Photo: via Passion Roots
If you're looking for something a bit more striking and architectural than traditional wedding flowers, then take a look at tillandsia, also known as air plants. These sculptural plants come in hundreds of varieties and are a great way to add some fresh greenery to your wedding. Best of all, these plants are eco-friendly — they require hardly any water (unlike fresh-cut flowers that need a ton) and air plants will stay alive long after the wedding day. Display them in your home post-wedding and they'll be a tangible reminder of your nuptials.
Similar to succulents, air plants have become a huge wedding trend and are making an appearance in everything from bouquets and boutonnieres to even the wedding cake. Air plants are available year round but are a great choice for summer weddings since they can stand up to the heat and won't wilt. To get you inspired, we've rounded up of our favorite ways to feature air plants in your wedding day.
Pink Bouquet with Air Plants (above): Spiky tillandsia add extra texture to this lush bouquet of garden roses, ranunculuses, peonies, and succulents by Hawaii-based florist Passion Roots.
Photo: Laura Ivanova Photography
Air Plants and Astilbe Bouquet: Though air plants look right at home at modern and rustic weddings, they can also work for more elegant celebrations, too. Case in point: this romantic bouquet combining soft mint-green air plants with cream-colored astilbe, dusty millers, and rice flowers.
Photo: Kate Harrison Photography
Organic Air Plant Bouquet: If your wedding style is a little more rustic and wild, go for tons of texture, like this bouquet by Tend Living combining blue thistles, cotton, and a large tillandsia air plant for a bit of drama.
Photo: Erin Kate
Beach Bouquet with Air Plants: Versatile air plants also look great at beach weddings — just add cream-colored flowers and elements with touches of blue, like privet berries, thistles, and delphinium blossoms.
Photo: Christy Cassano-Meyer
Air Plant Boutonniere: A single sculptural tillandsia air plant perfectly complements a sleek black suit.
Photo: Adrienne Gunde Photography
Air Plant Ceremony Arch: If you love them as much as we do, go all out at your ceremony and ask your florist to create a lush archway made almost entirely of air plants, like this lush design by Bunch Studio.
Photo: Evynn LeValley Photography
Air Plant Curtain: String air plants using fishing line to create a stunning ceremony backdrop for your vow exchange.
Photo: She-n-He Photography
Air Plant Place-Card Holder: Use a spiky air plant to prop up each guest's place card. You can even spray-paint them gold, as seen here.
Photo: Caroline Tran
Air Plant Wedding Favor: Give each guest an air plant to take home, planted in white pebbles in a glass vase.
Photo: Caroline Tran
Wedding Cake Decorated with Air Plants: Finish off a modern square-shaped wedding cake by adding a few air plants to the tiers.
Special thanks to Sean Nestlerode at Torchio Nursery in San Francisco for his help with our "In Season Now" flower series!