The Best Flowers for June Weddings

June is the month for which the British cutting garden was invented. The extraordinary coincidence of rose season, sweet pea season, foxglove season, and early dahlia season in a single month creates a floral abundance that is almost impossible to replicate at any other time of year. For weddings, June offers choices that are unavailable in any other month: fully perfumed garden roses at the height of their first flush, sweet peas in their ephemeral beauty, foxgloves providing vertical drama, and the possibility of UK-grown flowers for almost every element of the arrangement.

Garden roses: the June centrepiece

The first flush of garden roses peaks in June. These are not the tight-budded, long-stemmed florist roses that arrive from Kenya or the Netherlands year-round; they are the large, open, deeply fragrant old-fashioned roses that smell as a rose is supposed to smell. Varieties like 'Juliet', 'Keira', 'Olivia', 'Miranda', and 'Constance' from David Austin are the varieties most sought after by wedding florists for their combination of extraordinary beauty, generous petal count, and genuine fragrance. Booking a florist who has access to UK-grown David Austin roses for a June wedding is the single best decision most brides and couples make.

Sweet peas: the fragrance of June

Sweet peas have an association with June weddings that is almost as strong as the rose's. Their tendrilled, fluttering blooms in every shade of pink, violet, white, and cream are quintessentially romantic, and their fragrance, warm and sweet and instantly evocative of summer, fills a marquee or church with something no other flower quite replicates. The challenge with sweet peas is their vase life: they last approximately three to four days in water and must be conditioned carefully. For a wedding, this means working with a florist who will condition them the day before and arrange them on the morning of the event.

“A June wedding arranged with UK-grown sweet peas, garden roses, and foxgloves is one of the most beautiful things that British floristry can produce. And in June, it is also among the most affordable.”

Supporting flowers and foliage

In June, the supporting cast is as impressive as the leading flowers. Peonies, if early in the month, are still available. Alliums are finishing but provide beautiful seed heads. Foxgloves are at their most dramatic and create extraordinary vertical elements in church arrangements. Nigella, also called Love-in-a-mist, is in full seed and adds delicate texture. Herbs such as lavender, mint in flower, and scented geranium provide fragrance and a rustic quality. June foliage, from beech to fern to garden herbs, is at its freshest and most beautifully coloured.