Guest Blog for Floris London - A Bride’s Guide to Scenting Your Wedding

You’ve devoured every issue of Brides magazine and you’ve spent more time on Pinterest than you’d like to admit, and you’re still searching.  You don’t know what you’re searching for, but you need to ensure your wedding is the best, most creative, most elegant, most unique, most talked about wedding of all time.  I’ve been there. 

There is an easy way to style your wedding that will instantly elevate it to the next level of elegance and luxury, that can’t be pinned on a Pinterest board – scent.  The ‘je ne sais quoi’ of weddings.  Scent is the essence of the best memories, so make your own day, your own way.  Forget favours, capture emotion and create memories. 

Here are some easy ways to incorporate scent into your wedding journey, to make a lasting impression, but most of all, lasting memories. 

Bridal Shower
A bridal shower tends to be more pamper party than pool party, so make sure you are well equipped.  Get your hands ready for that ring with a richly scented luxury hand cream and have the manicurist ready to go.  Continue the tradition when each of your ‘maids get engaged – a luxury hand cream is a cute engagement gift for any lady with a sparkler to show off.   

Mums the Word
Give a keepsake to your mum and mother in law; gift a luxury glass candle with a linking scent to your wedding day.  Add an extra touch by getting the glass etched with a short message or the date of your wedding. 

Bridesmaid Gifts
Ensure your leading ladies smell as beautiful as they look by giving them beauty boxes with a handpicked perfume.  This will also ensure they are in harmony with one another.  The best part?  It’s handpicked by you – pick one to compliment your scent. 

Morning of the Wedding
Ease yourself into the day and relax with scented candles and a few glasses of bubbles while you get your hair and makeup done.  Choose candles with calming notes like lavender or vanilla, and pop miniature versions in your bridesmaid’s beauty boxes. 

Grand Entrance
Ask your groomsmen to sprinkle the entrance way to your ceremony with your favourite room fragrance; this will create sensual excitement when your guests arrive.  Choose something energising to kick your day off with an exciting burst.   

Centrepieces
Create atmosphere and ambience with clusters of scented candles on your tables.  Use glass candles instead of tea lights to achieve an effortlessly chic and stylish look, with minimum effort.  Although glass candles are more expensive, they are much more elegant – and you won’t need to replace them every 2 hours.  Choose a scent that is refreshing and crisp, to compliment your grand entrance, and enliven it with a complimentary herb sprig in your welcome drinks; mint, rosemary and basil work well in cocktails depending on what your candle scent is.   

The Bride
Last but certainly not least….  The Bride.  Think of your wedding dress and how unique and fitting (and fitted) it is to you.  Now, why would you walk down the aisle wearing anything less than your perfect perfume? 

I had the pleasure of being gifted a Floris Bespoke Customisation experience as a wedding present to make my own unique wedding perfume, and I was blown away.  I took images of my bouquet with me and had notes prepared of my favourite scents; I was so confused about what I thought I liked, and what I thought I wanted, but the perfumer was amazing and really honed into my deeper senses.  After a few hours’ consultation and potion mixing, I left with a fragrance so… me!  I couldn’t love it more.  

Take a wedding time-out to share the experience with your groom with Floris’ new Together service, a bespoke fragrance session for couples, where you each get to create your own unique fragrance.  Use it as an extra excuse to spend some quality time together in the demanding lead up to the wedding – it would make such a lovely anecdote to your wedding day, and such a wonderful addition to your new life together. 

I really cherish my wedding perfume, and every time I inhale it, I am instantly transported back to the magic of the day and all the emotions come rushing back to me.  It’s such an evocative memory for me; it’s addictive!  I’ve already booked to have a repeat bottle made up!  (Floris keep all recipes in their private archives so you can reorder at any time.)

Your wedding is a journey; use the power of scent to take your guests on the journey with you.  Feel every emotion in years to come, as fresh as it was on the day.  What’s more, you can use each scent in different ways for your future anniversaries and special occasions.  Plan a romantic (scented) candle lit dinner for your first anniversary and relive the excitement. 

Lx

This was a guest blog for Floris London, you can read the full post on their website here. 

Floris are British Family perfumers and currently hold two Royal Warrants:  Perfumers to HM The Queen Elizabeth II and Manufacturers of Toilet Preparations to HRH The Prince of Wales.  Famous past clientele includes Florence Nightingale and Mary Shelley.  

Floris is the oldest English retailer of fragrance and toiletries and is still family owned and run today by the 8th and 9th generation of the family.