Are you a bride with a green thumb, or maybe just one who loves to take on do it yourself projects? Well, if you are getting married next year, you still have enough time to grow some of your own wedding flowers. These are some suggestions on how to grow the blossoms you will want for your wedding, as well as some potential pitfalls of which you should be aware.

As with any diy wedding project, the key to growing your own flowers is to think small. If you have a large garden and a fairly small wedding, this might well be a doable project for you. On the other hand, if you live in a condo with a tiny yard and your style runs towards ballgowns with elaborate bridal jewelry sets and seated dinners for 250 guests, you would be better off buying your flowers. Something nice to keep in mind is that if you like the idea of growing some of your own wedding flowers, but do not have the space or the green thumb to do them all, you could always plant a small cutting garden just for the bouquets. It would feel lovely to walk down the aisle holding beautiful blossoms grown at your own home.

The first step in planting a wedding cutting garden is to find out what is in bloom at the time of your wedding. Opt for flowers whose peak bloom time spans your wedding date a little bit on either side, if at all possible. If you select flowers which are only sometimes in bloom by the date of your wedding, you might end up with nothing to show for your efforts, other than a few buds which will flower while you are gone on your honeymoon! Another idea is to plant a backup flower which blooms slightly ahead of your favorite, in case your first choice is not ready in time.

When doing your own wedding flowers, it is generally advisable to stick to a very limited color palette. All white or all pink flowers are lovely and classic, and work wonderfully with almost any styles of wedding gowns and bridal jewelry sets, from romantic to more clean and contemporary. The advantage to this is that you can plant several varieties within your color palette and know that whichever end up looking good enough to use will all look well together. On the other hand, if you planned a complicated color palette and your purple flowers don't bloom, your whole plan will be thrown off. Limiting the palette avoids this problem.

Some flexibility is key when planting your own wedding garden. Speak with an expert at the plant nursery to find out which perennials are the most reliable in your region. If you have your heart set on classic roses, for instance, and they are a very demanding flower to grow where you live, you might end up sorely disappointed. Be sure that your cutting garden will provide adequate sunshine to your precious flowers, and of course, keep up with the watering!

A key tip when selecting the varieties to plant is to look for ones with long stems. Avoid flowers labeled dwarf or for bedding, as they will have very short stems which are too hard to arrange into centerpieces and bouquets. Classic daisies are one popular choice for cutting gardens, but many of the others will be less typical wedding blooms, which can be great. A wonderful advantage to growing your own wedding flowers is that you can create unique displays which will add to the special character of your wedding day.  Guy Antonelli