
Ideas
100 Years of Iconic Royal British Wedding Bouquets
09 Nov 2018 •2 min read
This year, we were blessed with not one but two royal British royal wedding and we’re still not done obsessing over them. While everyone is usually focused on the bride's dress or tiara, we thought we’d take a closer look at the wedding bouquets of royal British brides from the last hundred years, which are all delightfully chic and can be replicated for your special day. One key "ingredient"? Myrtle, which is known as the flower of love and was first carried by Queen Victoria during her 1840 wedding to Prince Albert. Since then, every British royal bride since has carried myrtle in their bouquet. Will you be adding it to yours?
On October 12, 2018, Princess Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank. She walked down the aisle with a bouquet crafted by celebrity florist Rob van Helden, which included the traditional royal wedding sprig of myrtle alongside lily of the valley, white spray roses, trailing iris, and ivy—an homage to her home, Ivy Cottage at Kensington Palace.
American actress Meghan Markle wed Prince Harry on May 19, 2018 with an all-white bouquet composed of Forget-Me-Nots (which were Diana’s favorite flower), sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine, astrantia and the aforementioned sprig of myrtle. London-based florist Philippa Craddock also included flowers handpicked by Prince Harry into the bouquet, which is an extra sweet touch.
When Catherine Middleton wed Prince William on April 29, 2011, she carried an arrangementby florist Shane Connollythat used all British flowers and was wired together for a structured look.Connollyused lily-of-the-valley,sweet William, myrtle, hyacinth, and ivy.
2011 was another busy year for royal British weddings as Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, married rugby player Mike Tindall in Edinburgh in 2011. Zara’s bouquet included thistles (Scotland's national flower) as well as calla lilies and hydrangeas.
Peter Phillips, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, married Autumn Kelly in 2008 and the bride held a bouquet composed of roses, lily of the valley, stephanotis, and ivy.
Camilla Parker Bowles married Prince Charles with a bouquet that was reportedly sent as a gift by a well-wisher and containedlily-of-the-valley, primroses and a sprig of myrtle.
Sophie Rhys-Jones married Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth's youngest son, in 1999 and her bouquet was made up of ivory garden roses, stephanotis, lily of the valley, and freesia that looked very similar to Princess Diana’s.
The ultimate wedding icon, Princess Diana held an undulating bouquet that was made up of gardenias, stephanotis, odontolglossum orchids, lily of the valley, earl mountbatten roses, freesia, veronica, ivy, trasdescantia, and the requisite myrtle.
Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth's sister) carried an all-white orchid arrangement when she married Antony Armstrong-Jones, the 1st Earl of Snowdon in 1960.
Queen Elizabeth's 1947 nuptials to Prince Philip included an orchid-filled bouquet, which we think perfectly accompanied her exquisitely detailed dress - did you know it had 10,000 seed pearls?
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the mother of Queen Elizabeth II) married the Duke of York with a bouquet that included lilies of the valley and roses. Unfortunately, the bouquet didn’t make it into any pictures but we bet it paired perfectly with her Flapper style dress.
1Princess Eugenie

2Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex

3Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge

4Zara Phillips

5Autumn Phillips

6Camilla Parker Bowles

7Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex

8Diana, Princess of Wales

9Princess Margaret

10Queen Elizabeth II

11Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

More like this
Plan your wedding like a pro.
Follow
Join our newsletter: