Simple but Elegant

"What is your wedding flower style?" When I ask a bride that question, 80% will tell me, simple but elegant but what does that really mean? When you look in the dictionary the definition of these words, what do you find?

Simple means:
Free from ostentation and vanity, easy to understand and humble in origin.
Elegant means:
Tasteful in design, dignified and graceful in appearance and cleverly simple.

Take the bridal bouquet above? More than any other bouquet we've ever made, this one seems to strike a cord in certain brides. To me it's elegant but simple. It's natural but not wild. It has texture that stands apart from the wedding dress but does not compete with it.  But this type of bouquet only accounts for about 20% of the designs we create.

Do I think that 8 out of 10 brides really want simple but elegant floral designs? Actually, it's probably the other way around. I think that 80% want complicated, cool, colorful, even funky flowers. For me, it's a matter of understanding what these words mean to them. Words are just words but their meaning can be clarified.  Perhaps they are afraid to tell me that they want:  to stand out, be unique, make a show of it? YES! Never fear ladies, I'll ask you and you'll tell me but I'll go deeper until I really know. They are just words after all and I don't think I have ever seen a bride walking down the aisle holding a dictionary. :o)