Modern Bride magazine ran a short piece about brown wedding flowers–brown is the new white, in case you didn’t know–and they quoted me saying that there is a new brown rose coming on the market soon. (You can see a PDF of the article here, and you can read a longer post about brown roses, and where you can or cannot get them, here.)
I have long since lost count of the number of brides who have come to my blog in search of this elusive brown rose. It’s frustrating to crave a flower that is only just now being grown out and introduced to the market, and it’s hard on florists who can only get the flowers that happen to be fresh and perfect that particular week. These are flowers after all; they won’t keep. You gotta take what’s on the market when you need it.
So if I can be so bold as to give some advice to brides (with the disclaimer that this comes from someone who got married at the courthouse in her blue jeans), let me suggest:
- Relax. You got the guy (or the girl, for that matter), and isn’t that what really counts?
- You probably don’t want brown roses with your brown wedding dress, or whatever your brown color scheme is, anyway. Because if you did have them, they would be so eye-catching that everyone would be looking at the flowers. And you want them to look at you. The focus is you. Get some antique-looking cream-colored roses, wrap the stems in brown ribbon, and go live happily ever after.
- If you still want brown flowers, there are alternatives. I love, love, love chocolate cosmos (and yes, they smell like chocolate!) They’ll be hard to find too, and that’ll probably drive your florist crazy, but hey, they’re fabulous. Get a gardener friend to grow some out for you. There’s also a brown gerbera you could check out. And what about botanicals? I’m talking seed pods, berries, and the like. You’ll find some browns there, too.
All right, brides–good luck out there!