L is for Love

In the days where a father was unlikely to leave his young daughter alone with a suitor, the couple had to come up with a lot of imaginative communication systems which didn’t require them to actually speak.

There was always the one where he, having stolen from her a flower bud from the bouquet she had carried the night before, would use it as his buttonhole. Looking soulfully at her, he would either press it to his lips or his nose, every time she looked in his direction.

Or for the more flirtatious, there was the huge decorative fan with dainty little florets on one side, and all sorts of personal messages on the inside when he actually got close enough to see it.

One of the more creative one was, of course, sending the object of your affection a flower which had a particular meaning attached to it. There was the one we all know, red rose for love. But there were also numerous shades in between to keep the one being courted interested.

Having become so attached to this form of communication, many brides continued this with the flowers they chose for their bridal bouquet. It could be that the initial of each flower used might spell a message. Perhaps something like ‘Love you, baby’. Or, since this would require the kind of concentration that one can do without on the wedding day, all the flowers used might be connected to the meaning attached to each flower. There might be red roses and red chrysanthemum for love, white chrysanthemum for truth, ivy for faithfulness and apple blossoms for a propitious future together.

Royal bouquets, in particular, have had a tendency to have meaning attached to them. When uniting two royal families the bride might have a bouquet with one type of flower representing one side of the family, and the other representing another. One is reminded of the War of Roses in the late 1400’s when the House of York fought to wrest the crown from the House of Lancaster. The former’s heraldic badge was a red rose, while the House of York’s badge was white.

When Elizabeth, later to be the Queen Mother, married the future King of England, she carried a bouquet of York roses representing her husband’s roots, and heather, representing her own Scottish ancestry. In a spontaneous gesture which was part of her charm, at the conclusion of the ceremony she placed the wedding bouquet on the tomb of the Unknown Worrier located just past the entrance of the Abbey.

Wedding Ceremony Resources

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