CARNATION :

Don’t turn up your nose at the common carnation. Affordable, plentiful, and available year-round, this long-lastin flower is full of possibilities for weddings.

The ruffled-heds look offers an inexpensive way to bring lushness and color to bouquets and arrangements. When massed, they also make a pretty-and inexpensive-bouquet of their own. Carnations have a long history; they were reportedly used to make ceremonial crowns in ancient Greece, and they were on hand at the wedding of Maximalian of Austria, the emperor of Mexico(1864-67), as a symbol of marital bliss. Today, more thanthree hundred species, n large, single booms and miniature spray varieties, are available. Carnations are grown in a wide array of colors, with the most popular hues being in the pink, red, and burgundy family. Some have a lovely clovelike fragrance.

Yet beyond the unfair public perceptions is a flower with a soft luster, gentle fragrance, and joyous color palette all rolled inside a thicket of fringed petals that epitomize chic femininity. This is the blossom, after all, whose Latin name is dianthus, which translates to “divine flower”
Pink carnations are a particularly sweet choice for a bouquet, but one that must be approached with a bit of restraint. So sweet is this selection that it’s almost too much for an adult. Instead, consider how to translate that sugary appeal into a more appropriate venue, such as the flower girl bouquet.