What Is a Corsage, and Who Wears One in Dubai?

A corsage is a small arrangement of flowers made to be worn rather than carried, set on a band at the wrist or pinned to a dress. It has no water supply once it is on, which is why it behaves differently from everything else on a wedding day.

This guide sets out what the word means, how the lapel piece differs from it, and what the published sources do and do not say about wearing flowers in this climate. Amicis designs bridal bouquets and wedding arrangements rather than worn pieces, so what follows is practical rather than a pitch.

What is the difference between a corsage and a boutonniere?

The two words describe where the flowers sit, and both carry an assumption about who wears them. The Random House Unabridged Dictionary has the corsage as a small bouquet worn at the waist, on the shoulder or on the wrist by a woman, and Collins English Dictionary has the flowers pinned to the lapel or bosom, or sometimes carried, by women. The same two dictionaries put the boutonniere in the buttonhole of a lapel and usually on a man, with Collins simply calling it another name for buttonhole.

Notice that the dictionaries give three positions for a corsage and never a side, and the craft documents do not supply one either. The Scottish Qualifications Authority's Wedding Floristry module descriptor, first issued for session 1990-91, sets out as guidance that a buttonhole should be faced so that it sits correctly on a lapel, and that a corsage should be bound beneath its focal point with a corsage pin fitted before the piece is packed. Mississippi State University Extension's wrist version is simply squeezed in to fit whoever is wearing it.

So the side is yours to choose, and there is a reason to choose carefully. The Oklahoma fact sheet on the care and handling of cut flowers reports that a flower's respiration and ethylene output both jump once it is physically damaged, which shortens its life after cutting, so the hand the wearer uses less is the safer one.

On who wears one, the sources point in two directions. The SQA descriptor files the buttonhole and the corsage under wedding floristry, which places them with the wedding party, while Mississippi State Extension's Publication 3803 markets flowers to wear for prom and other senior year celebrations at American schools and colleges. Neither speaks to the Gulf, so there is no local convention here to follow or to break.

Will a corsage survive a full day in Dubai heat?

The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service fact sheet on the care and handling of cut flowers, by John Dole and Michael Schnelle, records that a cut flower is at least 95 per cent water, that it can lose that water fast enough to wilt, and that warmth raises both its respiration and its rate of water loss. It puts a figure on the penalty: a flower held at 41F, about 5C, may deteriorate as much as four times faster than the same flower at 32F. It adds that handling flowers dry and watering them afterwards is common practice, and that it usually costs vase life.

Purdue Extension makes the outdoor version of the point, warning that strong sun or too much warmth pulls the moisture out of a bloom and cuts short how long it stays fresh. One defence is built into the making: WorldSkills UK's floristry lesson plan on taping explains that florists tape wired stems partly to seal moisture in, since taping slows the rate at which plant material transpires and gives up water through the stem. Our own conclusion is to keep a worn piece cold until the moment it goes on, and to expect it to hold for the event rather than for the days after it. See also the best flowers for a Dubai summer.

Which flowers hold up in a worn design?

No published source rates flowers for being worn through a Gulf summer, and the nearest thing has to be read carefully. Mississippi State University Extension's Publication 3803, by James DelPrince, does say "choose flowers that are lightweight and last a long time out of water", but that line is the caption on a prop, a flower-trimmed football, and the same project is where its durable list of carnations, spray roses and statice belongs. Carrying either across to something worn on a wrist is our extension of the source rather than its own claim.

What the publication actually puts on the body is more useful. Its Flower Bracelet is a phalaenopsis orchid and button chrysanthemums cold-glued to a flattened aluminium wire spiral over a silk leaf. Its flower crown uses miniature carnations, statice and waxflower cut back to roughly two inches of stem. Both start from the same two instructions: hydrate every flower properly before it goes into the design, and coat the finished fresh material with anti-transpirant spray.

What does Amicis make for a wedding in Dubai?

Amicis does not make corsages, boutonnieres or buttonholes, and there is nothing in the catalogue that would let you order one. What the studio designs for a wedding is the bouquet the bride carries and the arrangements that dress the day. The bridal bouquet collection starts at 800 dirhams, and the wider wedding bouquets collection adds the arrangements, trays and structures for the ceremony and the reception.

Orchid Cascade is a cascading bridal bouquet led by white phalaenopsis orchids, with green calla lilies supplying the straight lines, white peonies and stock through the upper body, and trailing amaranthus drawing the silhouette downward. Pearl pins, crystal stars and natural seashells are set in individually, so the piece catches light as the bride turns. It is one size, at 1,500 dirhams.

Whispers in Bloom is the looser, garden-grown alternative at 1,200 dirhams. Full white peonies hold the centre, pink nerine lilies and gloriosa lilies in blush and yellow open outward around them, burnt orange ranunculus warms the palette, and one green eremurus spike stands clear of everything else. For the silhouettes themselves, bridal bouquet styles in Dubai works through which shape suits which dress and venue.

How should corsages and buttonholes match the bridal bouquet?

The bouquet is the brief, so whoever makes the worn pieces should be given its flower names rather than a colour word. Send a photograph taken in the venue's own lighting, agree how many pieces are needed and who each one is for, and ask when they will be made and where they will be kept cold until the event.

Then decide what the smaller piece repeats. Whispers in Bloom is the hard case, since a peony head and a tall eremurus spike are both too large to sit on a wrist, which leaves the ranunculus or the nerine as the flower to echo. A single-flower bouquet is the easy case: Cascading Romance in Bloom is pink amaranthus throughout, shading from powder pink at the ends to a deeper fuchsia at the gathering point, so one flower answers for the whole palette.

How much does a bridal bouquet cost in Dubai?

The two bouquets above, the wired Pearl Cascade and the single-flower Cascading Romance in Bloom are gathered in the table below. Each of those product pages carries a field marked Write a love letter, and the message you type there travels with the order.

When do wedding flowers arrive in Dubai and the UAE?

You choose the delivery date, the time slot and the area on the product page itself. The table shows the latest order time for same-day delivery in each emirate, and for a wedding it is worth ordering for the day before.

Frequently asked questions about corsages and boutonnieres

Can a man wear a corsage?

Both dictionary entries attach the corsage to a woman: Random House has it worn by a woman, and Collins has the flowers carried by women. Nothing physical stops a man wearing flowers at the wrist, but the word itself carries the assumption.

Which wrist does a corsage go on, and does it have to be pinned?

No source names a side, so the hand the wearer uses less is the sensible default. On the attachment, the Scottish Qualifications Authority descriptor has a corsage pin fitted to the finished piece, which means a pin through fabric, while Mississippi State Extension sidesteps that on its Flower Bracelet by cold-gluing the flowers onto a wire band.

Do groomsmen wear boutonnieres?

The documents that teach the craft cover how the piece is made rather than who receives one, so there is no standard to point at. Decide it with the wedding party and keep the count consistent, so the pieces read as one decision rather than several.

Do you make corsages to match a bridal bouquet?

No. Amicis designs the bridal bouquet and the arrangements for the day, so if another maker is doing the worn pieces, hand them the bouquet's flower list. For Orchid Cascade that means phalaenopsis orchid, green calla lily, peony, stock and amaranthus.

Do you make graduation corsages?

No, and we do not make them on request either. Bouquets are what we design, and the graduation collection is where that work sits, with bouquets from 450 dirhams and printed cards at 25.

What flower is used for a boutonniere?

The SQA descriptor asks for a flower that is firm and well shaped, wired to a gauge heavy enough to support it and taped so that no wire end shows. Mississippi State Extension reaches for a phalaenopsis orchid on its own wearable piece.

How far ahead can a corsage be made?

Less far ahead than the published example suggests. The crowns that Mississippi State Extension says can be built several days early and held in a fridge inside plastic bags are the leafy ones made from ruscus, and foliage tolerates that treatment far better than open flowers do.

Is there a wrong way to use the fridge?

Yes, and it is the exit rather than the storage. The Oklahoma fact sheet warns against moving flowers straight from a cool room into a warm one, because droplets form, and it names botrytis, or grey mould, as the disease that appears wherever excess moisture does.

Can a corsage be made with silk flowers instead?

That is normal practice in the published designs. Mississippi State Extension's crowns are made from fresh or permanent flowers, it mixes silk and fresh material on a single framework, and it glues a silk leaf under the base of its wrist piece.

Is there a delivery fee for wedding flowers?

Delivery is free in Dubai, 50 dirhams to Sharjah, and 100 dirhams to Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Al Ain. You pick the area on the product page, so the fee is added to the price there rather than at checkout.

Further reading

• Bridal bouquet styles and how to match dress, venue and season
• What wedding flowers cost in Dubai, piece by piece
• How to choose a wedding florist in Dubai
• The flowers that last longest through a Dubai summer
• How to make flowers last longer in Dubai's climate