By Chris Christen

Flowers say wedding. “It’s nice to incorporate fresh flowers, even if you’re on a budget,” says Lynn Jawitz, a floral architect with New York-based Florisan. “Even if you just take a few orchids and slip them in water tubes, you can have a lovely table display.”

The possibilities roll off her tongue faster than they can be recorded. “Poke the tubes of orchids between candles of varying heights or slip them into dinner napkins at each place setting.”

Armed with a glue gun, floral tubes, wet and dry floral foam and floral wire, almost anything is possible, Jawitz says.

In the past decade, Jawitz has worked on some “incredible” weddings through Florisan. “Unbelievable thought is put into the details of these events,” she says. Ideas worth stealing from a bridal expert who lives to “out decorate and out wrap”:

• Breakaway centerpieces. Take 10 small pots of daffodils, mums, daisies, herbs or evergreens and group them together in the center of a table. At the end of the evening, invite each table guest to take a plant. “You have a centerpiece that hasn’t cost you a lot of money. And your guests leave with something to remember you by.”
• Feathers as accents in floral bouquets. “I’ve even used feather flowers in bridal bouquets.”
• Kissing ball for the flower girl. “I prefer to do them in silk flowers. That way, the flower girl can keep it.” Another plus: An annoying ring bearer is spared harm if a flower girl decides to use the kissing ball as a weapon against him. Be sure to keep the kissing ball in proportion to the child’s size. The same advice applies to a flower basket. Neither should overwhelm the child or be awkward for her to carry.
• Custom-printed candy. Buy in bulk and assemble the favors yourself. “Put the candies in little tins and attach a label or tie with ribbon and a note of thanks.” Creatively stack the tins in the middle of your reception tables as centerpieces.
• Jordan almonds as miniature bouquets made with wire netting and satin ribbon.
• Evergreen wreaths, placed flat on tables with pillar candles of varying sizes inside.“For a vineyard wedding, order dried grapevine from a floral shop and form the grapevines into wreaths. Add quality rubber or sparkly grapes and you’ve done something absolutely stunning and unusual for the price of a standard centerpiece.”
• Breakaway bouquet. When carried by the bride, it looks like a solid bouquet. When tossed, individual flower stems fly into the air. This way, several women end up “catching the bouquet.”
• Elegantly decorated sweetheart table for the bride and groom. Instead of sitting with their attendants during the reception, the bride and groom are seated by themselves at an intimate table with a microphone nearby. This allows them to easily get up from the table to visit with guests, make announcements and acknowledge toasts.

Wedding practices vary from region to region in the United States. These are popular among East Coast bridal couples:

• Sand ceremony. Two different colors of sand are mixed together in a clear vessel, symbolizing the blending of two lives into one. “I’ve seen it done with red wine and white wine to produce blush wine, which the couple drinks during the ceremony,” Jawitz said.
• Presentation bouquets for the mothers of the bride and groom. Typically presented by the bride and groom after the lighting of the unity candle. In some ceremonies, the mothers are asked to light the candle, as a symbol of two families coming together.
• Wish bowl. Guests are asked to write a wish for the couple on a pretty card that’s dropped into a decorative bowl. Along the same line: A wish tree adorned with leaf-shaped cards. “After the wedding, couples take those wishes and put them in an album.”
• Slipper basket placed at the edge of the dance floor. The basket holds inexpensive, one-size-fits-all slippers or socks for guests’ comfort while dancing.