Roses: For one special day, they fulfill so many dreams.

If there could be only one flower in the world, it would have to be the rose. Classic in form, the rose is the standard to which other flowers are held. At the same time, its opulence evokes such emotion that it has won the hearts of poets, painters, and lovers throughout history. No wonder the rose has always held such a special place in the dreams and bouquets of brides everywhere.

One might suggest that beauty is reason enough for the rose to be known as the flower of love: The tightly furled buds unfold into satin-petaled expressions of promises kept, and the rose declares itself in colors from dove white to valentine red with every blushing shade in between. Yet even the youngest flower girl knows it's the ineffable fragrance that seduces and binds us to the rose.

Most often the word rose brings to mind the tapered buds and sculptural elegance of the modern hybrid tea rose, but this is but one of the flower's many forms. Intense cultivation of the rose peaked in the nineteenth century, when mauve-toned European roses mingled with glowing, tea-scented Chinese roses, producing more than twenty thousand varieties that are available today. The variations are astonishing. Not only can they be found in every color -- except blue -- but rose blossoms can be as big as oranges or as tiny as the tumbling sprays of cluster roses and thimble-sized miniatures fit for the most delicate bouquet.

With so many possibilities, how do you begin to choose for your wedding day? Consider the effect you wish to achieve, as well as the purpose the flowers will serve, for the rose is supremely versatile. It stands unchallenged in vases by the altar, lends its perfumed petals to the flower girls' baskets, and marks a place setting with aplomb as a single bloom floating in a water-filled votive. Don't be afraid to use roses in nontraditional ways: Tuck a few between layers of the cake; pass out paper cones filled with petals for guests to toss, instead of rice.

Roses are perhaps most effective in a bouquet. Think of wondrous old garden roses -- the same ones that dazzled the Dutch masters during the Renaissance, who portrayed them in deep swoon, fainting over the sides of porcelain jardinieres. These antique charmers and their modern cousins have a romantic sensibility. They give the nod to bouquets that cascade and sway and may drop a few pale petals during the course of your day.

The height of luxury is the all-one-color rose bouquet: The choice of hue is up to you. Or pick roses in several shades of compatible colors: white to buff to apricot to burnished gold for a watercolor-effect nonpareil. Mix varying sizes and types for a voluptuous crush of rose upon rose that creates a look of sheer abundance. Use offshoots of your bouquet for bridesmaids' nosegays and, as has been the custom since brides first carried flowers, save one perfect rosebud for your groom's boutonniere. And after the wedding, preserve a few of the prettiest blossoms. Gather the stems, and hang upside down. The color will fade, but dried roses will always hold their shape.

While the rose adores the center of attention, it also enjoys the company of other flowers. Surround a bunch of roses with lacy heads of viburnum or a petit point of Queen Anne's lace for a textural sensation. Drifts of freesia, tuberoses, or sweet peas change the shape and feeling of your bouquet and add a charming perfume. Punctuate a bronze-colored dome of roses with russet-toned autumn leaves. Or spike a pink pool of pom-pom polyanthas -- small cluster roses -- with larkspur to sate the eye's desire for the color blue.

However you use the rose, its romantic intent is to garner indelible memories. The rosebuds you gather today are the result of innumerable crossings of far-flung ancient roses with brilliant newcomers. This floral glory culminates in a special celebration: when a bride takes her roses in hand and walks down a petal-strewn aisle toward her groom and a happily entwined future.

Matching Bouquet and Cake
When bronze roses -- 'Orange Unique,' 'Leonidas,' and 'My Lovely' -- are paired with golden oak leaves and hypericum berries, (above, left) the result is undeniably autumn. The feeling of fall is extended to a three-tiered cake (below), covered in swirls of brown-sugar meringue, then wreathed and topped by the same blossoms and berries.