Ties & Boutonnieres

Unless you wear a suit for your day job or you're a compulsive wedding groomsman; then tying ties and fixing boutonnieres just so on the lapel of your suit jacket is probably not a common occurence!

In the morning as bridal parties & families get ready for the big day, these are the two things, as photographers, that we get asked about or find ourselves helping with time and time again. Matt's a seasoned pro at tying a tie and I've helped put a fair few boutonnieres and corsages on since becoming a wedding photographer. So naturally I thought I would blog about these mysterious things! 😜

TIES - there's a few different ways to tie a tie. Let's stick with the most common & well known styles; the half windsor and full windsor. Most guys tend to just go for the half windsor as it's easier to get right in length & tension. But if you're wanting to impress you can school yourself up on the full windsor. Rather than explaining these types of tie knots I thought I'd just link to these instructions that I found on Pinterest from Real Men Real Style, or on the day just look for Matt ​😉.

---

​BOUTONNIERES - those fiddly flower things with pins that threaten to stab you in the chest but look really pretty!
​
There's a bit of tradition and etiquette that goes with boutonnieres and while I'm no expert I will try to explain what I know the best I can. Boutonnieres go on your left lapel. From what I've been told by florists its tradition for men to wear them with the stem pointing down, and in contrast for ladies the stem traditionally points up - although I don't believe this tradition is that hard & fast. And guys the stem does not go through the buttonhole of your jacket lapel! Boutonnieres and corsages are attached with a pearl ended pin below of the buttonhole.

To keep the pin discreet and the flowers secure, begin with the pin from the inside/back of the jacket lapel, push it through the fabric and into the stem/ribbon securing of the flowers, make sure the boutonniere is sitting as you want it to and finally thread the pin back through to the underside of the lapel. The pin should run north to south down the lapel and you want it to be firm and secure so that the flowers sit nicely all day.

Here's some great instructions I found on Pinterest from eHow!

Hopefully this blog post is helpful in some way & demistifies these two relatively wedding unique tasks! Let me know if there's anything else you might find useful for me to blog about or something I can help with as you begin planning the finer details of your big day! x