A guide to Wedding Button Holes & Corsages

As a very busy Warwickshire based Wedding Photographer I’m often capturing the preparations and occasionally a need arises for me to pop down my gear and start fiddling with people’s button holes! The fact of the matter is that in the rush to get ready many of Bridal Party or Groomsmen don’t know about button holes or corsages – and why would they?

Fear not! For what appears to be rocket science to a nervous Groom before his wedding isn’t really that difficult to master.

So let me guide you through the basics so hopefully your Wedding Photographer or Wedding Planner won’t need to intervene at your wedding.

Button Holes (The Man Flower!)…

The chaps wear their button holes on their left lapel pointing up making sure that it is never pushed through the button hole (this doesn’t look very good!). Instead hold the button hole flower above the button hole and pin from behind whilst putting the stem between your thumb and forefinger through the fabric of the lapel. If you get this right then the flower should look like it is floating on the jacket – nice job!

Corsages (The flower that is attached to the Mums etc)

Interestingly this goes on the ladies right hand side with the flower downwards with the stem pointing towards their shoulder. Hopefully with the flower upside down it should be a little more comfortable for the lady as well as having a higher chance of staying put! Obviously, care should be taken in the way it is attached to the dress as the fabric will be thinner unlike a men’s jacket lapel.

The Crush!

A lot of the time when I’m shooting Wedding Portraits later in the day, I find the Grooms button hole looks somewhat crushed or withered – not surprising given the number of hugs it’s had and of course it will dry out. I usually remedy this by borrowing another guests button hole if available. It can also be a good idea to perhaps have a spare saved for portraits?