English Beauty

Tabitha and Mickey currently live abroad, but when it came to getting married they wanted to come back to their homeland and celebrate in true English (with a bit of Scottish!) style.

Choosing very natural English seasonal flowers, tied with raffia, hessian and jute twine the effect was charming, quirky, and just so pretty at the beautiful Bury Court Barn in Surrey.

Yellows and greys on a summers day.

Trends in weddings are always evolving and changing, new ideas filter through from so many sources which is an element of my job I love, it makes each one different and exciting.
 However after doing over 2,000 weddings you would think there was no colour way on a painters pallet that at some point I hadn't encountered.
So before Jodieeven  came to see me saying her colours were yellow and grey, I was so excited I had started creating a board on Pintrest even before she had arrived for our intital meeting, a colour combination I had never had the chance to play with.

And it works so well. The vibrancy of the sunshine yellows, especially at this time of year, complimented with soft, muted greys work so well. I loved every bit of Jodie and John's wedding, held at the beautiful Bury Court this weekend. 

Using lots of seasonal flowers such as achliea, chamomile, succulents, dusty miller, daises, seniceo and dahlias and keeping the props simple I think the overall effect was quite dramatic.

I hope you agree.

Wedding Bouquet

The star of the show or an accessory to your dress?

Well as a florist of course I am going to say your wedding bouquet is the star of the show.  But in reality, the answer is that both bouquet and wedding dress take centre stage.

Your wedding bouquet is the most important part of your wedding flowers.

 It should encapsulate all the elements of your flowers, but most importantly it should be something you love.  After all, it will feature in all your wedding photos, and it may be the first thing your guests see.

So, don't comprise.  Choose flowers you love and adore.

When you start planning your wedding flowers one of the best ways to discover what you like is to collect  pictures of bouquets to create a picture board.  If you haven't discovered Pintrest yet, do try it - it contains thousands of beautiful pictures for you to collect.  You'll be attracted to some pictures because of the shape of the bouquet.  For others, it will be colours or the mix of flowers.  Don't worry about the final outcome - just keep collecting those pictures and slowly you will discover certain things reoccur.

And it's this that will help you decide on your flowers.

Once you have decided the elements you want to include, think about the shape. And this is where your dress comes in. Hand tied bouquets have been very popular over the last few years, and for good reason.

They are easy to hold, look good at any angle, but if your dress is fitted with alot of detail around the waist or bodice then this could be hidden by a hand tied bouquet.  If that's the case you may feel that a trailing bouquet would be more suitable.

One of the great floral trends in recent years has focused on keeping it seasona.  Or, in other words, make the most of the time of year you get married.  If it's spring think of lilac, bluebells, hellebores and narcissi.  In autumn, use blackberries, hydrangeas and scabious.  On a personal note, I got married in June purely because I love summer flowers.  I could think of nothing I would love more than to walk down the aisle with a bunch of peonies, sweet peas and roses.

Whatever you decide, as a florist, I want every bride to love the flowers she carries.  That's why it's so important for you to collect lots of pictures, examples and ideas.  that way  you will a wonderful bouquet for you to cherish as you take a big breath and walk up the aisle to meet the man you will spend the rest of your life with.

The prettiest of weddings.....

On Saturday we had the pleasure of being involved in such a pretty wedding, using the brides favourite rose,'

Upper Secret' as our principal flower 

The barn, where their blessing took place was transformed by the bride and her mother, (with a little help from us!) into something truly magical. it reminded me of a set from Sleeping Beauty!

By contrast the marquee was simple and stunning, with wonderful views of the fields around.

Pom poms and peach make for a perfectly pretty wedding!

After an initial shower the sun came out at the beautiful www.upwalthambarns-weddings.co.uk, with their stunning gardens it was a perfect setting for such a pretty wedding, full of soft peaches, apricots and creams.

We used lots of pale peach

 roses, peonies, sweet peas, gyp with the odd pom pom and Vintage ladder, to make the barns an even prettier place!

 

Venice meet the English countryside

With elements of Venice with 'Harry's Bar' and an enviable list of cocktails, blue and silver glass combined with the best the England has to offer in June, peonies, sweet peas, cornflowers and delphiniums that complimented a stunning garden.