Gemma and Adrian's Spanish Influenced Wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

When we first met the lovely Gemma and Adrian, they were very clear about what they wanted and with Gemma being English and Adrian being from Spain, they wanted a mix of both cultures within their wedding. Lights were a key point for them and they also wanted colour in their flowers. They are a very handsome couple and have such lovely taste that it was always going to be a wonderful wedding.  They even managed to bring across a touch of Spanish Sun for the not so great English Summer!

Gemma had chosen a really unusual and gorgeous gown using bias pleating and a very different and beautiful neckline.  She looked amazing in it, and is happy for us to share the photos she has sent so you can see the overall look.  Her hair also looked fantastic and very flamenco inspired.  Gemma was clear from the start that she wanted to carry a fan bouquet and hence we designed a bouquet that resembled a fan, and yet included a mix of ivory, lime green and orange flowers (orchids, roses, santini and carthamus).  Though we say it ourselves, it was very lovely and very different.

Gemma's bridesmaids wore long jade green and blue chiffon maxi dresses and each carried a fan Gemma and Adrian bought in Spain for them.  What was also lovely was that each of the Senoritas (unmarried ladies) at the wedding had a fan provided for them as part of their place setting with instructions as to how to carry them to indicate availability or interest.  What a fantastic idea and a great talking point.  All place names were also Senor, Senora, Senorita or Chica which again showed the Spanish influence to great effect.

For Adrian's buttonhole, we chose a burnt orange rose with lime green santini and backed with a variegated ivy leaf.  We then chose hot pink roses (Purple Power) for the rest of the boys again with a splash of santini and foliage. 

For the ceremony, we provided a colourful and exotic low arrangement for the celebrant table, giving a hint as to the reception flowers in the adjoining barn.

As Gemma and Adrian had 12 tables as well as the top table, we decided we would do half the tables with a tall martini vases, and the remainder with a low mirrored cube, giving a more varied and interesting look to the Barn.  We also added lights to the beams in a zig zag fashion rather than dress every beam.

The tall martini vases were filled with fairy lights and lime green sisal and had a large striking arrangement of roses, anturium, curcuma, celosia, protea, carthamus, santini along with palms and aspidistra leaves.  We then hung lanterns over the side of the vases at eye height, each with a battery operated tealight inside.   They looked lovely but boy were they tricky to lift onto the tables...!!

The lower cubes had a hand-tied arrangement of flowers as used in the martini vases, and each was contained in a hidden aqua pack making them ready made gifts for selected guests. 

We then provided a full, exotic and colourful arrangement for the top table with additional foliage and flowers draped along the length of the table and falling gently forwards.  We also added additional lanterns and tealights to tie in with the rest of the room.  Finally we added a celosia to each place setting as we thought they looked a little like a floral fan in their own right!

We loved the colour, the tablenames (Spanish Festivals), the favours (Spanish Turron), the fans and the exotic blooms we could use.  Most of all we loved working with Gemma and Adrian, who are one of the easiest and most straightforward couples to work with.  They look stunning and above all, extremely happy and in love...we hope they have a fabulous life together.

Chilly working conditions.....!

Someone once said to me that they loved being a florist especially in the summer when you could "float around the shop playing with flowers"....I agree that that would be nice, but it's more often than not a far cry from this! 

On Saturday, this was my working temperature for part of one wedding set-up...

And these are the slightly tight working conditions I found myself in....

But onwards and upwards as we say, and several chilly fingertips later it looked like this!

It's still a great job and we're quite used to less than normal working conditions...after all, we are in the midst of a lovely English Summer!!

Roisin and Chris' wedding at Turkey Mill

Roisin knew exactly what she wanted for her special day from the moment we met her.  She had chosen purple bridesmaids' dresses and a stunning full gown for herself which she then added to with her own design of crystals and sparkles.  She had a full cathedral length veil as well and was destined to look truly stunning.  The flowers therefore had to follow suit!  Despite having chosen purple dresses for the older girls, Roisin only wanted a hint of purple in the flowers and wanted pale pinks and ivories and wanted a soft, country feel to the flowers chosen.  We decided to use peonies, roses, freesias, lisianthus, trachellium, bouvardia, amaranthus, asparagus fern and chincherinchee along with lots of soft foliage.  It worked so well as you can see from the photo Roisin and Chris have kindly sent to us today.

Against such a stunning dress (with equally stunning accessories, hair and flawless make-up etc), Roisin wanted a full length shower bouquet wth lots of movement and plenty of sparkle.  We used all the flowers mentioned above and it just grazed the floor as you can see in the photo below showing how lovely Roisin looks. 

For the elder girls, Roisin was going to provide silk bouquets, but decided at the last moment that we would provide pretty hand-tied bouquets for them using roses, freesias, lisianthus, trachellium, bouvardia, chincherinchee and foliage.  We also then provided pretty little mini posies of a single rose surrounded with trachellium and bouvardia for the Flower Girls.  So sweet!

The boys wore rose buttonholes with foliage with Chris' being the pale pink Sweet Avalanche with extra sparkle, and the remainder of the party being ivory.  Corsages were also provided for the ladies. 

For the ceremony in the Garden Room (surprise surprise in this hideous English weather it had rained the night before, hence the gazebo was out of bounds), we provided two large pedestal arrangements and a long, full and pretty arrangement for the celebrant table.  We also provided hanging arrangements for every other chair framing the aisle, and one each for the baytrees at the top of the aisle.

Despite the lovely chair covers and sashes, we always think that the flowers finish a room (well we would wouldn't we!) and hence we've started taking before and after shots...see what you think...

For the wedding breakfast, we provided a long, low and soft arrangement for the top table, using all the flowers used elsewhere and then also added to the swags and brooches on the top table by placing a rose through the centre as a finishing touch. 

For the guest tables, we decided on a mixture of high and low arrangements to give added interest to the room.  We used tall lily vases for half of the tables and added soft and pretty arrangements to the tops.  For the remainder of the tables, we used a low vase with a hand-tied and full arrangement of flowers which made them ideal to give to selected guests at the end of the day.  When viewed altogether in the room, it looked lovely.

We also have to give a mention and show a picture of the cake which Terena, Roisin's Mum had made...wow!  How tall and impressive is that.

We really hope that Roisin and Chris had a lovely day and also enjoyed the fabulous honeymoon they were jetting off on soon after the wedding.  Although the professional photos aren't yet available, Roisin and Chris have shared some of their personal photos with us, which really brings the blog to life.  Thanks so much to both of them for taking time out to share these with us!  What a lovely wedding.