A Rose for Every Occasion

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Photography: Maria Robledo

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Red Rose Cake

A pristine white cake, piped with tiny beads around each tier, is sprinkled with a flutter of red rose petals.
Photography: Maria Robledo

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Orange Rose Cake

This three-tiered cake echoes the bride's bouquet. Covered in swirls of brown-sugar meringue, then wreathed and topped by the same blossoms and berries, this cake provides cohesiveness from the ceremony to the reception.
Photography: Victor Schrager

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A Tisket a Tasket

Garden roses are arranged between buttercream tiers piped in a basket-weave pattern to resemble wicker. Atop the cake, a ceramic pot (with no hole in the bottom) is overflowing with roses anchored in floral foam.
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Rose Petal Curls

A string of soft petals encircling a dainty cake makes romantic use of a classic flower. With sepal removed, the petals of a perfect rose fall open; the flower's grace repeats in a necklace of pale petals -- cream and blushing yellow -- on the cake's first tier.
Photography: Sang Ann

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Singular Sensation

The beauty of this cake is punctuated by the purity and simplicity of one giant flawless rose perched on the top. The white tiers are decorated with confectionary bands inspired by the lace of a bridal gown.
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Sweet Treats

Simple designs, like the luscious buttercream blooms atop these tiny cakes, can make a big impression. Just three inches high, these beauties could be the highlight of a dessert buffet or served at each place.
Photography: Maria Robledo

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Bowl of Blossoms

Simple and sublime, 'Inge' and 'Toscanini' roses float in an old-fashioned fishbowl and in votives to mark each place setting; the votives can be taken home as favors.
Photography: Formula Z/S

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Moss and Rose Centerpiece

This unusual, lush centerpiece made of moss and roses is rustic and modern at once -- and inexpensive and easy enough to make yourself.

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Rustic Floating Rose Centerpiece

At a casual outdoor wedding, full-blown roses in rough-hewn containers make beautiful centerpieces. Floaters can keep heavy blooms adrift. The best vessels can often be found tucked away in basements or garden sheds.
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Black Rose Centerpiece

If the effusive ranunculus and garden roses are the stars of this centerpiece, the peach calla lilies, ruffly bottlebrush grevillea, dinner-plate dahlias, spindly spider lilies, and vintage velvet swirls are their lovely supporting players.
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Lilac and Brown: Succulent Centerpiece

In a table setting that evokes an English garden, roses and flowering oregano in mauve tones contrast with succulents (brown-tinged echeverias and trailing crassula) and curly fiddleheads.
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Rose Champagne

Tiny roses add an elegant detail to your champagne toast. To make the garnishes, insert a toothpick into the base of each blossom at an angle of a little less than 45 degrees. Cut the stems cleanly about 1 inch shorter than the length of the toothpick; you may have to adjust length depending on the weight of the bloom. Place each toothpick just inside of a rim, letting the roses balance delicately on top.
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Crystallizing Rose Petals

Crystallized edible rose petals make a beautiful garnish for a wedding cake, and the process is very simple.

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Rose Melting Moments

These cakey cookies are topped with pretty crystallized rose petals.

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Swiss Meringue Ribbon Roses

These flowery confections are a perfect accent to your wedding cake.

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Envelope Sachets

These sweet-smelling bundles -- great for shower or wedding favors -- are inexpensive and easy to make. You'll need dried rose petals, dried lavender, and cedar shavings (available at health-food stores, floral shops, and bath shops) and envelopes in corresponding colors. How-to: Label envelopes. For each sachet, pour in 1/8 cup of filling, and seal. Stack one of each color, and tie with ribbon.
Photography: Susie Cushner

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Flower-Market Favors

Painted metal buckets brimming with blooms call to mind a French flower market. But these bunches, wrapped in colored waxed tissue paper, are not for sale; they're meant to be given as wedding favors. Display them near a doorway or throughout a reception hall on tiered metal stands painted to match the buckets. At day's end, post a card inviting guests to pick a bunch.
Photography: BEATRIZ DA COSTA

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Surprise Programs

Surprise guests with a program that's fun to open. Cards are tucked in organza pouches with rose petals.
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Rose Petal Cones

Cut paper doilies into quarters, roll into cones, and seal with a sticker or tape. On the day of the wedding, fill the cones with petals from fresh, opened roses. Stand the cones in a tissue paper-lined box, and hand them out to guests just after the ceremony.