Flowers can add a great decorative touch to your wedding, and when chosen with care will give the finishing touches to your outfits.

You can express your personality by the colours and varieties you choose, while the symbolic meanings of flowers add individuality and symbolism to your wedding day, and make it that little bit more special.

Flowers have been part of wedding ceremonies since as far back as Roman times, when both the bride and groom wore floral garlands. During Elizabethan times the bride's close friends would give her groom sprigs of rosemary that symbolised faithfulness, to ensure future happiness for the bride. Some brides carried sprigs of rosemary tied with silver lace, which stood for constancy and firmness. This led to the custom of guests putting a sprig of rosemary in their wine before toasting.

Victorian bridal posies traditionally included myrtle, a token of love, and the popular shower bouquets of the late nineteenth century usually included orange blossom, a symbol of chastity. Victorian brides would plant the cuttings of rosemary from their bouquets into their new gardens, to supply bridal bouquets to their own daughters in future years.

Centuries ago, bridesmaids planted myrtle bushes at the couple's new home, to ensure the couple happiness. It was also believed that the bridesmaids would soon marry if the bushes started to grow.

You may think you are holding a bouquet of beautifully coordinated colours, but to your ancestors you are clutching a collection of carefully coded messages. Flowers have had secret meanings since as far back as Greek mythology. The Ancient Greeks first developed 'The Language of Flowers'. It caught the attention of the Victorians in 1820, when the Language of Flowers was published and learnt, allowing lovers to communicate by exchanging flowers as messages. Some flowers carry several (sometimes conflicting) meanings, whilst others have no hidden messages at all, maybe because their popularity has only arisen recently. Each flower also possessed a different meaning when placed at different parts of the body such as in the hair, cleavage or over the heart. It was popular during the Victorian period for the bride to spell out a word through her choice of bouquet flowers, for example lilies, orange blossom, violets and euphorbia.

Another tradition is that of the bachelor's button flower. A single man would pick the flower early in the morning while the dew was still on the ground, and then put it in his pocket for twenty-four hours. He would be happy in marriage if the flower were still 'true blue' the following morning.

It is also a tradition to tie love knots in the ribbons of a bride's bouquet, which not only represents the new relationship and best wishes, but are also thought to bring good fortune to the couple. A bridesmaid upon catching the bride's bouquet is thought to increase her chances of being the next bride by making a wish as she unties one of the ribbons in the bunch of flowers. The tradition for the bride to throw her bouquet is also an old one. The bride throws the bouquet backwards and over her shoulder towards the guests when she leaves for her honeymoon. The theory is the lady who catches it is supposed to be the next one to become married.