a number of ideas tlie word bou- 

 quet can bring to mind. We think of an 

 early spring-time tramp to a neighbor- 

 ing wood in wliich we have eagerly col- 

 lected a little handful of hepaticas, 

 coltsfoot and trilliums, or we think of 

 the summer's day when the bright sun- 

 shine was more than reflected in our 

 bouquet of dazzling I'oppies, bachelor 

 buttons and daisies. Then we think, 

 too, of the old-fashioned birthday bou- 

 quet which was purchased from the 

 florist that it might contain the larger 

 variety of flowers for our study, and 

 might" lengthen the time that it might 

 take to choose our favorite flower. Then 

 we aUo remember that we florists put 

 a white paper collar with frills around 

 the st«ms of the bouquet because we 

 believed the bouquets looked more fes- 

 tive thereby for such occasion.?, and we 

 had read that our cousins in France 

 had done this and that the idea had met 

 with approval. 



Then flowers were also being sent my 

 lady, to be carried at a cotillion, and 

 with what care they were selected and 

 what a special favor was being shown 

 her by doing so, and how she really ap- 

 preciated the beauty of the flowers them- 

 selves. But the custom of sending liou- 

 quets grew rapidly, and then in the 

 rivalry to send a bouquet prettier than 

 the one before, the ilorist began to add 

 ribbons which became wider and longer 

 and as the florist's ability to decorate 

 his bouquets increased so did the send- 

 ing of tliem become a matter of course 

 and the young lady began to believe 

 that these bouquets were a necessary 

 gracing touch of her toilet. 



And so the evolution has slowly come 

 about that there are many ideas as re- 

 gards the W'ay flowers are to be ar- 

 ranged for w'caring and carrying. The 

 debutante of today is busy planning 

 ways in which her social prestige will 

 be won, and as one index of her popii- 

 larity is the number of flowers which 

 she receives, she naturally learns much 

 about flowers and how they are ar- 

 ranged. At her first reception she re- 

 ceives many beautiful bouquets and re- 

 alizes this too. She knows just how 

 many she received, and remembers dis- 

 tinctly that immense bouquet of violets 

 tied with that gorgeous velvet ribbon. 

 As a part of her social position at such a 

 time, these bouquets become "creations" 

 to her and the intrinsic beauty of in- 

 dividual kinds of flowers is forgotten. 

 These creations were made by the florist 

 from the same roses that he has used 

 for such purposes for several years past 

 and still the bouquet to her seemed 

 something entirely new. She saw style 

 in it, and through all this would have 

 detected a cheap grade of rose or in- 

 stantly would have realized if the vio- 

 lets were fragrant or not. 



Again we have these same ideas gov- 

 erning largely the likes and dislikes of 

 the bridal party which is to carry bou- 

 quets. They know immediately if the 



flowers they are to cany are of the first 

 quality or not, but think it also of the 

 utmost importance that these flowers 

 are arranged in the approved style of 

 a leading florist. It is in the arranging 

 of these bouquets that one florist dis- 

 tingxiishes himself from others. Assum- 

 ing that in certain kinds of flowers 

 many florists can get equally good stock, 

 the chance for distinction remains only 

 to be shown in the making of the bou- 

 quet. 



We begin to see that the real senti- 

 ment in flowers is often temporarily for- 

 gotten. The bridesmaids carry bouquets 

 and not flowers. The bouquets have be- 

 come the custom and are necessary. The 

 bouquets must be carefully chosen as 

 regards color and make up, and the 

 matching of ribbons is only one of the 

 details. How different is the brides- 

 maid's bouquet from the one picked in 

 grassy hollows, and how natural the 



is a rather definite one and was com- 

 mented upon at another time, and still 

 bridesmaids' bouquets are often just 

 like them, though more frequently they 

 are quite distinct in their appearance. 



However, the bridesmaids' bouquets 

 are often distinctive and original in 

 their make up because the florist has 

 been given some latitude in their mak- 

 ing. For example the carrying of 

 flowers over the arm has led to the 

 making of a distinct kind of brides- 

 maids' bouquet. It has been the cus- 

 tom to make these bouquets loose and 

 graceful as may be noticed from the 

 accompanying illustrations. Instead of 

 massing the flowers, they have been ar- 

 ranged so that it appears that they 

 have been loosely gathered together and 

 the only thing that remains is to carry 

 them over the arm. The idea is a pret- 

 ty one, but if the graceful bouquet be- 

 comes a "bunch" of tightly wound flow- 

 ers, then the effect is pitiful. 



This style of bouquet has made it nec- 

 essary to use the longer stemmed flow- 

 ers, such as roses and the more graceful 

 chrysanthemums. The Bridesmaid rose 

 has been much used for this purpose 

 and justly. It is one of the prettiest 

 roses for Ixiuquets that we have, for it 

 is graceful, the color is goo<l and it has 

 a beautiful foliage. The flowers an of 

 good size and make a good showing. In 

 figure 1 such a bouquet is shown, only 



Bridesnuiid's Bouquet. Fig. U 



difl'erence has come about. New fancies 

 reign today, newer ones will be born to- 

 morrow. 



And so it is that we have rather dis- 

 tinct notions of different kinds of bou- 

 quets. Our notions are not those of 

 specific differences, but those of general 

 ideas. We knoW' what bouquets are 

 used at various occasions, but to tell ex- 

 actly where the bride's bouquet ends and 

 where the bridesmaid's begins, so to 

 speak, is next to impossible. It would 

 be just as difficult a task to draw a 

 line through the spectrum distinctly 

 separating the colors. The bride's bou- 

 quet is generally white, and so 

 are the bridesmaids' bouquets, al- 

 though they more generally are of a 

 color. The shape of the bride's bouquet 



that the Madame Chatenay rose has 

 been used instead. This new rose prom- 

 ises to win admirers, for the beauty ot 

 its out-curved petals is very pleasing. 

 It brings to mind the far-famed La 

 France of earlier days. 



In figures 2 and 3 the gracefulness 

 of the arrangements are to be com- 

 mended. It is grace in these bouquets 

 that is highly essential and the free and 

 graceful placing of the flowers is a mat- 

 ter for study. It seems, however, that 

 if the adiantura fern had been used a 

 little more judiciously the effect would 

 have been better. Tlie point to be re- 

 membered in these bouquets is to have 

 plenty of flowers and to make them 

 show. At times the rose hidden by a 

 little adiantum is very pretty, but in 



