Since your wedding is one of the most important days of your life, it only makes sense for your best friends to be around you, every step of the way! Your bridesmaids will not only be there for you as emotional support but also to help you wherever needed so that your day goes as well as you want your wedding day to go. And because your girls are so important for your day, it only makes sense for you to think about the bridesmaids' outfits, their accessories, and the bridesmaid bouquets. If you’re planning your wedding and are looking for some interesting and beautiful alternatives to traditional bridesmaid bouquets, then we have just the thing for you! From greenery bouquets to paper bouquets for your best girls, we have many ideas for you to try and choose from!
- Balloons!
Okay, so let’s start with a quirky idea before you talk about the lovely ideas, shall we? Bridesmaids carrying strings of balloons are the cutest thing! Imagine your bridesmaids standing at the altar, watching you take your wedding vows with balloons. Won’t this make for the perfect wedding photo? To ensure that the wedding details match the aesthetic of your bridesmaids, make sure that you choose colors that either complement the wedding theme or look for similar colors for your bridesmaids’ balloons! To add more details to this idea, how about adding some ribbons and bows? Ribbons and bows add pretty details to everything. Additionally, you can also add some trinkets or even bells to the ribbons. You can also have similar balloons to the baskets that your flower girls have! A good way to add this is to tie the strings of the balloons to the baskets.
Add a Twist to the Balloons!
There are a few ideas that you may enjoy knowing about, even if you don’t want to try them out! So, the first idea is to have your bridesmaids carry giant balloons and bunches of balloons alternatively. For example, if you have six bridesmaids, including your maid of honor, then you can have half of them use giant balloons and the other half can carry a balloon bunch. Apart from this, if you’re throwing a quirky wedding, then using character balloons will also add some interesting charms to your wedding. You can also choose to have your bridesmaids carry different shapes of balloons, for example, stars and moon-shaped balloons will be perfect if you’re going for a lovely celestial wedding theme!
- Parasols
Parasols are our new favorite thing! The best part about these is that Parasols are absolutely stunning as things to carry and to use in your wedding decor! Above all, if you’re good with crafts then you can also DIY your wedding parasols! So, if you’re looking for bridesmaid bouquet alternatives, then parasols are perfect. If you and your girls are good with crafts, then you all can get together and choose to decorate the parasols for the wedding. This could be a great bachelorette party as well! Apart from this, even if you and your girls are not good with crafts then don’t worry about it. You can still keep the parasols as a way to preserve memory and have other parasols for your wedding day. What’s more, not only the bridesmaids, but the bride and the groom can also carry it for the wedding ceremony. You can choose colorful parasols, for each of your bridesmaids, or have every parasol detailed with similar details. Wondering what kind of details work for your parasols? Well, then everything can be used! You can use lace, paper flowers, rhinestones, or even small paper balls hanging by the edge of the parasol!
Bonus: If you, your partner, and the bridesmaids are carrying parasols, it only makes sense for you to use parasols in your wedding decor. Instead of using parasols for your wedding ceremony, you can use these if the cocktail hour is scheduled to take place in a separate area in the reception venue, or you can add some details to your reception as well. If none of these ideas sound good to you, then how about using parasols for your sweetheart's table?
- Single Stem
Don’t want flowers, no problem! You can use pretty tropical leaves with one stem! The best part about this idea is that it works for practically any kind of wedding! Whether you’re looking to throw a lovely beach wedding or an elegant fall wedding, you can always have big leaves, which curve around the stem. A great way to add some interesting details to this idea is to let the bridesmaids choose one stem, like every bridesmaid’s bouquet alternative will be different. Additionally, you can choose the colors for them. For example, you can have the girls choose colors per the wedding colors, or let them choose white flowers for the stem! This idea works best for minimal weddings. Apart from this, if you’re looking to have your wedding ceremony dressed in minimal elegant details, then this idea will be perfect for you! Another way to incorporate single stems into your wedding in place of traditional bridesmaid bouquets is to use a paper flower. First things first, a paper flower looks amazing, can be fun to make (if you’re good with crafts), and above all, you can preserve them as a memory of your wedding day!
- Lanterns!
Lanterns are one of our favorite things! Weddings with lantern decor are perfect! Although lanterns seem more of great detail to add to winter weddings or even fall weddings, these can be used for summer and spring weddings too. For winter and fall weddings, you can use rustic or vintage lanterns. However, for summer or spring weddings, you can paint over the lanterns in colors that pop out of your wedding color theme! You can use pastel colors, or paint them bright yellow. Now that the color is settled, let’s talk about different ideas that can work for your wedding! So, the first idea is to carry the lantern, that’s it. Apart from this, you also choose to add some pretty things to the lanterns. For example, using small sprigs of greenery and battery-operated string lights will look beautiful, using floating candles in the lanterns will add more charm, or even using confetti, and filling the lantern completely will work as well!
Bonus: If you love flowers and you love lanterns, then a great way to add both of these ideas together is to add some floral details to the lanterns. All you need to do is, find the flowers that you will love for your wedding and add it to the lanterns. Also, you can add a big flower in the center of the lantern to add the charming details you want. Apart from this, yet another idea to add flowers to the bridesmaids' lanterns is to use small flowers, real or faux, the choice is yours. You can glue these small flowers to create an outline of the lantern. This will help you to improve the look of the lanterns!
- Floral Hoops
If you love flowers and you love hoops, then how about using floral hoops? Floral hoops are exceptionally beautiful and are a great addition to your wedding decor. However, that’s not all that you can do with these. You can also have your bridesmaids carry the floral hoops. You can add some greenery to the hoop along with the floral details, this will help you to make these hoops look perfect. What’s more, the hoop does not necessarily need to have to be a metallic hoop. For example, if you want the hoops to look like those they’re floating, you can look for transparent string options! This idea will make it seem as though your bridesmaids have floating flowers around them. Another interesting idea, a little far-fetched, agreed, but beautiful, is to use night glow materials for the hoops! This will help if you are throwing an evening reception!
- Paper Flowers
This one is a common idea and is quite popular as well. Paper flower bouquets are perfect if you’re throwing a wedding on a budget. Fresh flowers do tend to take up the cost of the wedding, which is why paper flowers are a great alternative. However, the upside of a paper flower bouquet is that it is light and can be made of any color! As long as you have a creative and skilled person doing the job for you, you can put an order for just about any kind of flower and you’ll have it. However, if you’re using paper flowers in place of flower bouquets for bridesmaids, then you can use the same flowers or similar-looking flowers for your wedding decor. Or better yet, you can choose to match the wedding color scheme and the paper flower bouquets of your bridesmaids, by adding paper flowers as place cards for your wedding guests in the wedding day colors!
- Carry a Book
One of the most interesting ideas that we have on this list is to carry a book! A great alternative to bridesmaid bouquets is to use books! Instead of carrying a lantern or a bouquet, you can ask your bridesmaids to carry a book to the wedding ceremony. Of course, you can set the theme for this too! For example, you can ask the girls to carry books in specific colors, you can ask them to carry books of only one specific color or you can ask them to carry books in a particular genre, the choice is yours. Additionally, to add more details to this wedding idea, you can easily add the books to a basket, or tie a bow around the books! If you’re looking to add some colorful touches to your “carry-a-book” idea, then one of the best things that you can do is pair this idea with the first idea we mentioned. You can use one of the books to tape the balloon (or balloons’) string, and add a pretty monogram for the wedding if you have one! And if you do not have a monogram and still want to add something, then you can use a pretty bow or a sticker on the tape to make it look appealing.
- Baskets!
Speaking of baskets, if you’re walking away from traditions, then how about using baskets instead of regular floral bouquets? You can choose wicker baskets for your bridesmaids, and decide upon the things they can carry to your wedding! For example, a great way to carry the baskets would be to fill them up with greenery and some chocolates. Another option would be to add some necessary things, such as wipes, perfume, some snacks, and water. These things can be used to help you, in case you need them. So, in short, a utility basket would be perfect. Apart from this, you can also decide to fill the entire basket with just colorful paper strips! This will add a lot of color to your wedding ceremony.
A fun twist
Most couples choose to have an amazing wedding exit or end, but you can do something different. Instead of looking for an amazing wedding exit, you can choose to have an amazing wedding ceremony exit. Your bridesmaids can carry floating paper lanterns, and when your wedding ceremony ends, they can light up the lanterns and let them loose. This idea works best for outdoor wedding ceremonies, as you will have space to release the lanterns. As your bridesmaids release the lanterns, you can walk under them and make your grand exit from the wedding ceremony!
- Woven greenery
If you’re looking to add some more interesting touches to your bridesmaids’ aesthetic, and none of the alternatives listed above cut it for you, then we have another idea. You can use woven greenery. Wreaths, woven greenery garlands, or even greenery baskets can work for your wedding day! A great idea is to create small balls of greenery, with some flowers. If you’re wondering what kind of flowers will go well with your wedding day’s aesthetic, then how about using the same flowers as you’re picking out for your wedding’s floral details? Using similar flowers will definitely amp up the details and intensify the decor ideas. However, it is not necessary to use the same flowers. You can choose to use similar colors as that of the flowers in the floral details, but the flowers can be different!
Tweak this idea!
Greenery balls are perfect, but they are not all that you can use! You can also tweak the idea and replace the greenery with some colorful flowers! Can you imagine pretty balls made out of lovely flowers, woven together? That said, you use this opportunity to use bright flowers and lovely pops of colors to these balls of flowers. You can also add some pretty decor items, like acorns, star figurines, or even candy canes! That said, a thing to remember is that even though we just mentioned some ideas for figurines to add to the balls of flowers, which you can add to the greenery balls as well, you can use the season to inspire your ideas!
- Chuck the Bouquet, Use a Hanging Bouquet!
If you love bridesmaids carrying pretty flowers, but want something different, something creative for your wedding, then how about using some hanging flowers instead of a bridesmaid bouquet? Well, how these works are simple, instead of flowers arranged into a lovely bouquet, the flowers are strung together and hung from driftwood or a cylindrical bar! Now, we have nothing against dirt wood, it is dainty and extremely aesthetically pleasing, but then you can also have other ideas! A great way to add more colors is to spray paint the dirt wood into another color, gold, silver, black, yellow, or any other color that works with the flowers that are hanging off the wooden piece, or use a color complementing the wedding theme. Apart from this, you can also use cylindrical objects, and tie the strings of flowers around the cylindrical object! To marry this detail with your wedding day’s aesthetic, you can easily use the flowers from this idea as the inspiration for wedding overhead and hanging decor. However, if you’re looking for a creative idea, which adds some extra colorful zing to your wedding ideas, then how about using a large glow stick? During the day, and at your wedding ceremony, the bridesmaids can carry the hanging floral bouquet, tied to the glowstick, of course. And as the reception party unfolds, the bridesmaids can break the glowsticks to add more charms!
With that, we come to the end of our blog! Don’t get us wrong, we absolutely love bridesmaid bouquets! We love the fact that bridesmaids’ bouquets are usually made in the image of the bridal bouquets, which is adorable. Apart from this, bridesmaids' bouquets are also exceptionally unique, depending on the kind of wedding you have. However, we feel that there’s always room for improvement! If you’re looking to add some beautiful touches to your wedding, then how about looking for some alternative ideas for your wedding? If you love putting a twist on different traditions, we’re sure you’ll love using one of the ideas we listed out for you! Above all, you can also pair one or more ideas and create one idea! We hope you enjoy reading the blog, and you have a blast choosing the alternative to your bridesmaids’ bouquets!
