Autumn Weddings: What Flowers Are In Season?

Autumn is a time of year best loved for its snug knitwear, colourful leaves, and fireworks. Its cosy nature also makes it an ideal season for weddings—just ask wedding planners. If you’re thinking of tying the knot as the leaves start to fall, you may want to incorporate an autumnal theme, based on warm colours, including oranges, reds, and mustard yellows. Find out which flowers are the best for an autumn wedding.

A key way of bringing this theme to life is through the flowers you choose—from the bride’s bouquet and the groom’s boutonniere, to decorative flowers and confetti petals. With so many decisions to make, however, it can be hard to know where to start.

But don’t fret. Our guide to which wedding flowers are in season during autumn will put you on the right track. We’ve also arranged them by colour to make your decisions that bit easier. The autumn months offer a magnificent selection of blooms and foliage (as you will see below), so fear not, you’ll have plenty of flowers to choose from!

Many of the flowers we have recommended can be combined within one arrangement, but it’s best to consult with a florist who can help you best achieve the look you’re aiming for. 

Dahlias bloom between midsummer and winter, and come in a stunning colour palette, making them perfect for an autumn ceremony. The national flower of Mexico, their symmetrical petals are especially striking, and pair extremely well with many different colours. With the two-toned varieties, we can create a gamut of endless possibilities. Combine with other end-of-summer blooms like warm-coloured hydrangeas, autumnal clematis vines, and rich-toned rose hips for a beautiful bridal bouquet, or with seeded viburnum for a boutonniere with pizzazz. Dahlias also symbolise commitment and a bond that lasts forever, so they’re an unsurprisingly popular choice! 

Carnations are undergoing a real revival. We can’t stop thinking about the new variegated varieties, tor the new shades currently on the market—the nude orange, terracotta, or brown colours. Among other florists, carnations are also quite popular in bouquets. Instead of taking the traditional approach of using carnations as a filler, we tend to give them more attention and feature them heavily, sometimes as a statement for a centrepiece. 

Particularly trendy in the UK and abroad is the new monochromatic trend in floristry. For example, billowy carnations are the perfect autumn wedding accompaniment to a bouquet of nude, or skin-coloured, flowers. We’re in love! 

There are a few new varieties of stargazer lily—also known as ‘oriental lilies’—which are among the most stunning and unusual wedding flowers in season during autumn. Double lilies, which bloom in late summer, have a magical palette of orange, peach and apricots, stretching to pink and red tones. Mix with yellow and red foliage for a stunning assortment of autumnal colours that’s reminiscent of the most beautiful falling leaves. Besides, the new varieties give no pollen, so no more stains for your autumn wedding!

It’s very uncommon for brides not to love roses, and in all honesty, they’re one of our most beloved flowers, especially the fragrant varieties of garden roses. As we all know, they are associated with love, passion, and romance—pretty much all you could ask for on your wedding day! But, blooming from spring through to mid-October, they also evoke the season of autumn. To create that feel, we opt for darker hues, and combine the heart-shaped flowers with trailing vines, soft-green foliage, and other smaller blooms to create a beautiful harmony of shapes and sizes. A classic wedding choice, you just can’t go wrong with roses. 

A few years ago, it was quite rare to see new ranunculi varieties. Fast forward a few years, and they’re another red flower perfect for autumn weddings that are available almost everywhere. While they typically bloom between March and May, Butterfly Ranunculus are available from some of our suppliers during autumn too. Said to symbolise charm, we can match the distinctive round, fiery blooms with a warm array of dahlias, early tulips, and orange ferns for a striking yet organic and romantic arrangement.

While we could classify the pincushion flower—Latin name: scabiosas—in almost any category, due to their array of colours, we pair them with the soft petals of the rose and ranunculi for a romantic flower centrepiece. Imagine a composition with red-green foliage dancing above your wedding breakfast, with a candlelit table and a delicate fragrance of mint scenting your room. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
Native to the Northern Hemisphere, scabiosas bloom from spring to autumn and have a pincushion head and soft petals. While we sometimes use them in a bouquet, we commonly feature pincushion flowers in large floral displays. Elegant and long-lasting, this fern-like foliage is sure to turn heads at your autumn wedding.

While we could classify the pincushion flower—Latin name: scabiosas—in almost any category, due to their array of colours, we pair them with the soft petals of the rose and ranunculi for a romantic flower centrepiece. Imagine a composition with red-green foliage dancing above your wedding breakfast, with a candlelit table and a delicate fragrance of mint scenting your room. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?

Native to the Northern Hemisphere, scabiosas bloom from spring to autumn and have a pincushion head and soft petals. While we sometimes use them in an autumn wedding bouquet, we commonly feature pincushion flowers in large floral displays. Elegant and long-lasting, this fern-like foliage is sure to turn heads. 

Just a few years back, a high-end florist would never touch them, but gone are the days of when chrysanthemums were a no-no. Like carnations, the favourite flowers of Van Gogh and Rembrandt are making a comeback with new colour palettes—thank you, growers! Blooming between September and October, the chrysanthemum is one of the oldest species of flower, having been cultivated in the Far East for over 2,500 years. We opt for a mix of mustard yellow chrysanthemum with double coloured fragrant roses, and add pale green sage for a burst of green and a distinctive scent to a wedding centrepiece. 

Tending to bloom between mid-summer and autumn, the rudbeckia is one of the most archetypal yellow flowers and can be used to create a distinctly autumnal arrangement. Not just this, but they dry very well and are perfect for a long-lasting composition. Add in some warm dahlias for a stunning double gold tone, plus pastel red roses and deep ranunculus too. 

Okay, so technically they’re white, but since the centre of the anemone is yellow, we couldn’t help but include them here. Closely related to rancunuli, and blooming from late summer to late autumn, Japanese anemones are absolutely amazing to work with, adding a romantic and light feel to arrangements of any size. They come in a white-yellow to pink and pink-yellow colour scheme, and can be combined with white hydrangea paniculata in a large centrepiece. 

Add some extra volume and create a more complex feel for your autumnal wedding bouquet, buttonhole, or display with these choices:

Europe is slowly catching up to this North American trend, with more weddings on this side of the Atlantic featuring these delightful plants. Able to work alone, or mixed with other foliage or flowers, we can’t wait for the autumn to show you some of the new possibilities. 

We often opt for this truly unique interpretation of a filler flower. Noted for their pale violets, Clematis Vines originate in China and bloom from May to August across the UK. They give us an endless choice of possibilities and beautiful unmet shades of yellows, oranges, and reds. 

Take your floral arrangement to the next level by incorporating some jasmines. Typically available all year round, the fragrant flowers come in pink and white. 

The flowers we’ve listed are some of our autumnal favourites. They may be the classics we often reach out for but, as every floral artist knows, the modern varieties give us almost unlimited possibilities of compositions and choices. So, get in contact with our team and we can propose new concepts to make your autumn-themed wedding day or event even more special.