If you’ve never held a wedding bouquet in front of a camera before, it can feel surprisingly awkward. Suddenly you have flowers in your hands, a photographer is taking photos from every possible angle, and you’re trying to remember what to do with your arms, hands, shoulders and bouquet all at once. After working in the wedding industry for more than a decade as a photographer, and florist, and now growing and drying flowers for weddings here at Harvest Hill Flower Farm in Ontario, I’ve seen this play out plenty of times. The good news is that holding your bouquet well doesn’t need to be complicated, and there’s really no reason to spend your wedding day worrying about whether you’re doing it “right.”
With a dried wedding bouquet, there are a couple of things worth knowing ahead of time because dried flowers behave a differently from fresh flowers. Fresh wedding bouquets tend to be soft, full and naturally flowing, with flowers and foliage that move and drape as you carry them. Dried flowers are generally lighter and more structured, and a dried bouquet often has more visible stems, negative space and individual flowers rather than the same rounded, flowing volume you might see with a fresh bouquet. If held incorrectly, you'll see a lot of "stems" instead of the beautiful dried blooms that attracted you to the bouquet initially.
The easiest rule: hold your bouquet around your navel
If you remember only one thing from this article, I’d make it this: don’t hold your bouquet up against your chest. When people are nervous in front of a camera, their natural instinct is often to bring their hands higher and closer to their body. Before long, the bouquet is sitting right underneath the bust, the elbows are tucked tightly against the waist, and the shoulders have crept upward. This can make the bouquet look smaller, hide details of your wedding dress and make your entire posture look more tense than you actually feel.
Instead, try holding the bouquet approximately around navel height. Your hands should be comfortably in front of you with your elbows relaxed rather than squeezed into your sides. You don't need to hold the bouquet rigidly at one exact height for the entire day, but starting around your navel gives you a natural position that leaves some space between the flowers and your upper body.
For most bridal portraits, I find this creates a much more relaxed shape. Your dress remains visible, your shoulders can drop naturally, and the bouquet has room to sit in front of you rather than becoming almost part of your torso.
Let the flowers face the camera
Another small adjustment that can make a big difference with dried wedding bouquets is the direction of the flowers. When you’re standing naturally, it’s easy for the bouquet to point downward, particularly if you’re holding it with both hands. That’s perfectly fine while you’re walking down the aisle or mingling with guests, but when your photographer is taking a close-up portrait, you’ll usually want to gently tilt the flowers toward the camera.
You don’t need to point the bouquet directly at the lens or hold it completely flat. A subtle tilt is enough to make the flowers more visible. This is especially helpful with a dried bouquet because the individual stems, flowers and textures are such an important part of the design. If the bouquet is tilted too far downward, the photographer may end up seeing mostly the tops or backs of the flowers rather than the overall shape you spent so much time choosing.
I like to think of it as simply letting the camera see the flowers. Your photographer will likely notice the angle and guide you as needed, so you don't have to constantly think about it yourself.
Relax your shoulders and loosen your hands
Take a breath, drop your shoulders and loosen your grip. It’s very easy to grip your bouquet tightly when you’re nervous, especially if you’re worried about dropping it. But a relaxed grip looks much more natural in photographs. Your fingers don't need to be perfectly positioned, and you don't need to squeeze the stems together as though you're afraid they're going to escape. Let your hands be soft and comfortable.
The same goes for your shoulders. If you notice yourself bringing your shoulders toward your ears, take a breath and let them fall. Give your arms a little space from your body instead of pressing your elbows against your waist. This tiny change can make your entire posture look more relaxed.
And remember that your photographer is there to help. You don't need to know how to pose yourself for every photograph. If they ask you to move your bouquet, turn your body or change where you're looking, just go with it.
Don’t try to make your dried bouquet look like a fresh bouquet
One thing I particularly love about dried wedding flowers is that they don't have to look like fresh flowers.
If you’ve chosen a dried bridal bouquet because you love that natural, slightly wild, textural look, don't worry if there is a little more negative space between the flowers. Dried flowers can have shorter stems, interesting angles and individual blooms sitting at different heights. They don't always create the same big, rounded volume that you get from a fresh bouquet, and trying to squeeze everything together to make it appear fuller can actually take away from the design.
Instead, let the bouquet have some breathing room. The texture of the dried flowers, the variation in height and the little spaces between stems can all photograph beautifully. This is particularly true with natural Ontario-grown dried flowers, where you may see subtle variation in colour and shape rather than everything looking perfectly uniform.
When you're holding your bouquet, resist the temptation to constantly rearrange it. Once it has been designed and tied, let it be what it is. A little movement is much more natural than trying to keep every single flower perfectly positioned.
A few simple dried bouquet posing tips
If you're heading into your wedding day and want a quick list to remember, these are the things I'd keep in mind:
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Hold your bouquet around navel height for most standing portraits.
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Keep your shoulders relaxed and take a breath if you feel yourself getting tense.
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Keep your elbows slightly away from your body rather than squeezing your arms against your waist.
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Loosen your grip on the stems instead of holding them tightly.
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Tilt the flowers slightly toward the camera so your photographer can see the face of the bouquet.
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Don't squeeze the bouquet together trying to make it look fuller.
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Let the natural shape and negative space show.
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When appropriate, turn slightly toward your bouquet or look down at the flowers for a more candid photograph.
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When walking, let the bouquet hang naturally rather than worrying about keeping it in exactly the same position.
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Most importantly, move and enjoy yourself instead of trying to hold one perfect pose.
Practice with your bouquet before the wedding
This is one of my favourite things about ordering dried wedding flowers well ahead of your wedding date: you actually have time to practice.
With fresh wedding flowers, you generally don't get your bouquet until very close to the wedding, so you have little opportunity to get used to holding it. With dried wedding flowers, your bridal bouquet and bridesmaid bouquets can be ready well in advance, which means you and your wedding party can actually pick them up, hold them and see what feels comfortable before the big day. You can even practice attaching boutonnieres to the groomsmen!
You can even take a few quick photos at home. Stand in front of a mirror or have your partner take some pictures on your phone. Try holding the bouquet high, then around your navel. Try tilting the flowers slightly toward the camera. Relax your shoulders and take another photo. You’ll probably notice immediately which position feels the most natural and which one makes the bouquet look better.
It can be particularly helpful to have your bridesmaids practice as well. If everyone is holding their bouquets at completely different heights, the group photographs can look a little disjointed. You don't need everyone to hold them identically, but having a general idea of where the bouquets should sit can make those bridal party photographs feel much more cohesive.
Your photographer will do most of the work
After all my years photographing weddings, one of the biggest things I want couples to remember is that you don't need to be good at posing. That's the photographer's job.
Your wedding day isn't a photoshoot where you have to stand perfectly still and remember a long list of instructions. Your photographer will move you into flattering light, ask you to turn slightly, adjust your bouquet if necessary and give you direction when they want something specific. Some of the best photographs will happen when you're not thinking about the bouquet at all.
You might be walking with your new spouse, laughing with your bridesmaids, looking down at your flowers or simply standing together enjoying a quiet moment. Those photographs tend to feel much more like your actual wedding day than a series of perfectly rehearsed poses.
So if you’re carrying a dried bridal bouquet for your wedding start with the basics: hold it around your navel, keep your shoulders relaxed, let the flowers face the camera and don't try to force the bouquet into a shape it doesn't naturally have. Then let yourself move.
Your dried wedding flowers were chosen because you loved the way they looked. You don't need to overthink them once they're in your hands. Let the flowers be part of the moment, and let your photographer capture the rest.
