If you're a Toronto bride looking for a dried wedding bouquet, there are so many beautiful directions you can take it. Dried flowers don't have to mean beige, overly rustic or vintage. They can be colourful, delicate, wildflower-inspired, classic and even quite modern.
I've worked with wedding flowers for almost a decade, and today my focus is growing and creating dried wedding flowers at my flower farm in Blackstock, Ontario, just outside Toronto. I grow many of the flowers I use myself, harvest them throughout the season and naturally air-dry them before turning them into bridal bouquets, bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres and other wedding flowers. Because I spend so much time growing and working with dried flowers now, I've learned that they have some very particular qualities that are worth understanding before you choose your bouquet.
Here are a few dried bridal bouquets that I love, including some of my own and a couple from other flower businesses that I personally find inspiring.
1. Classic White Dried Wedding Bouquet
Classic White Dried Wedding Bouquet
A classic white dried bouquet is hard to beat if you're looking for something timeless. I love this style for a bride who wants her flowers to feel elegant and simple rather than overly trendy. White works beautifully with a traditional wedding dress and can fit into almost any venue or colour palette, from a formal Toronto venue to a relaxed country wedding.
It's also a lovely choice if you want to keep your bouquet after the wedding. One of the things I love about dried flowers is that your bouquet can become part of your home rather than something you have to say goodbye to at the end of the reception.
2. Spring Wildflower Dried Wedding Bouquet
Spring Wildflower Dried Wedding Bouquet
This is one of my favourite directions for a colourful spring wedding. I love combining different colours and flower shapes to create something that feels like a little meadow rather than a traditional formal bouquet. The colour makes it feel fresh and modern, while the dried flowers still give it that relaxed, natural quality that works so well for outdoor and country weddings.
It's especially pretty for a spring barn wedding, outdoor ceremony or garden-inspired celebration. I grow colourful varieties of statice and strawflower here on the farm because I love being able to bring that colour into dried arrangements rather than relying only on the muted beige and brown tones people sometimes associate with dried flowers.
3. Autumn Wildflower Dried Wedding Bouquet
Autumn Wildflower Dried Wedding Bouquet
For an autumn wedding, I love leaning into what's naturally growing around the farm. This bouquet incorporates foraged materials from around the property, including goldenrod and oregano, alongside the flowers I grow and dry myself. Those little seasonal details make the arrangement feel connected to the time of year and the place where it was grown, which is something I really enjoy about working with flowers from my own farm.
This would be especially beautiful for an October wedding at a barn or rural venue, but the same idea can work for an autumn city wedding too. You don't necessarily need a rustic wedding to enjoy the colours and textures of seasonal dried flowers.
4. Delicate White Wildflower Dried Wedding Bouquet
Delicate White Wildflower Dried Wedding Bouquet
If you love a neutral palette but want something a little more whimsical, I would look at a delicate white wildflower style. Rather than feeling formal or perfectly structured, this type of bouquet has a lighter, more organic feeling, with lots of small flowers and natural movement.
I think this style works particularly well for an intimate wedding or elopement where you want the flowers to feel natural and unfussy. It's also a good example of how a neutral dried bouquet doesn't have to look plain. Using different flower shapes and textures can give a white bouquet plenty of interest without adding a lot of colour.
5. Lavender Dried Wedding Bouquet
One of the dried bouquets that I particularly love for inspiration is this lavender bouquet from Heaven Party Flowers. Dried lavender is especially interesting to me because it gives you something that dried flowers don't always provide: scent.
One of the things people sometimes miss when choosing dried flowers is the fragrance of fresh flowers. Lavender is a lovely way to bring some aroma back into your bouquet, and I think it gives the whole arrangement a very delicate and romantic feeling. It's also a natural fit for an intimate summer wedding, garden wedding or relaxed outdoor ceremony.
6. Wildflower Meadow Dried Wedding Bouquet
Another bouquet that I love is this wildflower meadow wedding bouquet from Karinya Botanicals. The colours are what immediately caught my attention. It has those lovely spring-like tones while still feeling modern and natural, and I really like the way the different flowers work together without making the bouquet feel overly formal.
This is the kind of bouquet that gives me ideas for my own growing and arranging. When I'm planning what to grow for dried wedding flowers, I'm always thinking about how different colours, textures and flower shapes can work together. Seeing how other flower growers put their bouquets together is part of that inspiration too.
Is a Dried Wedding Bouquet Right for You?
As much as I love dried wedding flowers, they're not necessarily the right choice for every bride, and I think it's worth being honest about that before you order your bouquet. Dried flowers have a very different look from fresh flowers. They're more structured, generally have less volume, and tend to have a more natural, textured appearance. If your dream bouquet is very large, loose and overflowing with soft blooms moving in every direction, fresh flowers may give you more of that look. If you love wildflowers, texture, natural colour and the idea of keeping your bouquet for years after your wedding, dried flowers might be a wonderful fit.
There are also some practical differences to think about. Dried flowers don't need water, which makes them much easier to transport and particularly convenient for an elopement or wedding where you're travelling between locations. They can be carefully packaged and shipped, but they are still delicate and need to be handled with some care. Fresh flowers can give you that soft, lush and just-picked feeling, but they require more attention on the wedding day and won't last nearly as long afterwards.
For me, the biggest reason to choose dried flowers is that you genuinely love the look of them. Don't choose dried flowers simply because they're convenient or because you like the idea of preserving your bouquet. Look at lots of real dried bouquets and make sure you love their more structured shape, natural texture and slightly different proportions. If you do, there's something really special about walking away from your wedding with your bouquet still intact and being able to enjoy it in your home for years to come.
What to Look for When Buying a Dried Bridal Bouquet
There are a few things I'd pay attention to when you're comparing dried bridal bouquets online, especially if you're used to looking at fresh wedding flowers. The first is the shape. Look at whether the bouquet is designed to be viewed mostly from the front or whether it's more rounded and three-dimensional. Dried flowers tend to be stiffer than fresh flowers, so dried bouquets are often designed with a more intentional front-facing shape. Fresh flowers can have softer stems and blooms that naturally move outward in different directions, while dried flowers tend to hold more closely to where they've been placed. Neither approach is better, but it's something worth considering when you're looking at photographs of bouquets online.
I'd also pay close attention to the actual dimensions of the bouquet. Dried bouquets naturally have much less volume than fresh bouquets, so you can have a beautiful, substantial dried bridal bouquet without it being enormous. At the same time, it takes quite a few stems to create an evenly filled bouquet, particularly when you're working with smaller dried flowers. A bouquet that looks relatively small in a photograph may actually contain a surprising number of stems, so look for the listed dimensions rather than judging the size from a photograph alone.
Colour is another thing I think is worth considering. Dried flowers absolutely can be colourful. On my own farm, I grow colourful varieties of statice and strawflower because I love bringing pinks, purples, yellows and other natural colours into dried wedding flowers. When you grow flowers specifically for drying, you can choose varieties that hold their colour beautifully and use them to create bouquets that feel much more colourful and modern than the traditional neutral dried-flower look.
You'll also want to consider how delicate your bouquet will be. Dried flowers are naturally more fragile than fresh flowers, and some petals and stems can break if they're crushed or handled roughly. That doesn't mean you need to be afraid to travel with a dried bouquet, though. A properly made and carefully packaged dried bouquet can travel surprisingly well. I ship my own dried wedding flowers across Canada, and good packaging makes a huge difference. If you're ordering online, I'd look for someone who has experience packaging dried flowers for shipping rather than assuming every dried bouquet will arrive in the same condition.
How Much Does a Dried Bridal Bouquet Cost?
The cost of a dried bridal bouquet can vary quite a bit depending on the size, number and type of flowers, how full you want the bouquet to be, and whether you're buying a ready-made design or having something created specifically for your wedding. Dried flowers can sometimes be less expensive than fresh wedding flowers, but that isn't always the case, particularly when a bouquet is made with lots of individual stems or locally grown flowers that have been grown, harvested, dried and arranged by hand. If you're comparing bouquets, look at the actual size and what's included rather than comparing the price alone. A smaller dried bouquet can still contain a surprising number of stems, and a custom bouquet will naturally cost more than a simple ready-made design.
How to Hold a Dried Bouquet for Your Wedding Photos
This is a small tip, but it's one I think brides should know. When you're holding your bouquet for photos, try holding it around your belly button and tipping it slightly forward so the blooms are visible to the camera. Because dried bouquets tend to have a more structured, front-facing design, holding the bouquet too high or flat against your body can hide some of the flowers.
Your photographer will probably give you plenty of direction, but it's something to remember when you're walking down the aisle or posing for portraits. You want to be able to see those beautiful flowers you've spent so much time choosing.
Dried Flowers Are Especially Lovely for Certain Weddings
I particularly love dried flowers for rustic weddings, barn weddings, autumn weddings and off-season celebrations. They have a natural quality that works beautifully with those settings, and you don't have to worry about keeping the flowers in water throughout the day. They're also wonderful for elopements because they're easy to take with you between locations and don't require the same care as fresh flowers.
That said, I wouldn't limit dried flowers to one particular wedding style. A colourful dried bouquet can look just as beautiful at a modern wedding as it can at a rustic barn wedding. It's really about the flowers, colours and shape you choose. A simple white bouquet can feel incredibly elegant, while colourful statice and strawflower can give a dried bouquet a much more contemporary look.
Don't Forget Matching Wedding Flowers
Once you've found a bridal bouquet you love, it's worth looking at whether the florist or flower grower can create coordinating pieces for the rest of your wedding party. Matching dried boutonnieres and flower crowns are an easy way to carry the same flowers and colours throughout your wedding without making every arrangement identical.
You might also want to consider bridesmaid bouquets, corsages, flower girl pieces or small arrangements for your ceremony and reception. I offer hand-crafted meadow boxes that are a great option for long guest tables and harvest tables. One of the nice things about dried wedding flowers is that you can carry the same flowers and palette throughout the entire day without worrying about refrigeration or keeping everything in water.
Ready-Made or Custom Dried Wedding Flowers?
If you find a bouquet you love, a ready-made bouquet can be a simple option. But if you already have a particular wedding colour palette, dress style or venue in mind, custom flowers can be a better fit. You can choose the colours, bouquet size and overall feeling rather than trying to find an existing bouquet that's close enough.
I offer custom dried wedding flowers for couples who want something designed specifically for their wedding. Because I grow many of the flowers myself here on the farm, I can work with what's growing and drying beautifully through the season and create something that feels natural to an Ontario wedding.
Want to Make Your Own Dried Bouquet?
If you're a little bit crafty and want to make your own wedding flowers, you can also buy dried flower stems and create your bouquet yourself. This can be a really nice option if you have a particular colour palette in mind or simply enjoy the idea of putting together something personal for your wedding. I sell individual dried stems and bunches of Ontario-grown flowers through my dried flower stem collection, including colourful statice and strawflower that you can mix and match yourself. If you're looking for another Canadian-grown option, Lady's Hat Farm also sells flowers that are grown and dried on their Alberta farm. For larger quantities, you can also look at suppliers such as FiftyFlowers' dried strawflower, which is sold in bulk and can be useful if you're making bouquets for your entire wedding party. DIY dried flowers can take a little experimenting, but that's part of the fun, and you don't need professional florist skills to create something beautiful.
Choose Local When You Can
If you're getting married in Toronto or somewhere else in Ontario, I always think it's worth looking at local florists and flower growers before ordering flowers from somewhere across the country. Choosing local supports a small business in your own community, and when you're buying from a flower grower, you may also be able to get flowers that were actually grown in Ontario rather than imported.
That's a big part of why I started growing flowers for weddings myself. I love being able to grow, harvest, naturally air-dry and arrange flowers from the same little farm, then send them off to couples getting married here in Ontario. There's something really special about knowing where your wedding flowers came from and being able to keep your bouquet long after the wedding day.
Dried flowers give you a lot of flexibility. They can be colourful and modern, soft and romantic, or wild and meadow-like. They work beautifully for barn weddings and autumn celebrations, but they can also be a lovely choice for a classic Toronto wedding or an intimate elopement.
My Personal Pick...
My own wedding has come and gone, but if I were a bride choosing my bouquet today, I think I'd go for a colourful spring bouquet with lots of soft pastel shades. I just adore a spring pastel colour palette, especially when you can combine soft pinks, lavender, pale yellow and whites with lots of little wildflower shapes. There's something about those colours that feels cheerful and romantic without being too formal, and they're exactly the kind of colours I love growing and working with here on the farm.
