September Wedding Flowers: Embrace Autumn’s Beauty

Pesh flowers – top flower picks for September weddings

September is one of my favourite months for flowers and as early Autumn weddings are now more popular than ever, I’m in my element creating dreamy florals for our wonderful couples. I think it’s the rich colour palette and contrast in textures to be found at this time of year that captures me – whether it’s a fluffy, burgundy astilbe or flame coloured rudbeckia with its raised black seedhead. But above all the others, it’s the dahlias that steal the show in my eyes. They unashamedly scream “look at me” and I’m very happy to oblige! The range of forms and colours is astonishing and I just love using them as a focal point for wedding designs, whether as a centrepiece of a bridal bouquet or clustered to add dramatic impact in an arch. I’ve been growing them in the Pesh cutting garden for several years now with great success so our lucky couples often get homegrown dahlias featuring in their arrangements at this time of year.

The dahlias have been captured so beautifully by @wearethechamberlins in this bouquet being held by Natasha at her wedding to Ollie at the Coppa Club in Sonning-On-Thames.

Zinnias are another flower that grow amazingly well in our cutting garden and add a real pop to our designs in September. Using seasonal flowers grown in Britain is always more cost effective than buying from overseas (as well as much better for the planet) and zinnias

are particularly good value. They certainly pack a punch with their dark brown eye!

Or how about these incredible chocolate cosmos? Would you believe that not only do they have that wonderful, rich, velvety chocolate hue but they actually smell like chocolate too! We always try to include scented flowers and foliage in our bouquets, whether beautiful garden roses, some geranium leaf or herbs, to name a few, so our brides have a lovely scent to accompany them down the aisle. And what better scent to have wafting around you than cocoa!

The Old Man’s Beard (or Clematis vitalba to give it its fancy Latin name) that you see tumbling out of this table display, is another Pesh favourite at this time of year for adding yuge amounts of texture. Seen scrambling over hedgerows up and down the UK, it gives a natural and wild feel that encapsulates the style we are well known for. Paired here with smooth snowberries for contrast and sanguisorba for a light, airy touch.

As we move towards the end of the month and the oranges and reds of deepest Autumn emerge with vigour, we love to incorporate the stronger hues of rosehips and Chinese lanterns (physalis), as seen here in this stunning urn arrangement at the Asylum Chapel in Peckham.

Styling a September Wedding

Large installations that wow are easy to achieve at this time of year. These arrangements, such as arches, urns and mantlepieces, require flowers that can hold their own and not get overwhelmed by the size of the design. Dahlias and English hydrangea are perfect candidates, as shown here in a gorgeous floral chandelier that we festooned with trailing amaranthus for added impact, and this broken arch created at a Pesh wedding workshop for florists.

At the other end of the scale, this is one of my favourite times of year for buttonholes – those perfect, miniature bouquets that add such a stylish floral flourish to an outfit . Incorporating seedheads, hops, or berries, along with early Autumn flowers and foliage, creates a work of art that looks particularly striking against a dark suit.

Helen and Paul 10th October 2020 – St Marylebone Parish Church and Chelsea Town Hall (c) Michael Newington Gray

Finally, no wedding is complete without candlelight in our opinion and early Autumn florals pair so well with beautiful plum, coral, toffee, cerise and dusky pink candles. We like to use slightly different tints and shades of the same hue when choosing candles for added interest and often pair tall, tapered dinner candles with small tea lights on the table for a layered effect. Seeing flames flickering away at different heights between the flowers adds a truly magical feel.

For more inspiration, please have a look on our website wedding pages and visit @peshflowers and @pesh_wedding_flowers. To discuss ideas for your own early Autumn wedding (or a wedding at any other time of year of course!), please do get in touch at info@peshflowers.co.uk or call us 0207 703 9124.