The most unusual royal wedding bouquet of all? – Royal Central

It’s not often that the bridal bouquet bears its own name, but that’s exactly what happened at the first grand royal wedding of the 21st century. When Mette-Marit Tjessem Hjoiby married Crown Prince Haakon of Norway on August 25, 2001 in Oslo, she wore an unusual flower arrangement that had a title of its own.

The creation was called “Brudeloperen” and it remains one of the most memorable of all royal bridal bouquets. It was designed by one of Oslo’s most respected florists, Aina Nyberget Kleppe, along with Mette-Marit herself and defied all expectations when it comes to royal wedding flowers.

The shape is perhaps the most distinctive part of this arrangement. Mette-Marit moves away from the traditional formations of round bouquets or cascading bouquets and becomes linear with its flowers. The purple flowers were arranged in long, straight lines that fell almost to the ground.

The stems chosen to compose the bouquet included hydrangeas, orchids and roses as well as greenery such as rosary vine and bear grass. The flowers were attached to a structure of willow and moss, held together by wire, to help hold their shape during the long royal wedding day.

Mette-Marit chose deep shades of purple and green for her bouquet, another unusual choice. However, there are also more traditional bridal roses in the flowers and from a distance the bouquet gives a striking impression of the colors of the Norwegian flag – red, white and blue.

In the language of flowers, so loved by Queen Victoria, a great-great-great-grandmother of Crown Prince Haakon, the color choices are rather symbolic. Purple signifies royalty, a fitting nod for a bride who had been criticized by some for her past but became a pending queen on her wedding day. White flowers are a symbol of marriage while pink denotes sensitivity. Bridal roses take on the meaning of happy love.

The bouquet was also the perfect complement to the wedding dress chosen by Mette-Marit and designed by Ove Harder Finseth. Twenty years later, she remains an all-time classic royal bride with perhaps the most unusual bouquet of all.