As I mentioned on Monday, I only fell under the spell of the Royal wedding hysteria on the day itself. I watched and I was smitten, instantly I reverted back to the little girl I once was, who spent years pretending to be a princess (either Lady Diana or Grace of Monaco, although sometimes I had to be the Empress Sisi of Austria, one has obligations after all) and dedicatedly practicing the royal wave to my people in front of the mirror.
Since Kate Middleton’s, sorry, the Duchess of Cambridge’s actual wedding scent was a bit hard to come by instantly, I used the downtime to branch out into wedding scents in general and happened upon something more easily obtainable and a lot more royal too – Floris Wedding Bouquet.
Floris is a venerated British perfume house that has not crossed my field of interest before, truth be told. It always struck me as rather traditional, conservative and a little unadventurous. That is still my opinion. But that is exactly the appeal of Wedding Bouquet. I was on the lookout for something classy, old-fashioned almost, a little quaint and understatedly elegant. Wedding Bouquet is all those things.
“Created exclusively to celebrate the marriage of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton, Wedding Bouquet draws inspiration from the most acclaimed Floris wedding fragrances of the past whilst introducing a modern twist using a white flower theme. Jasmine to signify eternal love –Lily of the Valley says ‘you have made my life complete’ – Orange Blossom conveys innocence and marriage – Stephanotis signifies happiness in marriage.”
-from the Floris website
Wedding Bouquet starts with a lovely lilly of the valley note enhanced by citrus, but soon calms into a very soft white floral accord that is as far from heady and cloying as I am from being the Kaiserin. Wedding Bouquet is very quiet, soft, refined, demure almost and keeps close to me, but it is very charming. It dries down into a warm and creamy sandalwood and musk base that may not be the world’s most imaginative accord, but it smells elegant and sophisticated. It is a more grown-up version of Illuminum White Gardenia Petals.
I am very taken with this little perfume, it is absolutely appropriate for daily wear, but festive enough for a real wedding. I would have worn this on my own wedding day, had I known it then (it is husband-approved too!). I am certainly going wear it in two weeks time, when I attend the wedding of a friend.
If you are married, what perfume did you wear on your wedding day? If not, what would you want to wear?
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Hm, I’ll attend a wedding in two weeks as well – are we going to meet ?
Floris sounds nice, unspectacularly nice. But why one should always be spectacular ?! – it’s sooo stressy.
Is the wedding you go to in Schloss Laxenburg?
You are so right about spectacular being stressful, some days nice is all I need. 🙂
Oh no, the one I have to go will be in Kitzbühl, unfortunately… :-((
I know it might not be the most appropriate bridal perfume, but I would wear my all time favourite L’Ombre Dans L’Eau. It deviates significantly from the white flower theme, and it might seem as if wearing a red wedding gown, but on that day, I would like to smell my most beloved fragrance, and wrap in its familiar comfort!
You are absolutely right, Alexandra. You should wear what you want on such a special day. L’Ombre dans l’Eau is certainly beautiful and appropriate. I am almost glad I was not that heavily into perfume when I got married, because the agony of choice would have been awful for me! 😉
So glad you have reviewed this one – I wore it on the day of The Royal Wedding, sitting on the sofa with my posh china cup of tea! I like it a lot too, and actually found it more modern than a lot of the Florises like White Rose and China Rose (though that one is gone now). This reminded me of a number of contemporary scents like Miss Dior Chérie L’Eau, Cristalle Eau Verte (though less citrussy and sharp than either of those), also a bit of Creed Love in White (on account of the sandalwood), but I liked it more than any of them. I also got a little bit of green in the opening harking back to Eau de Camille, though not quite so hedgey! Altogether a very pretty little number, and a good direction for Floris to go in, when you think where Penhaligon’s have gone lately.
As for what I would wear on my hypothetical wedding day – ooh, you have got me there! This would be a good choice, or maybe Serge Lutens Un Lys. Our friend White Gardenia Petals is quite “me” too, though someone beat me to it… Or La Chasse aux Papillons might fit the bill – my name means “butterfly” in Latin, and it would suggest my husband had finally caught me? : – )
I love the image of you drinking tea and smelling like Wedding Bouquet on the sofa!
We are really on the same track these days! 🙂
I hope Floris keeps going in the same direction as Penhaligon’s does. I love British tradition, but I love well-made perfumes even more.
I have to try La Chasse, you have mentioned it several times now, I should like this one as well if you do. 🙂
Is Floris a bit dowdier than Penhaligon’s? I don’t know Penhaligon’s very well – it’s hard to get where I live – but it seems to be trying to modernise, from what I can see. I do remember Floris being sold years ago at a department store in Melbourne. I think I bought their Edwardian Bouquet. Not sure happened to it. I got bored with it I think.
I’d say Floris is a bit further down the dowdiness-scale from Penhaligon’s. 😀
But I think Penhaligon’s did very well by hiring Bertrand Duchaufour, and this latest perfume by Floris strikes me as a step in the right direction (i.e. out of the dowdiness zone) as well. I do not know any other Floris perfumes better than an initial sniff, none held my interest, but a royal wedding changes a lot of things apparently. 😉
If vintage Diorissimo is as good as people say, I would wear that.
What’s more likely to happen: that I get my hands on a pristine bottle of vintage Diorissimo, or that I get married again. Hmmm … tough one …
Sounds like a very good choice. I have never smelled original Diorissimo either.
I hope you get the one you want more of those two options, man or Dior. 🙂
I’d probably wear Chanel no. 5 EdT – on that special day I’d probably want to wear something that I’m very familiar with and that holds a lot of personal history for me. I think I’d invest in the body lotion, soap and what other products were available, too.
Wedding Bouquet sounds delightful! But being a single gal, I’d hate to have to reveal that I was wearing something with that name – don’t want to appear desperate and already in full swing with the wedding plans 😉
I knew you would wear No5, Marie. That is your perfume after all! 🙂
Lol, I have not thought about it like that, but you are right, wearing a perfume with that name on a date is probably not a great idea. 😉
Wearing something you have already cherished sounds a great idea. No 5 EDT is lovely. Have you tried the No 5 body creme, by the way? So beautiful. Absolutely one of my favourite products in any form, any scent. I can easily imagine smoothing that on, before slipping on a gorgeous wedding dress.
I wore Floris Edwardian Bouquet on my wedding day. I’m wearing it now, having read your post and had a sudden urge for it. It is a somewhat old-fashioned green and floral scent which I adore. Right now, it is bringing me dappled sun and blossoms on this cool and misty New England morning.
QC, I am glad I helped choose your sotd today! 🙂
Edwardian Bouquet sounds beautiful, what a great perfume for a wedding day. I will try it as soon as I can find it, dappled sun, hhmmmm.
I did not wear perfume on my wedding day, and my bouquet was made out of orange day lillies (no fragrance there, either!). I had long been wearing perfume, and in that time in my life had been looking for the perfect Verbena… which I did not find.
Hmm. Maybe I should reinvestigate fragrances with a verbena note? I have a project!
🙂
My husband and I got married again on our one year anniversary (by the same minister, his best friend), and by that time I had amassed a large perfume collection, but still did not wear fragrance!
I wonder if I’ll wear anything the next time we renew our vows… we’ll soon see, haha!
What a lovely thing to do, this renewing of your vows every year, very Heidi Klum… 😉
No, seriously, it is a beautiful tradition you are starting, maybe keeping this one day per year fragrance-free is part of its special appeal.
The only verbena I know is L’Occitaine’s. My kids and I like the bath gel a lot, but when I’ve spritzed a tester of the perfume I found it a bit thin and short-lived. I wonder if verbena really works as a perfume note on its own? Maybe it’s not convincing enough, if you see what I mean?
I’ve never tried Floris anything in years, except ages ago, I came across Floris Malmaison and it was…heavenly. Think…something along the lines of Caron’s Bellodgia, but with a rosier twist. Although I do like Penhaligon’s Bluebell and Quercus, too.
I had to think a moment to remember what I wore on my (last) wedding day, which wasn’t what anyone would call ‘wedding’ at all. It was …a Bianca Jagger-ish suit, sans floppy hat and black rather than white YSL, a gray chiffon shirt, shoes that were at least a size too big and…vintage Magie Noir. In a word…trouble!
If – and it’s a rather large if at the moment – I am ever swept off my feet again, it would have to be …Elvis in Vegas, peridot silk and …Ubar. Yes. Ubar. Or should it be SL Fleurs d’Oranger? One of those two, I think. I would wear orange blossom in my hair and hope the groom wouldn’t be too gentle…;-)
Well, hope springs eternal, if nothing else does…:-D
You were a sight for sore eyes on your wedding day from your description, love it! 🙂
Ubar is a perfect wedding scent for you, your husband to be will have to wear the devil’s scent of course…
I got married last year, very casual wedding in our backyard. My husband is no great fan of perfume and actually wasn’t feeling very well that day, so I didn’t want to wear anything too powerful. It was a hot day in August, so I just wanted something refreshing and so I wore Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca, one of my favorites for summer.
Herba Fresca is great in the heat, so it sounds like it fitted the occasion and circumstances perfectly.
Have been out of the blogosphere lately, due to the illness and death of my father-in-law, so I’m late to the (wedding) party here – but I had to jump in and comment on this one. My 19th wedding anniversary was Monday, and as that fell between Bill’s death and funeral, we didn’t feel much like celebrating. However, my husband gave me a… how to describe this thing?… a written promise to buy me a fragrance that we both like. It was goofy and sweet, and I know I’ll have fun getting him to smell things with me.
I don’t think I wore any fragrance at my wedding. It was hectic, and I wasn’t interested in perfume at the time; I think right before the ceremony I had a moment of regret for not asking to borrow my mother’s No. 5. At the time, I was wearing the very, very last drops from a 15-year-old bottle of original Chloe edt, and occasionally Revlon Xia Xi’ang (nice soft ambery rose), and the woody-aquatic-ambery weirdie Coty Aspen for Women, and couldn’t really square any of them with my wedding attire. My bouquet did have roses, carnations, and freesias in it, though, so I did carry a little bit of scent with me.
If I were getting married again, or rather renewing vows, I’d probably choose two drops’ worth of Amoureuse, gorgeous honeyed white floral thing. Or possibly the very romantic Chamade, or J’Adore L’Absolu, or the original Kate Spade scent, of which I have a sample: tuberose, jasmine, lily of the valley, gardenia, and honeysuckle. Very pretty stuff, impossible to find these days.
Mals, I am very sorry to hear about your loss, I hope your husband and you are finding a way to deal with it as well as possible.
Your anniversary present sounds wonderful, how great that the both of you are going to sniff your way to something mutually beloved.
I am glad you chime in! 🙂 Isn’t it interesting how many of us did not wear perfume at our weddings? Your bouquet sounds beutifully fragrant in any case.
I have a sample of Amoureuse I have not yet tried, will do that now, thanks to you.
I am also late to the comment party, but what a timely topic for me! I am getting married this summer and have been agonizing, literally, over what perfume to wear. I have a small army of samples on their way to me so I can decide. Unlike many of the commenters here, I actually want to wear something different for my wedding, so I can always associate the new scent with the symbolic beginning of our lives together (obviously, the beginning of our lives together has actually been a few years ago, of course!).
Oh, how lovely, you are a bride!!! 🙂
It is a beautiful idea to look for a new perfume that you will associate with this day and nothing else from now on. Do you have some contenders already? Please let us know which one will turn out to be ” the one”!
We’d love to hear what you choose.
Thank you both! I think my current front runner is Guerlain’s Mayotte, the others I seriously considered but ultimately rejected were Iris Ukiyoe (not joyful enough), Shalimar (I wear it often, so it wouldn’t be special for the day), and Eau Claire de Merveilles (I was wearing Eau de Merveilles when I met my sweetie, but don’t love either enough to wear on the day). So. With that, I will stop hijacking your post, but let me know if you have suggestions! 🙂
You are not hijacking anything! I am glad to hear from you. Mayotte – very interesting! Keep us updated! 🙂
Yet another late to the party commenter!
I love hearing about everyone’s wedding day fragrances! So many beautiful choices.
I wore a very cheap LOTV perfume oil from the local hippee/imports/new age boutique. The scent reminded me of a set of fragrances my older sister was given as a child (oh how I coveted those). The association was a happy memory and that day more happy memories were made, so in the end it was a good choice.
If we were getting married now, as opposed to 10 years ago (anniversary is in 13 days!) if the weather was as warm as it was on my wedding day, perhaps Cartier IV L’Heure Fougueuse!
Welcome to the party!
L’Heure Fougueuse would be lovely, also the name fits the occasion.
I may out myself as incredibly stupid here, but what does LOTV mean? It seems to have been a perfect choice after all! 🙂
Sorry…I asked the same question myself not too long ago!
It means lily of the valley. Sometimes I’m too lazy to type the whole phrase out…
Ah, thanks. Didn’t think of that. 😉
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let’s continue the tradition – i’ll be the latest of the late 🙂
a fascinating topic since i’ve also been into perfume last couple of years and managed to acquire quite a bunch of samples and decants.. and now i’m getting married, in a few months.
it is very simple for me though. first time i sampled Carnal Flower i thought: this is what i’m wearing on my wedding day! and i wasn’t even getting married then. it was just so white, so beautiful, so feminine, so breathtaking…
another runner up is Puredistance Antonia.
an extremely beautiful white-green, sunny and fragile, happy and elegant, all at the same time.
Hi Natalia! Congratulations!
Puredistance Antonia is wonderful, have you tried Puredistance I as well? In my mind it is the ideal bridal perfume…
Let us know what makes the cut in the end! I am curious! 🙂
I wore Iris Poudre to my own wedding, which was a very very small and discreet daytime wedding.
Now I can only wear it on very special occasions.
Hello Caro!
Iris Poudre is so beautiful, lovely choice! I understand that it is not an everyday perfume for you anymore. You could wear it on every wedding anniversary though. 😉
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