Wedding perfumes

Meredith is getting married this fall. She’s chosen her dress — a slender, vintage silk linen column, sort of a cross between something Empress Josephine and Penelope Tree might have worn. She’s selected the menu for the reception, chosen flowers, and is mailing invitations this week. However, she hasn’t yet found the right perfume to wear for the wedding.

Wedding fragrances seem to need to do a little of everything. A wedding scent should convey happiness, be present but not overwhelming, and complement the setting — usually a churchy blend of flowers, beeswax candles, organ music, and white organza. Most of all, the scent should be calm and joyful. If the scent is new to the bride, whenever she smells it, she will remember her wedding.

According to people I talked to at a handful of local bridal boutiques, Vera Wang and Estee Lauder Beautiful get a lot of play, but few other scents stand out as favorites. One bridal boutique sales associate said that she often recommends Patou Sublime or Cabotine Rose. At the Perfume House in Portland, Tracy and Pam say that Creed White Flowers, Givenchy Amarige Love, and Lalique are popular with brides. Franco at Luckyscent said that his wife wore Nanadebary Pink for their wedding. For a light, fresh scent, he recommended Beth Terry Mare, and for a sweeter, gourmand scent, he said that Ginestet Boytrytis and Lea St.Barth Extreme are often chosen for weddings (in fact, one of Luckyscent’s employees wore the St. Barth Extreme on her wedding day).

For my friend Meredith, pretty white flowers aren’t going to satisfy. She normally wears Serge Lutens’ Gris Clair or L’Artisan’s Méchant Loup. She’s an artist, slender and brunette like Natalie Wood in her Splendor in the Grass days. Although she may seem reserved to strangers, I have a feeling that if she could get married with a parrot or two on her shoulder, she’d do it. I’ve pressured her to try Annick Goutal Songes, but she says she’s looking for a scent that reminds her of “Isabella Duncan looking out at snow”.