Orchids at Weddings: What They Mean, How to Wear Them

The flower that started everything

Orchids are where this studio began, they are in the name, Clay Orchids, and fourteen years later they are still the blooms at the heart of my work, and the ones with the richest story to tell at a wedding.

What orchids mean

Across cultures, orchids carry the same constellation of meanings: love, luxury, beauty, and strength. In Victorian England, an orchid was the rarest gift a suitor could give. The deeper the feeling, the rarer the flower. In parts of Asia, orchids stand for fertility and new beginnings. For a wedding, it is hard to write a better sentence with a single flower.

Orchids are also remarkably long-lived as living plants. A fitting emblem for a marriage. The clay version simply makes the promise literal: this one never fades at all.

Colors and their moods

• White: purity, elegance, reverence. The classic bridal orchid; luminous against ivory and champagne gowns.
• Blush and pink: joy, grace, and gentle affection. The romantic's orchid, and the heart of my own story.
• Lavender and purple: royalty and admiration; striking in autumn and evening weddings.
• Blue: rare and unforgettable. True blue orchids barely exist in nature, in clay, they are made petal by petal, so a blue-orchid bride carries something genuinely one of a kind.

Where orchids shine

A cascading bouquet of white orchids is pure ceremony. A single orchid stem makes a sculptural bridesmaid posy. Small orchid blossoms are exquisite in hair vines and pins, where their shape reads like jewelry. A groom's boutonniere, one perfect small bloom, carries the theme to the other side of the aisle. And a clay orchid arrangement is the keepsake that keeps the whole story on your shelf afterward.

However you wear them, orchids ask to be made slowly and exactly. That is how I have made them for fourteen years. If an orchid belongs in your wedding, tell me your color on the custom order form. We will design it together.

— Michelle, Founder