Unique Bouts for Gents
by Mandy Majerik on June 15, 2012 at 9:27 am
One of my favorite elements of a wedding is the groom’s boutonniere. Often shortened to “bout,” or referred to by the British as a “button hole,” it is the one opportunity for the groom to complement his bride with a bit of fresh floral or a unique decorative element.
Symbolic of warding off bad smells, disease and evil spirits, boutonnieres were worn at weddings, but also grew very popular during the 40’s in numerous movies seen on the suits of such famous gents as Cary Grant and Fred Astaire. Today’s modern groom is open minded and willing to experiment with the contents of his boutonniere, and brides are taking the opportunity to add a little character and detail to be displayed on her groom.
Among some of the most unique elements I have used and seen have been butterflies, buttons, cotton, paper cones, wire, and of course some unique textures of fresh flowers and foliage. One of the most unique buttonholes I have ever created I designed for a wedding to be held at one of Birmingham’s local attractions. Vulcan Park is a symbol of Birmingham’s history and sells many, many souvenirs. Among them, I discovered a flat penny machine. Instantly, I knew that I wanted to incorporate one into the groom’s bout. Simply paired with small curly willow, it was the perfect accent and a great piece of memorabilia to have from their wedding day.
Just as the bride’s bouquet is a reflection of her, the boutonniere can play into the personality of the groom. So have fun with it. Your florist can use hints you give them to make a bout custom fit for your wedding theme. Ask them for ideas.
Tell us about unique accents you’ve seen on boutonnieres.
My fiance and I are enpreiexcing a bit of a role reversal, in that I am in the minority of grooms, one who is the primary planner/coordinator of our upcoming wedding. My fiance has great taste and is involved with all major decisions, but is also an extremely busy professional, so I was happy to step up as the experienced party planner, doing the homework and pre-negotiating with vendors, before my fiance and I together make final selections of vendors and the plan. However, I had never planned a wedding before, so I’ve bought many books and read lots of websites and paged through many magazines (I don’t think I can look at another magazine ad of a bride-model laying horizontal on a couch without snickering). Virtually everything is written for the bride who typically plans the wedding which to me means there is a heavy emphasis on decorations and flowers and invitations and linens and color schemes it was all driving me crazy as a guy trying to put together a wedding plan that is simply fun and action oriented, while still allows for nice things. I’ve attended many dozens of weddings over the years and I’ve kept an eye on what makes weddings enjoyable and memorable: keep it festive, keep guests involved, and make sure there is time for the happy couple to spend time with each of the guests. I never saw any correlation with the size of the party, the location, the decorations, even the food quality (and I’m a big foodie), with how successful and fun the wedding was. Given this perspective, I looked and looked for wedding planning advice in all the books and magazines and websites, hoping to find action oriented advice for having a festive wedding reception frankly, I found little useful advice. Finally, just three months before our upcoming wedding, I have found the book I really needed on the recommendation of a wedding DJ friend (who lives and works in another state), I ordered Peter Merry’s book, which I have found to be chock full of actionable ideas from an experienced wedding DJ/entertainment director. He focuses on the concept of entertainment and leaves decorations and other more frivolous things to the other books. He is a welcome voice, a rare male perspective in wedding planning books, that a planning groom, and presumably planning brides as well, needs. I’ve already made adjustments to the reception agenda and found validation with some activity ideas we already had in place. Rest assured, there will be great food and many touches of elegance in the design of our wedding, but I am now more confident as ever we will have a truly festive wedding with Peter Merry’s advice influencing our plan. Many thanks to the author the advice is easily 10 times worth the cover price of the book. I strongly recommend this book to anyone planning their wedding.
My daughter, Maggie, is investigating vendors for her May 26, 2013 wedding. What can you tell me about this whole process? I should explain that Maggie (and her beau) is an out-of-town medical resident working about 80 hours per week. The Old Man’ is trying to do some advance research for her. HELP!!