Late Summer Wedding Flowers

Many couples like to match their wedding flowers to the season to incorporate natural-occurring colors, as well as to save money on their florist bill. Late summer weddings can benefit from summer and fall flowers since it’s between the two seasons. Choose the flowers that best suit your personalities, the type of wedding you’re having, and the color scheme you wish to use.

Tropical Flowers

• Summer often brings thoughts of a tropical paradise, warm beaches and gentle breezes. Incorporate that into your wedding by using tropical flowers in bright bursts of color. Birds of Paradise is a larger flower that commands attention and comes in an array of bright colors. Snapdragons are another large tropical flower that’s available in white, pinks and yellows. Another popular tropical flower choice is orchids, which come in bright colors such as orange and fuchsia.

Summer Flowers

• Flowers that are found in abundance during the summer are typically still readily available at the end of the season. Consider alstroemerias, delphiniums, irises, lilies, calla lilies, gerberas, daisies, asters, dahlias, geraniums, Jacobs Ladder or Queen Anne’s lace. These flowers are available in an array of colors and thrive during the summer. The exact flower you choose will depend on the fullness of the bouquet you’re looking for, how strong of a scent you want the flowers to give off, and your preference in color choices.

Summer or Fall Flowers

• Opt for flowers that thrive during the summer and fall if you’re concerned about your wedding date being too late in the summer to take advantage of summer blooms. For example, roses are available almost year round and tend to be a classic choice for weddings as they come in almost any color imaginable. Other flowers that work for summer and fall weddings are hydrangeas, mini calla lilies and sunflowers.

Colors

• One advantage you’ve given yourself by choosing a late summer wedding date is that you can use typical summer colors or fall colors. Your flowers should ultimately complement the theme, formality, style and color scheme of your wedding. Summer wedding colors typically include bright tropical colors or soft summer pastels such as peach or pink. Fall colors are usually deeper, darker and richer shades such as yellow, burnt orange and deep reds. Mix it up by using summer flowers in fall colors or fall flowers in summer colors. Or you can combine fall and summer flowers in fall and summer colors. For example, pastel pink roses could work with burgundy and white alstroemerias. You could also, for example, pair burnt orange roses with peach-colored roses.

Other Factors

• Use your wedding venue, the location, the usual temperature, the time of day, and the length of the wedding to help you decide which flowers will work best. If you’re getting married outside, the temperature could be a huge factor determining which flowers will survive the wedding and which ones might not. Talk to your florist and ask for pictures of bouquets they’ve done for late summer weddings with the flowers you’re considering.