There always seems to have been a sense that a bride should not travel down the aisle empty-handed. The tradition of the bridal bouquet actually began for a very practical reason, at least in the minds of the ancients. A women walked down the aisle carrying aromatic bunches of garlic, herbs, and grains to drive the evil spirits away. As civilization evolved, the garlic was replaced with flowers, which symbolized fertility and everlasting love.

However, it was the Victorians who really raised the tradition of flowers having a symbolic meaning to new heights. A shy suitor, raised in a tradition of the decorousness of emotional reserve, really had to say it with flowers to get his feelings across to his ladylove. Each time he gave her a bouquet, she found out where their relationship was going: If he gave her red roses, it was love; but if he gave her yellow ones, he only wanted to be friends. And when he gave her red tulips, his love for her was ardent.

We may have forgotten those meanings over time, but we still follow the tradition of carrying a bridal bouquet. However like most traditions, it has undergone some tweaking to give it our own personal touch. Donna Senter of Houston, Texas-based http://www.thesenterpiece.com had this to say about the bridal bouquet:

"Each year we see various changes in looks and trends. This year I am surprised to see more jewel accents and additions to bouquets that are non floral. We are incorporating gold and bronze bullion wire, crystals and rhinestones, bouquet jewelry like butterflies or initials, feathers and beads. I see a change from botanical bouquets, to much more embellished styles; and it looks as though color will again impact next year's styles in bold and vivid tones. I also see quite a lot of contemporary hi-style designs with calla lilies and interesting foliage treatments. Orchids such as cymbidiums or Japheth are used as focal points in the bouquets as well.

Overall, it is nice to see we are breaking away from the standard rose domes a bit and brides are educating themselves on specific design techniques such as biedemeyer style, waterfall cascades, and composition bouquets."

Donna went on to note that biedemeyer style; waterfall cascades and composition bouquets are signs of European influence. The Biedemeyer is a German design in which the flowers are grouped and graduated in concentric circles to form a dome. Each circle is a different color giving the effect of painted stripes.

Waterfall cascades are bouquets that trail down but in more freeform motion. Orchids may trail and then a layer of light feathery foliage is placed over them and then the next layer might be a wire with feathers and then another flower could be layered over that, all cascading in a downward motion.

Composition bouquets are made by taking one form and shaping it into another. Some good examples of composition flowers are gladiola blooms plucked and glued to make a composite flower that looks like a large gardenia; or rose composites that can be made to look like giant roses.