Hannah Brown Made Hydrangeas the Star of Her Dreamy Wedding Flowers – and You Can Get the Look with Romantic Garden Blooms
Inspired by The Bachelorette star's dreamy wedding flowers, learn how hydrangeas and other romantic garden blooms can create an effortless garden-to-altar look.
Former Bachelorette star Hannah Brown married entrepreneur Adam Woolard in a breathtaking ceremony on the coast of France last year and just shared a shot from the altar to her Instagram page to ring in the new year.
If you found yourself lingering over those photos, you weren’t alone. The romantic floral arrangements felt fresh and beautifully unfussy, as if they had just been gathered from a dream garden that morning. Pastel blues and yellows, sunset pinks, lavender, and light green all dominated the altar, blurring the line between cultivated blooms and the natural landscape around them, which was a gorgeous ocean. It was the kind of setting that made gardeners think, “Hey, I could grow that.” And you can!
That’s the magic of a garden-to-altar look. Rather than relying on imported flowers, it leans into seasonal blooms grown closer to home and arranged loosely to feel organic and personal. If you’re planning a late-spring or early-summer wedding, Hannah’s floral look can be replicated with the right plants and timing. From the altar to bouquets and table decor, it is very possible to grow your own wedding flowers (and with the prices of flowers these days, it’s much more economical).
Choosing the Right Flowers
Hannah's wedding flowers included roses, hydrangeas, delphiniums, ranunculus, and peonies – all of which are dependable garden staples in many growing zones. If you want to have a successful garden-to-altar look, these are a great place to start.
Focus on plants that thrive in your area, bloom in season, and feature soft, ethereal hues. If you’re going to have hand-tied bouquets or looser table arrangements, you’ll want to use flowers with sturdier stems and layered petals (which will give your bouquets a nice, full look).
- Hydrangeas provide volume and elegance to floral arrangements. They can be hard to get going in the first year, so it’s best to go with an established plant. It is even possible to change the color of certain hydrangeas by making the soil more acidic or alkaline. This Epsoma additive from Amazon turns blooms pink, and this one turns them blue.
- Garden roses are a wedding classic that provide softness and fragrance. As well as cutting roses, you can grow them in large containers and move them closer to the ceremony space as needed. Lowe's sells a fantastic range of roses.
- Lupins and delphiniums bring height, which in turn means drama, making them perfect for altar backdrops and other large arrangements. Both are short-lived perennials that can be grown from seed.
- Peonies are a favorite for weddings, and they give great texture. However, they bloom very briefly, so plant extras and make sure you get the timing just right (usually May to June).
- Ranunculus are one of my personal favorites, as the blooms look like a little ballet dancer. They bloom super abundantly and make excellent bouquet flowers. Soak the corms overnight before planting in very early spring.
- Zinnias and dahlias are fantastic choices for a late summer or early fall wedding, as they often bloom until October.
Plan Backward from Your Wedding Date
If you’re growing your own flowers, you won’t have a florist to fall back on, so timing is critical. Most spring and summer bloomers need 90–120 days from the planting stage to flowering. Count backward from your wedding date and make sure you build in a two-week buffer for things like weather delays.
Succession sowing seeds will give you a wider blooming window.
Harvest and Condition Like a Florist
Cut flowers early in the morning when the stems are at their most hydrated and immediately put them in a bucket of water, keeping leaves below the waterline. Keep the flowers in a cool area with shade for at least 6-12 hours before arranging them.
Add a floral preservative or mix one teaspoon of sugar and a few drops of bleach per gallon of water to extend the life of your flowers in a vase. Try this 10-oz jar of Bio-based flower food from Chrysal.
Cutting the stems at an angle is also one of the most important aspects of keeping cut flowers for a longer period. These Leize flower pruners from Amazon come in a set of 2, and they are super sharp, with the ability to cut everything from branches to delicate stems.
Wedding Flower Essentials
From Holly Heider Chapple, the designer behind Hannah's wedding flowers, this floral cage is a great alternative to using foam, allowing you to insert stems at all angles with even distribution.
For dramatic centerpieces, this extra-strong foam is designed to hold long, weighty stems and branches. It's also a more sustainable, degradeable option than traditional floral foams.
Cut flowers can last for up to 20 days with this enhancing feed. Perfect for making the most of floral arrangements – especially if your flowers are blooming a week or two earlier than planned.
Prepare Backup Options
No matter how well you plan your wedding, there will always be a few minor things that go wrong. Always grow more flowers than you think you’ll need and supplement that with greenery or potted plants if your blooms peak early or late (flowers are as unpredictable as the weather).
A garden-to-altar wedding like Hannah Brown’s is all about patience and beauty grown in your own backyard. Her ceremony flowers show that you don’t always need expensive floral arrangements but a good eye and some creativity for an economical, DIY solution.
