Autumn is one of my favourite times of year, this is the time when all the beautiful warm colours come out and there are textures and interesting shapes everywhere. Depending on when the first frost is there can still be locally grown flowers available well into October as well as lots of more sculptural elements like dried flowers, seed heads, lichen, pine cones and crispy autumnal leaves.
Dried wild flowers
If you are getting married in Autumn there are still lots of late summer flowers available in Scotland and you can also always use imported materials, however you could also take full advantage of the seasonal textures and colours by introducing elements like dried leaves and grasses to your bouquets, buttonholes and table flowers. Why not include dried wild flower hoops and wreaths for your wall decorations or flower girls? You will then be able to keep these long after your wedding as mementos.
Dark and moody flowers
If you’re getting married in October embrace the spooky short days and include lots of lanterns and candles with some miniature pumpkins and squashes. You can take advantage of the darker colours and textures and go for a magical dark and moody look. Make sure to get lots of photos of your flowers before it gets dark though as the days are drawing ever shorter and your flower photos will always look best in natural daylight.
Autumn focal flowers
Although Peony season is long gone if you’re looking for big blousy shapes you can still find beautiful late flowering Roses, Dahlias and autumn Hydrangea in deep dark colours, often with a much more interesting tonal variety on the petals than their summer cousins. Autumn Hydrangea tend to hold up better than summer Hydrangea and dry beautifully too.
Photo by Cookie Dalloway
Autumn flowers
Dahlias – These fabulous flowers come in so many different sizes, shapes and colours and flower right through from July to October. They are a perfect focal flower and making a definite comeback in the flower world.
Berries - It wouldn’t be autumn without beautiful berries everywhere in hedgerows and woodlands, whether you include Rosehips, Hypericum berries or even Viburnum berries in your wedding flower designs there are plenty of opportunities to use these for added textural interest. Just don’t eat them!
Echnicaea – You might have heard of this as a supplement in teas and health foods to boost the immune sytem but it is also a beautiful daisy-like flower in a variety of colours which is popular with butterflies and bees too.
Rudbeckia – also known as coneflower are another late summer daisy-like flower that come in all sorts of sunny yellows, browns and deep cherry reds, they almost look like mini sunflowers.
Seedheads like Poppy seedheads, Scabiosa seed heads and Crocosmia pods all bring great texture and interest to autumnal wild flower designs and are great in buttonholes.
Amaranthus – always a show stopper this amazingly textured plant looks like a trailing pompom or some kind of tassel. It comes in both a trialing and upright variety in reds, greens and biscuity oranges.
Scabious and Cosmos – These delicate flowers are great for airy designs, flitting above other flowers in their great variety of colours and textures. Particular favourites are chocolate cosmos and blackberry scoop scabious.
Sedum – a great late summer/early autumn flower that lasts really well out of water and is a member of the Crassulaceae family. This works really well in smaller designs like flower crowns and buttonholes.
Whether you are going for something fresh, bold and punchy or a dark and moody romantic look Autumn wild flowers have plenty to offer. Take a look at the wedding flowers gallery in the menu or my Instagram feed to get some wildflower ideas for your wedding. Or if you'd like to talk further about wild wedding flowers get in touch.
Thank you to the McGlynn Sisters, Cookie Dalloway and Laura Sparrow for the use of some of these images.