With the royal wedding taking place tomorrow, many people have been speculating what kind of flower arrangements we’ll be seeing. Meghan’s bridal bouquet is a particular source of excitement, as previous royal wedding bouquets have vastly differed from bride to bride.
With this in mind, I take a look at previous royal wedding bouquet arrangements, and predict what this weekend’s bride-to-be is planning for hers!
Royal wedding bouquets: Diana, Princess of Wales
Let’s start with Diana, Princess of Wales, who carried a cascading bouquet of many different flowers. The bouquet reportedly weighed between 2-3kg, and was a gift from the Worshipful Company of Gardeners.
In her bouquet were gardenias, stephanotis, orchids, lily of the valley, roses, freesia, veronica, spider lilies and ivy. It’s a wonder how she managed to carry all that – but she succeeded and looked all the better for it!
The gardenias took centre stage, with the stephanotis and ivy creating the waterfall like trail. Earl Mountbatten roses gave a slight hint colour, whilst the other flowers bulked up the bouquet and added texture and fragrance.
As per tradition since Queen Victoria, Diana’s bouquet also contained myrtle – otherwise known as the herb of love!
Royal wedding bouquets: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
Our beloved Kate’s bridal bouquet was tiny in comparison to Diana’s!
Her florist made use of seasonal, UK-grown flowers, tying in with the whole country wedding feel. Kate’s small and subtle bouquet contained lily of the valley, myrtle (of course), hyacinth and Sweet William as a tribute to her groom – do I hear a collective ‘aww’?
The understated, fresh green and white colour palette was a very different aesthetic to Diana’s bouquet. However, don’t let it fool you. Apparently every single stem of lily of the valley was handwired in place!
Royal wedding bouquets: Meghan Markle
With the young royals getting more involved in pressing, real-life issues such as the environment, Meghan and Harry’s floral arrangements are following the theme of ‘seasonal, local and sustainable’. The paparazzi have already spotted pink roses and white blossoms outside royal florist Philippa Craddock’s shop, but here’s what I think may appear in her bouquet:
Peonies
Peonies are definitely a favourite flower of Meghan’s. Avid Instagrammers have spotted them on her Instagram page on many an occasion. They are the traditional floral symbol of China, known widely to symbolise riches and honour, and are also the 12th wedding anniversary flower.
White garden roses
Roses are obviously the flower most associated with romance, but white roses in particular symbolise new beginnings as well as rememberance. Perhaps Meghan may include these in her bouquet as a gesture to Diana, as these were the Princess of Wales’ favourite flowers.
Foxgloves
Likely sourced from Windsor Great Park, Meghan might pop some pretty foxgloves into her bouquet. The name of these flowers is said to stem from the phrase ‘folk’s gloves’ – perhaps this is a statement depicting her as a princess of the people!
Myrtle – will she or won’t she?
As I mentioned earlier, including myrtle in the bridal bouquet is a royal wedding tradition. Like the royal brides before her, it will be expected that she includes this plant in her arrangement, too. However, we can only wait to find out!
Will you be watching the royal wedding on 19th May? Leave a comment with your flower guesses!