Every wedding has some amount of flowers; whether the bride carries a huge, trailing bouquet or a simple single stem. The tradition of carrying flowers in a wedding had an ignoble beginning. Around the 1500s when individuals bathed once a year for Easter, many weddings were held in June when the weather was nice enough for people to celebrate outside. Baths were recent enough that people were just beginning to smell again, so brides carried bouquets of flowers to mask the smell. Another part of the symbolism of flowers is even older, from Ancient Rome. Brides there carried bouquets of herbs in order to ward off evil spirits and signify their purity.

Many flowers have traditional meanings associated with them which can be a unique way of adding symbolism to your wedding. For example, because the entire wedding party traditionally wears some form of corsage, boutonnière, or carries a bouquet you can add a special flower to send a message to that person. A red chrysanthemum means "I love you" and can be a special note of love to the father or mother of the bride. Friendship is signified by a yellow rose which can be perfect to tuck into your bridesmaid's bouquets.
"Traditionally, boutonnieres are worn in the left lapel of a suit." Every member of the wedding party usually receives some sort of flower arrangement to wear or carry. It is nice, but not necessary to include extended family members that have travelled a great distance to attend the wedding as well. For example, at my wedding I had an aunt and uncle that came from across the country to attend my wedding and I made sure they each had a corsage and boutonniere to wear as a gesture of thanks for their traveling so far. Many brides are paranoid about whether their flowers should match their wedding colors or not. While they can if you like, choose flowers that have some meaning to you even if they don't appear to go with your theme. For example, I wanted lilacs for my wedding bouquet. My wedding colors were yellow and green, so lilacs didn't match, but they were a stunning accent color in all my pictures, provided a heavenly scented perfume about me all day, and were very special memory for me about that day. Courtney Shipe