Herb Love: A Nosegay Bouquet
By Theresa Loe
February/March 2000
This wedding bridal bouquet is an elaborate nosegay of cascading fresh herbs and flowers.
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- Immerse a floral foam bouquet holder in water for at least one hour. Establish the arrangement’s basic size and shape with greenery, then add flowering stems, snipping each stem to size at a 45° angle to make it easier to poke into the foam.
- To achieve the cascading effect shown here, place long stems of herbs such as rosemary and pineapple mint in front. Then add shorter stems of the same herbs as well as sage and florist’s lemon leaf (salal, a Pacific Coast shrub related to wintergreen) to create a rounded shape.
- Next, add the main focal flowers (white roses are shown here). Use an odd number (it’s visually more appealing) and distribute them evenly throughout the bouquet. Place roses that are more fully open near the center and let tightly closed buds cascade toward the floor.
- Next, add a few sprigs each of feverfew, lavender, and/or baby’s-breath distributed evenly as accents. Finally, tie long ribbon streamers to a 6-inch piece of wire and poke it down into the foam. Tie love knots into the streamers if you like.
- The bouquet may be made a day ahead, kept cool, and misted occasionally with water. In hot weather, keep the nosegay in a large cooler until the bride is ready to walk down the aisle.
Theresa Loe is the author of Herbal Weddings: Past and Present.
Click here for the original article, Herb Love: A Wedding Tradition.