SUMMER WEDDINGS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 November 1938, Page 8

SUMMER WEDDINGS

CHOICE OF FLOWERS. MODERN BRIDE'S POINT OF VIEW. Custom formerly tied the bride, no matter in what season of the year she married, to certain conventional greenhouse flowers. But now we have a very different point of view—and, in search of loveliness, we may choose the shapely patterned water-lily, the sweet-scented mock orange, .or fullblown velvety deep red roses; or we may even secure enough of the oldfashioned roses—the striped “Village Maid” or the delicate “Maiden’s Blush”—to make a bouquet of especial charm.

The bride who plans clothes and flowers together gets the nest results. Last-minute efforts to find flowers “to match” are not always successful, and as many a bride-to-be is making plans for a summer, wedding this article .nay give some useful inspirations. The growing feeling for simplicity in clothes for weddings is expressed best in summer when crisp fabrics can come within our choice. Some particularly pretty bridesmaids’ dresses seen in New York recently were made of white organdie with china-blue sashes, and were to accompany a bride’s dress of white tulle. Massed full-blown red roses from the garden would be lovely with such dresses, and the bride’s bouquet of white flowers might be tied with a true lovers' knot of blue to match the bridesmaids’ sashes. Massed Roses. In using garden roses it is important to convey the suggestion of deep massed colour, and in order to do so a good deal of skill is needed in the making of the bouquets. The colour should not be too much diluted with green nor informality be allowed to deteriorate into lack of form. The accompanying headdresses would be charming made of narrow picot-edged blue ribbon and two or three small roses which in this case need not necessarily be real. While a good many headdresses nowadays are made of real flowers, some bridesmaids are glad to have something that will keep for party wear later—and the writer is often asked to' make headdresses of artificial flowers. Provided these are beautifully made and in keeping with the bouquets, there is nothing unsuitable in such a combination of real and artificial. For instance, a headdress of tiny arums made in wax will • look light with an arum bouquet—ordinarily a difficult flower to adopt for head-wear—or miniature lilies may accompany a lily sheaf, and wreaths of daisies are pretty for little children. Shirley Poppies.

One can ring delightful changes on all the: coloured ranges of organdies and the more delicate organzas. Bridesmaids’ dresses of a pale vermilion organza could be accompanied by bouquets of crinkled silky-looking Shir-' ley poppies. Poppies need quick and careful handling—but it can be done, and the brilliant pinks and reds of their petals are extremely effective. Another “last-minute” flower which needs even more careful handling by the florist is the nasturtium. Years ago the writer was asked to make bouquets of nasturtiums in brown and gold to go with dee’p cream dresses. It seemed then an impossible task because of the extreme brittleness of the flowers, but that was before she knew about the more resistant qualities of .he gleam hybrids. Such a bouquet would be less of an adventure with these semi-double, more enduring flowers, and though it would not be easy, it would be possible. Green, organdie with marguerites or palest yellow with cornflowers would both be gay and charming schemes for a summer wedding. Subtle Shaded Zinnias. But even while we may technically be in summer, it is not uncommon for us to anticipate autumn’s chill —in addition to which light and airy summer fabrics are not everybody’s wear — and the type of our flowers must vary with the texture of the dresses. Towards the end of summer thin and supple velvets become popular. Cream or very pale brown velvet dresses, would give scope for particularly beautiful bouquets of, for instance, certain zinnias of subtle colouring and metallic linings to their petals. For softer flowers cream, yellow, and tawny roses would be good. Some bridesmaids’ dresses worn for ■a recent wedding were of a soft greyish blue. This in chiffon with purple and wine-coloured flowers —gladioli, dahlias, and zinnias—would make a soft, beautiful combination. An unusual bouquet can be made from small pompom dahlias. Two shades of purple arranged in formal rings—in posy form —were surrounded by scalloped and stiffened applegreen velvet. The result, surprisingly enough—since these are simple flowers —was a rather sophisticated bouquet; it certainly had character as well as charm. Dark bottle-green dresses with velvety wine-red flowers and char-treuse-green with certain tones of yellow of Lilium testaceum—are two other suggestions for those who are not particularly in search of pale colour schemes. Shape Impqrtant. Colour is of importance, obviously, but shape is equally so. No matter how lovely the flowers, if the construction is faulty—the arrangement too fussy or the line unsuitable to the type of dress —the result will not be good. A fuzz of fern, bows of ribbon, ends of tulle are danger points. Ferns in themselves are lovely, and may be used with great beauty in company with contrasting leaves to make a harmony in greys and greens; and certain flowers, particularly those of white, green, and greenish-yellow colouring, will fit into such a scheme. But fern used as a make-shift—as, for instance, with carnations, with roses, oi’ with lilies —is generally a mistake. The grey foliage of carnations, the good green of rose leaves, suit best their own flowers, while if extra foliage is needed with lilies it should be something of a more formal character than fern.