Weddings & Events in Melbourne

Weddings & events in Melbourne: native protea and a spring peony

Protea, waxflower, banksia and kangaroo paw are Australian flora farmed for cutting in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, and the export market points chiefly to Japan. That native flora sits behind one of the bouquets under weddings & events in Melbourne, alongside peonies and roses, and the choice between them usually starts with the month of the wedding.

Protea, waxflower and gum: a bride's bouquet of Australian flora

One of the wedding bouquets in Melbourne is built around protea, the flower with the large cone-shaped head that opens like a crown of stiff petals. Around it sits the rest of Australia's native cut flora: waxflower with its small starry blooms, banksia's bottlebrush cones, kangaroo paw on furred stems, leucadendron, silvery gum leaves and the waratah, with its dense red head. All of it is farmed for cutting in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, and the same species are also grown in Victoria. Victoria's own floral emblem, the pink common heath, never turns up in that mix: it isn't grown for sale as a cut flower, so no florist can put a stem of it in a bouquet, however local the rest of the arrangement is.

Australian-grown peonies run from October into November and on through the southern summer, which makes a peony bridal bouquet a choice for a spring or summer wedding rather than a winter one. For the months peonies miss, peony-shaped roses step in: these are mostly English varieties bred by David Austin, with the same dense, many-petalled head as a peony but on a rose's own calendar. Victoria's flower fields thin out once winter sets in, and imported stems fill the gap; most roses sold through that season have flown in from Kenya, Colombia or Ecuador. Lilies sit outside that whole rhythm, since they are grown under glass and stay in the catalogue every month of the year.

Anyone who wants to order a wedding bouquet in Melbourne for a fixed date and time slot can book any zone. The earlier the order goes in, the more slots are still open on the day. Every bouquet is made to order, and the florist photographs it before the courier sets off, with any changes to the bouquet itself still possible up to that point. Where a flower isn't in stock, it's swapped for another close in shade and price, and the swap always shows up in that same photo. Wedding flower delivery in Melbourne runs on those terms, set out on the delivery terms page.

Jumilia for the couple's home, a lily basket from the guests

51 Jumilia in Airy Wrapping suits a gift meant to stay with the couple once the party is over. Each bud opens no wider than seven centimetres, white at the base and pink at the edge, and with fresh water it lasts up to two weeks in a vase. A basket of lilies makes a different kind of gift: it goes to the restaurant rather than the couple's home. The courier times it with the venue for dessert, the toast or the walk to the stage, as set out on the delivery page.

Lilies are poisonous to cats, so if the newlyweds have a cat, jumilia is the safer gift to send instead. Several bouquets for different addresses can go into one basket order, though delivery is still counted and charged per address. Carried out to a marquee or a terrace, a bouquet has to sit through Melbourne's hot northerly wind as well as the weather described on the Flowers in Melbourne page.