As with roses, the dark red carnation signifies deep love and affection.

White carnations are said to represent purity and pure love, as well as thank you and good luck. This makes them a great choice for wedding arrangements as well as a special bouquet for somebody going on a trip or perhaps moving away. They’re also a great choice to use if you want to create an arrangement to say thank you to somebody.

Pink Carnations are traditionally given on Mother’s Day as they symbolize a mother’s or sister’s love.

Purple carnations are not as readily available as their red and white counterparts and symbolize a sense of whimsy or capriciousness.

Yellow carnations, unlike their rose counterparts that mean friendship, are actually a flower that means rejection or disdain. And like the purple carnation, are not as easy to find.

Red Roses–We all know that those gorgeous red roses signify deep love and romance. They’ve been identified with these feelings for centuries and are the most recognized symbol of love world wide. These days, roses are available in a wide variety of colors and with it, a wide variety of meanings in the language of flowers.

Pink Roses–The pink rose has been around maybe even longer than the red rose. Pink was and still is the dominate color for wild roses so naturally it appeared first as roses began to be cultivated. Pink Roses have a couple of different meanings. Love of course, but giving somebody pink roses can also mean gratitude and appreciation.

Yellow Roses–These lovely beauties have not been around as long as their red and pink counterparts and owe a great deal to cross breeding which gave this lovely rose it’s fabulous scent. Yellow roses are most popularly associated with Friendship, but they also mean Joy and are the perfect flower to send to somebody when you want to express Get Well wishes.

White Roses–What better flower to represent Purity and Innocence than the white rose. White roses are also known as the bridal rose and is classified as a traditional wedding flower because they also mean Unity, Virtue and the bond of New Love.

Orange Roses–This vibrantly colored rose is fast becoming a big contender against the Red Rose for Valentine’s Day. Orange Roses represent Desire, Enthusiasm and Passion, making them an excellent choice to give your sweetheart. They range in color from the palest peach to the deepest coral.

Lavender Roses–This rare bloom has a long history dating back to the Old Garden Roses. Modern hybridization has created additional varieties of lavender roses with the long stemmed rose being the one most used in arrangements. Lavender roses represent enchantment, Majesty and Love at First Sight.

10 Creative Wedding Sites–Beverly Harris of Beverly Harris Wedding and Events
When discussing wedding sites with your fiance’, consider the approximate number of guests, activities (dancing, eating–buffet, finger food or sit-down meal?), budget limitations and proximity to your home. Below are 10 creative wedding sites that you may not have thought about.

Yacht or Yacht Club
Art Studio or Gallery

Depending on the color, the Iris can convey all sorts of different meanings, from the blue which stand for faith and hope to the yellow that symbolize passion. White Iris represent purity and the flower itself expresses admiration, making it a perfect choice as a Valentine’s floral arrangement as well as for any Valentine bride.  The delicate and lacy blooms create beautiful and romantic bouquets.

Iris come in many forms and two distinct types, bearded and non bearded. The Bearded Iris varieties include Miniature Dwarf, Dwarf, Intermediate, Border Miniature Tall and Tall. The Non-Bearded Iris varieties include Siberian, Japanese, Louisiana, Dutch, Yellow Flag and Blue Flag.

Waxflower makes a great addition to any arrangement or bouquet.  Available year round, each stem of the waxflower has several small blooms on a woody stem. They are available in white, off white, various shades of pink and even lavender.  To make sure that your waxflowers will be at their peak fresheness, plan on getting them a day or so before your event.   Because this is a woody stem plant, you need to make sure that you cut it using the right tools so that you do not damage the stem which would prevent the flower from being able to draw water up. And as with all flowers that you are using for your arrangements, you will need to soak them in a water bath overnight.

This lovely filler flower has a great vase life, up to 8-9 days so it’s a great choice for any arrangement that you would like to have last a long time.

And if you are planning to include red and/or white roses in your Valentine’s Day wedding, please make sure that you get them ordered early. Not only are roses the traditional icon of Valentine’s day, they are typically considered the traditional choice of a Valentine’s bride. This time of year, red and white roses in particular are not only much more expensive, but also a little hard to get a hold of in large quantities. One really good way to stretch your flower budget is to also include carnations of the same color as the base of either bouquets or arrangements. Their tightly packed blooms not only hold a great shape, but also allow you to use less roses and still achieve the same effect.

One element of using organics that you should be aware of is that you can’t always count on something to be available. Organic farming is more sensitive to pests and weather. So if an unforseen pest attacks the crop, you may not be able to get the flowers you were anticipating. They also tend to be a little more expensive than non-organic flowers. Always have a plan B!

I wanted to share with you some reception centerpieces I have created using Lisianthus. The centerpiece to the left was creating using purple lisianthus for a wedding where the colors were purple and green.

This next one was also used purple lisianthus. This bride had a very brillantly colored wedding which included reds, oranges, yellows, purples and blues.

And if you are looking to create your own arrangement, you can check out our sister site, Flower Arranging 101 where I have several wonderful arrangement videos including lisianthus. Check out this preview of one of my favorites.

It’s a good rule of thumb to plan to spend approximately 3-4 hours at each location involved in the wedding the day before the wedding. This should give you and your helpers time to get everything set up. Of course the more help you have, the faster it will go and if your ceremony and reception are in the same building or area, that will definitely help the time table. If it will not be possible for you to have unlimited access to the locations, say for instance there is another event occurring, you will need to make sure that you have a place with ample space to create all the arrangements for transport later. Always make sure to contact everybody at each location you are planning to use well enough in advance to make sure you can get access to the sites. Also see if they have facilities to store your bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres so that everything will be on site and ready to go on your wedding day.

Unless you are using very delicate flowers or flowers with a very short vase life, you can create your arrangements as far ahead as two days before the actual ceremony. This will definitely be an advantage in keeping everything less stressful. Otherwise, you will need to plan to do these as close to the actual ceremony as possible so that they retain all their beauty. Your bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages and nosegays should be done the day before the wedding and carefully stored so that they are as fresh as possible.

And always have a back up plan that includes a good florist!

Roses – Hands down, the most romantic flower going and the best news of all, they are available nearly year round. The only thing that you need to keep in mind if you are planning a winter wedding is that this time of year, red and white roses start to go up in price as growers cut back on shipping these two colors to make sure that they will have enough to met the needs of Valentine’s Day.

Some of the other choices include gerbera daisies, iris, lilies, calla lilies, several varieties of orchids and freesia. Tulips are also in season this time of year, but because of their soft stems, they do not make good choices for bouquets. But they are perfect for reception flowers.

And last but certainly not least, is the carnation. Not only are they easy on the budget, but they are a reliable firmly packed bloom that not only holds its shape well, but has fabulous vase life. While you might not want to have your entire bouquet created out of this popular flower, keep in mind it’s a great as a base for your bouquet. I have used carnations as a base for a hand tied bouquet and used more expensive/prestigious flowers as the flowers you really see above the carnations. It’s a great way to get a nice look without the added cost of an entire bouquet made of expensive flowers.