Throughout the ages, lavish flowers have been associated with weddings- from the bouquet to the garland, your special day cannot be complete without the accompaniment of flora in full bloom.

Shirmika Brown, owner of El Shaddai Florist in Warwick, offers some insight into what to do about flowers for your wedding.

Flowers were once used to symbolise health and fertility, but today, as modern brides step away from traditional behaviours, flowers tend to be used more for their aesthetic value.

“I think they add beauty to a wedding,” Mrs. Brown says. “When you think of flowers you think of beauty and when you think of bride you think beauty. A bride is not ready unless she has her bouquet. I think flowers bring a completeness to the occasion.”

She advocates the use of fresh flowers over their artificial counterparts, although she will not dissuade a bride from using them.

“The only benefit to using artificial flowers that I can see is that you’d have your bouquet forever,” she adds. “But artificial flowers just don’t have the same flare as fresh ones. I’m not against them, I just prefer fresh.”

If you do plan to hold onto your bouquet, although an artificial bouquet will last a lifetime, a bouquet with real flowers can also last quite a while if you hang them upside down and dry them out.

Choosing the right flowers for your special day may seem like a daunting task, but there are several factors to take into consideration when the time comes.

Different flowers symbolise different things.

For instance, the most popular meaning associated with a flower is love with the red rose.

But what you may not have known is that a purple lilac can symbolise fresh love, a white lily can symbolise purity and sweetness, and a tuberose can symbolise dangerous pleasure.

To discover more flowers and their meanings, go to www.weddingbokays.com/symbols.html.

“I know that back in the day a lot of brides used to include a flower called the lily of the valley because it had a sentimental meaning,” Mrs. Brown adds. “It was just a tiny, little flower that suggests sweetness, tears of the Virgin Mary, return to happiness. That’s why a lot of brides would include them in their bouquets.”

The florist believes flower selection is solely up to the bride but her expertise kicks in once she knows the colour scheme.

“The traditional bouquet was all white but brides want to add some colour,” she notes. “I can understand why- it enhances the bride, the bridesmaids, and the photographs.”

And where the bride’s and bridesmaids’ bouquets do not have to be made up of the same flower the bride will sometimes pick one or two flowers that are featured in her bridesmaid’s bouquet and add it to her own. Size and style, Mrs. Brown says, are completely up to the bride, but there are two different versions of bouquet that are popular- the hand tied bouquet and the cascading bouquet.

“There is also the hand or arm sheath, which is used a lot in the UK,” she continues.

“But I don’t recommend that one because you already have so much going on without having to worry about holding up a big bouquet.”

Mrs. Brown has ten years’ experience in the floral business, but says she did not always know that it was her calling- faith led her to it.

Eighteen years old and desperate for a job, Mrs. Brown asked her pastor to pray for her and her pastor prophesied that she would find the perfect job.

Two weeks later her phone rang with a proposition for work in a floral shop and although she had no formal training, she grabbed the chance.

“I didn’t know a thing about flowers, but I got the job,” she explains. “I found that I enjoyed it, realised that I had a real talent for it, a gift.”

The springboard to her current prosperous career, Mrs. Brown eventually travelled abroad to the UK to study advanced floristry before returning to Bermuda with a National Certificate in Professional Floristry and settling comfortably into the role of owner.

Dedicated to provide the best for every occasion, Mrs. Brown says weddings hold a special place in her heart.

“Every wedding to me is special. No matter how small or big I try to give the brides the same attention.

“They want their wedding to look beautiful although they may have a smaller budget, and I want to give them that.”