Bouquet is a French term meaning a certain arrangement of flowers. It is essentially a form of designing and wrapping done with a bunch of flowers to act as a gift on a special event.

Bouquet preparation is recognized as an art that needs considerable patience and perseverance to acquire and cultivate. Commonly known as floristry, bouquet making involves clustering flowers, stems, leaves etc in unique patterns.

Bouquet making starts with selecting the appropriate flowers for clustering and then trimming them to fit an arrangement in a bouquet. Then the dry leaves are separated and a particular floral pattern is created, after which they are tied up and wrapped.

The flowers can be assorted in different patterns depending upon the occasion; however every florist has his distinctive style. The design is also dependent on the availability of flowers in that season and what price the bouquets can fetch in the market.

It is also worth noting that the same type of flowers can assume opposite meanings in some cultures in various parts of the world. Therefore, a bouquet must be chosen sensibly if you want to present it to a person who belongs to another culture.

Down the ages, human feelings have found great expressions through the custom of gifting flowers or bouquets. Flowers and bouquets are made use of for varied purposes, from congratulating someone on the occasion of his or her birthday or anniversary to expressing an apology, or even to just cheer up someone.

Archaeological evidence collected from excavated sites hints at the beginnings of this custom to the prehistoric era. Ancient Greek mythology, Chinese stories and history surrounding the Romans and Egyptians all display that flowers had an indispensable role to play in their culture. In these civilizations, it was thought that emotions could find their most appropriate expression through the giving of flowers. The ancient Greeks even considered some flowers to be related to divinity.

The custom of gifting flowers continued through the Middle Ages, with the French and the English keeping the custom strong. Today as we have assigned meaning to each flower, we are actually continuing an ancient Turkish custom imported into Europe by the French and the British.

The custom of flower giving reached new heights in the Victorian era. Victorians, as we know, never expressed their feelings openly and therefore the practice of gifting flowers or bouquets was regarded an excellent way to communicate feelings without using a lot of words.