It was reported recently that Increasingly, brides are shunning traditional bouquets for arrangements made up with citrus fruits, berries and even cabbages or leeks.
Time was a bride would either choose a flower based on their meaning such as the white lily, symbolising purity (yeah, right), and the red rose for romance. I'm not even gonna start on what carrying a cabbage down the aisle might represent.
The trend is driven by couples keen to use sustainable and local produce and a growing interest in the provenance of food, according to a report in Waitrose Weekend magazine.
Some couples plan to reduce waste by cooking their edible bouquets after the nuptles are over. Edible bouquets can also be the answer to what get a friend or relative who is in hospital but not up to visitors when traditional flowers are a no-no.
Hospitals banned flowers as a health threat in an attempt to stop infections.
Many hospitals have long accepted policies of not permitting flowers in high-dependency units. Since 1996, most hospitals banned flowers from general wards. Motivated by the need “to show they were taking hospital acquired infections seriously”.
They justified the ban on the grounds that flower water contains dangerous bacteria, though it was reported that hospital staff were “more concerned about the practical implications of managing flowers than risks of infection”. One nurse claimed that the biggest problem was curtains knocking over vases resulting in broken glass and water on the floor. Another nurse was “adamantly opposed” to flowers on the ward, saying that staff don’t have time to change the flowers’ water, spillages were responsible for falls and pollen caused hay fever.
