Flowers For Men

Yesterday I sent some flowers to Dorset wedding photographer Courtenay Hitchcock of Courtenay Photographic. He had recommended me to some clients getting married next year at Athelhampton House and I just wanted to say thanks.  I rarely go anywhere these days without a gift of flowers and so my natural instinct was to send a bouquet.

But then a male friend said something to the effect of  ”Sending flowers to a man – isn’t that a bit risky?” It had never really struck me that that might be weird, and it got me wondering. Is it?

The men I come across when I’m doing my weddings seem to enjoy the excuse to wear some flowers. Sometimes the groom doesn’t come to the flower consultations at all, and occasionally you get one who comes but asks if it would be terribly rude if he sat in the car while we discussed the details, but often they seem to take a genuine interest in, at the very least, what will be in their buttonhole.

My own male friends and acquaintances tend to be pretty rounded, reconstructed types – and quite a few of them gay – so any inherent male need to present a macho front is not something I’ve ever really come across, but perhaps my impressions are skewed by that. I also realise that any men reading this are probably only here because they’re keen on flowers, but I would still be really interested to know how you feel if you are given flowers. Is it lovely? Or embarrassing? Do you read anything into it? Find it emasculating? Or is there a line which has to be carefully negotiated? Is a bunch of cornflowers for the table when I’m coming to tea OK, but a big bouquet wrapped in tissue paper on your birthday an entirely different matter?

And, women, do you buy men flowers? If so, just your partner, or would you risk buying them for somebody else’s?

Answers in the comments box, please. Courtenay, by the way (luckily), seemed thrilled.  And many thanks to him, too, for the fab photo.