Its not really a good time for flowers. Perhaps you could think about using dried blooms with seed heads and wonderful coloured stems such as the many dogwood varieties, plus some evergreen foliage. Achillea dries well and will give you some fabulous antique shades and there are many grasses that look good in a winter display. Opium poppy seedheads are very impressive. Sadly its too late to be planting poppies but you might be able to beg some pods from a friend. I doubt any grasses would mature in time unless you bought plants from a garden centre. Achillea is in flower now and you should be able to buy those at a nursery. The many winter flowering shrubs often don't get their act together until after Christmas.
Last year we had some annual Cosmos and planted them out a little late and cut the central stem. This encouraged a lot of foliage growth and it didn't actually start flowering until mid to late October. Bear in mind though we were lucky with frost (or lack of it). It is too late to plant from seeds but if you can get plants and cut them back before flowering then maybe you will be lucky.
Also, the various schitzostylis (kefir Lillies) often flower late into the year, the pictures below were taken in late October 2015.
If you protect them completely from frost you should find that many Dahlias will still be flowering into November. You might get similar joy from Geraniums (not the hardy ones), I'm not sure how suitable these are for weddings but you can get white ones (as you can with Dahlias).
Maybe take a trip to the garden centre a few days before the wedding and buy anything that's flowering!
If you bring a dahlia in a pot into a greenhouse in October and religiously deadhead I would have thought you'd have a good chance of keeping it flowering unless the wedding is right at the end of the month.
My verbena bonariensis were still flowering last November, albeit rather faded but still pretty, and I have a bronze late flowering chrysanth like the ones Dove mentioned that was still going strong well into November. It was mostly a mild dry month last year though - a very cold or very wet one could be a problem.
The other option is bright coloured leaves and berries, which can be gorgeous. If you have to cut them early - if a storm is forecast - apparently the trick to preserving them is to stand leaves (branches) in a solution of glycerin and for berries you can spray the branches with hairspray to keep them looking fresh for a little longer. Just don't do what a friend of mine did and put them in the freezer.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
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Nerines, certain Chrysanthemum, cyclamen, autumn daffodils.
Its not really a good time for flowers. Perhaps you could think about using dried blooms with seed heads and wonderful coloured stems such as the many dogwood varieties, plus some evergreen foliage. Achillea dries well and will give you some fabulous antique shades and there are many grasses that look good in a winter display. Opium poppy seedheads are very impressive. Sadly its too late to be planting poppies but you might be able to beg some pods from a friend. I doubt any grasses would mature in time unless you bought plants from a garden centre. Achillea is in flower now and you should be able to buy those at a nursery. The many winter flowering shrubs often don't get their act together until after Christmas.
Thank you Ceres!
I thought it would be difficult......
Last year we had some annual Cosmos and planted them out a little late and cut the central stem. This encouraged a lot of foliage growth and it didn't actually start flowering until mid to late October.
Bear in mind though we were lucky with frost (or lack of it). It is too late to plant from seeds but if you can get plants and cut them back before flowering then maybe you will be lucky.
Also, the various schitzostylis (kefir Lillies) often flower late into the year, the pictures below were taken in late October 2015.
There are some hardy chrysanthemums that flower in late October/November
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3339251/On-the-spot-the-best-late-flowering-chrysanthemums.html
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If you protect them completely from frost you should find that many Dahlias will still be flowering into November. You might get similar joy from Geraniums (not the hardy ones), I'm not sure how suitable these are for weddings but you can get white ones (as you can with Dahlias).
Maybe take a trip to the garden centre a few days before the wedding and buy anything that's flowering!
protection will be needed whatever you choose, anything in the garden is unreliable at best
In the sticks near Peterborough
If you bring a dahlia in a pot into a greenhouse in October and religiously deadhead I would have thought you'd have a good chance of keeping it flowering unless the wedding is right at the end of the month.
My verbena bonariensis were still flowering last November, albeit rather faded but still pretty, and I have a bronze late flowering chrysanth like the ones Dove mentioned that was still going strong well into November. It was mostly a mild dry month last year though - a very cold or very wet one could be a problem.
The other option is bright coloured leaves and berries, which can be gorgeous. If you have to cut them early - if a storm is forecast - apparently the trick to preserving them is to stand leaves (branches) in a solution of glycerin and for berries you can spray the branches with hairspray to keep them looking fresh for a little longer. Just don't do what a friend of mine did and put them in the freezer.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Thank you to all of you!
That really helps, I have some possibilities now.