Distinctly Floral

Natasha and Nick's wedding at English Martyrs Church, Strood followed by Cooling Castle Barn

2012-01-30T12:48:00.000-08:00

Following the hot colour of this year (blue), Natasha and Nick wanted a very natural, warm and wintery Midwinter's Night feeling to their wedding, using lots of subtle lighting. Natasha had chosen a dark navy dress for her bridesmaids, and wanted the blue and white to come through in the flowers, without being too bright blue. She also wanted the natural, more rustic feeling to her wedding. They had sourced lantern trees for the tablecentres and hence we started from these in terms of designing all the flowers to be used. We decided on lilies, honeymoon tulips, roses, eryngium, willow, pussy willow, eucalyptus and highly scented paperwhites, all with lots of unruly ivy. We also added agapanthus to the arrangements for additional blue colouring.

Natasha's dress was a gorgeous gown with a very full, yet not too detailed skirt, hence we decided on a full but natural and slightly messy shower bouquet of lilies, tulips, roses, eryngium and broom along with ivy, pussy willow and willow. Although we don't yet have a photo, the bouquet looked stunning against Natasha's dress, allowing her to show off her fabulous figure and tiny waist and to showcase the detailing on the top of the dress.

For her bridesmaids, we designed hand-tied bouquets of honeymoon tulips and eryngium thistle with ivy. We wrapped the stems in ivory ribbon but added a navy blue bow at the top to bring in the main colour. For the flower girl, we designed a slightly smaller version of the elder bridesmaids' bouquets.

Nick wore a rose, eryngium and ivy buttonhole whilst the remainder of the boys wore honeymoon tulip and eryngium buttonholes to tie in with the bridesmaids. Mums had corsages of spray roses and eryngium. We also provided hand-tied bouquets for the Mums as thank-yous.

For the striking church, we designed a front of altar arrangement and two pedestals to frame Natasha and Nick taking their vows. We also added floral balls to the front pews and bows with roses to the other pew ends making a beautiful aisle for Natasha to enter. We thought it all looked very lovely, and having the blue carpet and chairs was an added bonus for the colour scheme.

For the reception at Cooling Castle, we used the lantern trees Natasha and Nick had provided for the tablecentres. Half of the tables had lanterns with blue flamed tealights inside and half had white flamed tealights. For the lanterns with blue lights, we decorated them with all white arrangements and for the white flamed lanterns, we designed blue arrangements. We designed the bottom half of the arrangements in hidden dishes to allow them to be taken away by guests and added a further arrangement to the top of the trees to allow an all around view for guests.

For the circular top table, we designed a very loose and natural front of table arrangement and then added a lantern tree with blue and white floral arrangements. We then added roses to the chair bows and sprinkled paperwhite heads amongst the table crystals.

For each of the vertical beams, we twisted an ivy garland around entwined with fairy lights. We left various sprigs of ivy loosely attached to give a slightly more natural look.

All in all, it was a lovely wedding and looked very different and quite natural. Natasha looked truly stunning and I know they all had a wonderful day. We loved the lantern trees and the choice of flowers and hope that you all like them too.

New Distinctly Floral Website

2012-01-19T03:50:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of www.lollypopphoto.com

For those of you who follow the blog and are thinking that we are slacking these days....not many entries, not many photos etc....all the time is going into the new website.

We've decided that our old site has had it's day and needs to be retired for something a little more "us". So we've been busy designing a new website that we think is looking great and allows us to show more portfolios, photos and even incorporate a new Wedding of the Month feature, which we will update to showcase different styles, colours and venues. But don't worry, we will also continue to blog.

We hope you'll like our new style...much more exciting than the old, with the only downside being that the mobile and ipad version will be very static as the new site has lots of flash images and moving galleries which Apple don't support. Hope that doesn't put off those of you who are iphone and ipad users.

Anyway, in the meantime, we've included a few images that are already included on the website and hope you like the full version when it appears. Watch this space....

Clara and Paul's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

2012-01-13T11:31:00.000-08:00

Clara and Paul's wedding was quite a different one for us as it didn't involve many different flowers! Clara and Paul wanted a sophisticated, glamorous look and had already decided upon ostrich feather tablecentres before we met. The colour scheme was a dramatic and striking black and ivory with hints of red to match Clara's gorgeous dress.

All the flowers we used were large headed ivory roses along with black bear grass and different types of feathers. For Clara's bouquet, we designed a domed, hand-tied bouquet of roses with sprigs of black bear grass, black narrow feathers and diamante sprigs. We wrapped the stems in ivory and finished it with a black bow at the top to contrast against her lovely red gown.

For the seven bridesmaids, we designed smaller hand-tied bouquets of large headed ivory roses along with sprigs of black bear grass and narrow feathers. We wrapped the stems in ivory ribbon and finished each with a deep red bow at the top to bring in Clara's dress colour.

For the four flower girls, we provided ivory rose "wands" surrounded in black fluffy feathers and spriggy diamantes and crystals. We wrapped the stems in ivory ribbon and added black ribbon over the top.

For the buttonholes, we followed the theme for the girls and provided ivory rose buttonholes with black bear grass and narrow feathers. We added a black diamante sprig to Paul's buttonhole to make it a little different.

For the ceremony, we provided a long and low arrangement of feathers, roses, black tie leaves, black bear grass and leucadendron safari sunset to add a touch of red. This arrangement was going to be moved the centre of the top table over the black organza swagging after the ceremony.

For the reception, we used tall trumpet vases for each of the guest tables filled with black gel crystals with added red glitter. We then added fairy lights down the stem of each and designed a top of black and white ostrich feathers for a truly glamorous look. We offered to help Clara and Paul with the rest of the venue dressing and ended up doing the chair covers and bows for them and as we had spare chair sashes, we decided to add runners to each of the tables on which we placed mirror plates under each of the tablecentres. We also added large ivory roses to the top table sashes.

Finally, we provided thank-you bouquets for the Mums in reds, russets and golds.

True to form we had to have a peek at the cake as well, despite once again having nothing whatsoever to do with us and it looked lovely....very stylish indeed.

Whilst we're not professionals when it comes to chair covers and sashes, we think the final look at Cooling was wonderful, and judging by Clara's wet eyes when she saw it for the first time, I think she loved it too (we're reliably informed they were happy tears!). We know Paul did so our job was done. We know they will have had the most wonderful day and can't wait to see the professional photos soon. Clara and Paul deserve the most perfect wedding day, and we were so glad to have helped in some way for them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2011-12-23T06:32:00.000-08:00

At the end of a very busy year, we wanted to say a very Happy Christmas to all our customers past, present and future. It's been a great year for us, and we're already looking forward to next year. We're now taking a break and a blog break until the New Year, so we hope you all have a fabulous festive time.

Thanks for all your support, comments and kindness. With lots of love from all the team, including the very excited quality controllers!

Nadolig Llawen, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad etc etc

Rehanna and Chris' winter wedding at Lympne Castle

2011-12-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

For our last wedding of the year yesterday, we were lucky enough to work with the nicest wedding couple (and families) possible. Rehanna and Chris have been (excitedly) planning their wedding for some time now and knew that despite it being so close to Christmas, they wanted a slightly different feel to the wedding. They wanted lots of sparkle and candlelight and a feel of Christmas but also wanted a slightly Indian accent to the decoration in the Castle. Overall though they wanted a very striking and contemporary feel to their wedding and used purple / aubergine as the main accent colour.

Rehanna's wedding dress was stunning! She is very petite and gorgeous and any dress would look good, but Rehanna chose the most perfect heavy lace dress with a halter neck and a smallish train. It fitted her so well and with her glossy dark hair up with a few small decorations, she looked amazing. We chose a smallish contemporary styled shower bouquet using Picasso Calla Lilies and Purple Vanda orchids along with grasses and small rolls of aspidistra leaf. It was perfect for Rehanna and not too overpowering against the beautiful wedding gown.

Rehanna's bridesmaids wore lovely colourful saris and hence we decided against flowers for them. As for Chris, he looked wonderful in a slimline three piece grey suit with a single breasted slimline jacket piped in ivory. So different and so striking. The Best Man was also lucky enough to have a matching suit. All the boys wore a single Picasso calla lily buttonhole with a few sprigs of grass and a roll of aspidistra at the front. For the Mums, we used the vanda orchid used in Rehanna's bouquet on wrist corsages. It all tied together so beautifully.

For the main reception room, Tania from Bows Chair Covers (www.bowschaircovers.co.uk) chose a perfectly matching sash for the chairs which were dressed in ivory tailored covers. Her bows are quite distinctive and always perfect...they set the scene for the contemporary table centrepieces which were placed on central mirrors and consisted of tall glass trumpet vases filled with a trio of Picasso Calla Lilies in purple water and with a tall silver "tree" arrangement on top. The "tree" tops were made from corylus and birch sprayed silver with a touch of glitter. The table names were then added on bauble shaped cards (all tables were named after the reindeers...all nine of them....can you remember them all?) along with glass baubles containing tealights, each with the name of one of the guests on the table written in purple on the front. Very striking and perfect for the room and time of year.

For the top table we then provided a long, low intertwined arrangement of silver branches with calla lilies and orchids woven through. We added orchid heads onto the napkins which had been ingeniously tied with multi coloured ethnic bracelets to bring in the Indian theme. Beautiful and very memorable.

We provided a smaller version of the top table arrangement for the celebrant table (but forgot to take photos of it....!!). Every window ledge was then dressed by Rehanna and her friends and family with artificial pine garlands, wreaths, vases of multicoloured baubles and more glass baubles holding tealights everywhere. It looked magical and showed just how much time and thought they had put into all their planning.

We know they had the perfect day and looked so wonderfully happy together. Their families and friends were all wonderful and complimentary and I think everyone had the perfect start to Christmas and Rehanna and Chris had the perfect start to their lives together. What a way for us to end our 2011 wedding season.

Hannah and Hugh's Winter Wonderland Wedding at Combe Bank School

2011-12-12T09:32:00.001-08:00

We try hard not to have any favourites amongst our weddings, and as flowers and themes are so varied it is hard to choose, but I have to say that Hannah and Hugh's wedding is the one I looked forward to most and is probably my favourite overall of this year. We met Hannah and Hugh and their family when setting up another wedding at Combe Bank School and have met several times to talk through ideas and designs. I've probably spent more time communicating with Hannah's lovely Mum Siobhan through the process for one reason and another and have enjoyed every second of working with the whole family.

Hannah and Hugh wanted a Winter Wonderland wedding with hints of Narnia. Everything was to be frosty and sparkly but not Christmassey as such. A sucker for winter weddings, Christmas and reindeers (yes Hannah and Hugh had a reindeer and sleigh!), this was always going to be one of my favourite weddings.

Hannah's dress was a stunning fitted lace dress with quite exquisite lace and her bridesmaids were wearing simple and elegant sapphire blue dresses. We therefore decided that the flowers needed to be textured, not too elaborate for bouquets and to keep largely to a green and ivory theme with hints of blue. Hannah luckily shares my love of smaller spring flowers and hence we used a selection of paperwhites, muscari, bouvardia, spray roses, chincherinchee, pussy willow, freesias, hypericum, trachellium and ranunculus along with snowy branches and silvered birch. Gorgeous!

For Hannah's bouquet, we used all the flowers mentioned above in a lovely textured hand-tied bouquet and wrapped the stems in lace. We added a few spriggy pearls and transluscent crystals for extra sparkle. As you can see the day dawned frosty and crisp (perfect!) and we made the most of the frosty morning for bouquet photos.

For Hannah's Maid of Honour (her lovely sister Naomi), we provided a small hand-tied bouquet of ranunculus and paperwhites with a few blue and ivory feathers, crystals and pearls. For the remaining five bridesmaids, we went for small tied posies of just paperwhites with ivory and blue feathers, crystals and pearls. Not only did they look lovely, they smelt divine.

For buttonholes, we wanted to stay with the smaller flowers and hence Hugh wore a buttonhole of pussy willow, chincherinchee, ranunculus and paperwhite heads. The remaining groomsmen wore the same style buttonholes minus the ranunculus and we scaled them down for the three Page Boys. We then provided corsages for the Mums and Grandmas and tailored them to their outfits.

The night before the wedding after the rehearsal at Combe Bank School, Hannah's parents hosted guests for dinner and we provided a lovely heart shaped door wreath to match the wedding flowers and also a table centre with raised tealight holders....a perfect clue to the wedding flowers.

And now onto Combe Bank School....to welcome guests, we dressed the alcoves in the entrance hall with tall silver candelabra wrapped in glittered and snowy ivy and with cluster of flowers added on. We added blue bows to bring in the bridesmaids' dresses and draped pearls. We then moved into the next hallway and added an arrangement at the bottom of the stairs.

For the chapel, we provided double bows on the pews with a natural cluster of flowers through the middle. At the base of each pew we added flickering battery operated Smart Candles for extra glow. We then dressed the altar with a soft and natural arrangement.

For the Adam Room, we added an arrangement to the mantelpiece along with two hurricane lamps containing gel beads and a candle. We also provided lacey confetti cones filled with rose petals in wire tiered baskets.

In the Ante Chapel, we designed some frosty trees with snowy branches and lit them with fairy lights (difficult to see in the lovely sunshine but would have sparkled beautifully later). We then dressed the windowledges with smart candles, petals and muscari.

To enter the ballroom for the evening celebrations, we designed a woodland style arch with ivy, branches, moss, icicles and fairy lights and added a cluster of mistletoe at the centre....well it is Christmas and it was a romantic wedding! We also couldn't resist adding some flowers to the sleigh, which Rudolph seemed keen to look at.

On the staircase down to the dining room, we added bows and flowers to the newel posts and then arranged a selection of vases amongst ivy and fairy lights on the windowsill. Each had a tied arrangement of flowers used elsewhere and each vase had some lace or ribbon attached.

Finally in the dining room, for half of the tables we provided candelabras entwined with frosted ivy and with clusters of flowers added on and finished with blue bows and pearls. For the other tables, we nestled a hurricane lamp with gel pearls and a candle in a floral surround. One table was for children only so we used a battery operated church candle and no hurricane lamps to avoid a naked flame and also glass.

For the top table, we used a candelabra entwined with ivy with blue bows finished with long lace trails to pick up on Hannah's dress. We added a full floral top amongst the arms of the candelabra and a few vases with hand-tied bunches of flowers at the base to finish it. It all looked so beautiful and the mix between higher tablecentres and lower ones was perfect in that room and with that many tables.

We hope you love the arrangements and styling as much as we do. Hannah and Hugh and all their family and friends were wonderful to work with and made the hard work so worthwhile. Hannah and her Mum put so much into planning the day, and Hannah even made her own wedding cake and sugar craft flowers. We know they will be extremely happy and we wish them all the very very best in their life together...it's been a privilege sharing a small part of their big day.

Rowena and Chris' wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

2011-12-05T02:26:00.001-08:00

No weddings this last weekend as we had other commitments, so we thought we'd include a wedding on the blog from a little while ago. Rowena and Chris had a lovely soft lilac and ivory theme to contrast against the darker bridesmaids' dresses. We wanted to keep flowers soft and delicate so used Pacific Blue roses, Avalanche roses, freesias, lisianthus, veronica and china grass.

For Rowena, we used mainly lilac flowers to contrast against her lovely lace ivory dress. We loved the soft bolero jacket she wore as well...so delicate. We also provided some hair flowers for Rowena, which were a perfect accessory to her dress and bouquet.

For the bridesmaids, we added much more ivory into the bouquets with touches of lilac as a contrast to their dresses and as a reverse to Rowena's bouquet.

The boys wore ivory buttonholes, apart from Chris who wore a double Pacific Blue rose buttonhole with veronica to match Rowena. Mums wore ivory corsages with ribbon loops added to match their outfits.

For the tables, we used tall slim trumpet vases with a rose floating halfway. The top of the vase had a soft and slightly taller arrangement using all the ivory and lilac flowers used elsewhere along with rosemary and soft foliage. The photos show how we design table arrangements to give best visibility to all guests. When the guests entered the main barn, they had the impact of the tall arrangements, yet when seated for the wedding breakfast, they could easily talk to each other without the flowers getting in their way.

Finally we dressed the three tier seperated cake with very simple clusters of flowers and a cake topper.

Rowena and Chris are a wonderful couple and had such a lovely wedding day at Cooling Castle. The photos are courtesy of www.guyhearn.com. Hope you enjoy them.

Gemma and Nik's professional photos from Chilston Park

2011-11-28T03:17:00.001-08:00

Those of you following the blog may remember a gorgeous, colourful and glamorous wedding we featured earlier in the year at Chilston Park Hotel. Gemma and Nick chose an eclectic and beautiful seleciton of flowers and matched these with an assortment of items on their tables reflecting their travels and personalities. I was so intrigued to see Gemma's dress after her description of it, and it looked even better than I thought it could....stunning! It was lovely to receive a selection of photos from the day from their professional photographer www.tobyphillipsphotography.co.uk I'll let them speak for themselves as they are wonderful and do sum up what a great wedding day Gemma and Nik had....such a pleasure to have been a part of it.

Charlotte and Dan's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

2011-11-21T06:20:00.001-08:00

When we first met the lovely Charlotte, we knew her wedding flowers would be elegant and striking. As an artist, she knew how she wanted everything to look and was very clear about her ivory floral theme with hints of fuschia pink. We decided to keep the personal flowers to roses and "jasmine" to tie in with Charlotte's daughter Jasmine. We then incorporated delphiniums, lilies and trachellium with eucalyptus and grasses. Strategic "sparkle" was added where appropriate.

Charlotte's bouquet was a hand-tied bouquet of Dolce Vita roses with sprigs of crystal and sprigs of stephanotis (instead of Jasmine) added throughout.

For the bridesmaids, we provided hand-tied bouquets of large headed Maroussia roses along with stephanotis. We added the tough of pink via a small bow at the top of the stems. All the girls had stephanotis wired for their hair as well, and Charlotte had a couple of roses wired for her hair.

Dan's buttonhole was a Dolce Vita rose to match Charlotte's whilst the remainder of the party wore ivory roses to match the bridesmaids.

For the top table, we decided to use the bouquets from the bridal party in low vases (they needed to be kept in water for freshness in any event and of course matched the overall theme, therefore were perfect). We also added a couple of extra vases for the centre of the table with hand-tied bouquets of roses and foliage to match the remainder of the flowers.

For the tablecentres, we used large martini vases and kept the arrangements largely ivory with just a few Dolce Vita roses to add the colour.

We then dressed the wedding cake (made beautifully by Charlotte's friend) with clusters of roses and sparkles.

All in all a lovely, elegant and simple floral theme.

Lorna and Alex's professional photos from Chiddingstone Castle

2011-11-15T05:31:00.001-08:00

Those of you who follow the blog will know how much we love seeing photos of our happy couples after their wedding days, and Laura and Alex's photos are no exception. They are STUNNING! Have a look below for a taster of the fabulous photos from the lovely Laura Dodsworth at www.lauradodsworth.co.uk

I'm loving all the detail shots as well, which show all the attention to detail put into the wedding.

These all represent to me a quintessentially English Wedding. You may have seen our photos on the blog a while ago, but see how Laura has brought the flowers to life and how fabulous the light and the castle look. I'm loving them and also loving the dresses and Alex's suit...all very gorgeous. Thanks again to the talented Laura for sorting all the photos for me.

And now for my personal favourites...see what you think.

Exclusive Diamondart boutonniere buttonholes and corsages

2011-11-11T05:11:00.001-08:00

Often when planning wedding flowers, it seems such a shame that the smallest and cheapest item on the quote is for the Groom himself...such an important person with so little design decisions to be made. Having started to work with the fabulous Assuntina and her team at www.diamondart.co.uk, we have now had the chance to design buttonholes and corsages using her exclusive lapel vase / boutonniere from the Diamond Love collection. We think it is gorgeous and adds a certain "je ne sais quoi" to the Groom's flowers.

It is made from jewellers gilding metal, and coated in rhodium (from the platinum family) platingand has one half point diamond at the base in the lowest disc. It is extremely sturdy and very versatile. Inspiration is art deco and art nouveau and it fits perfectly with today's vintage focus.

Buttonholes or boutonnieres have a long history. Knights wore their ladies' colours when duelling, and men wore buttonholes to ward off evil spirits and to give protection against odors and diseases. Following on to less practical demands, in the 18th century it became fashionable to wear large flowers to fasten back frock coats and in the 19th century, buttonholes provided a splash of colour against very conservative suits. Buttonholes became the sign of a well dressed man and can be seen right through to the earlier part of the 20th century as shown by film stars such as Cary Grant.

Today the buttonhole is normally worn only at weddings or proms and is usually designed to match the flowers provided for the bride or female partner. For weddings we like to ensure that the groom wears a buttonhole to match flowers in the bridal bouquet, and the remainder of the grooms' party wear flowers to tie in with the bridesmaids. Using the gorgeous Diamondart holder, we can now differentiate members of the bridal party using accessories and not just flowers.

To demonstrate how versatile these holders are, here are just a few buttonhole designs.

And because the holders are designed so well, they are equally suitable for ladies' corsages making them lovely keepsakes for Mums from such a special day.

Hope you all like them and agree that they add a touch of elegance for the all important and often overlooked Groom! Ask us for availability or contact Assuntina at Diamondart.

Claire and Lu's wedding at Chapeldown

2011-11-08T02:57:00.000-08:00

We first met Claire and Lu at Chapeldown's Open Evening in 2009 where Claure loved the venue and Lu was not so sure (we thought!). Little did we know that Lu had planned the whole wedding day and venue as a Christmas surprise for Claire...how lovely is that. So Chapeldown it was and we started planning a theatrical themed wedding.

Both Claire and Lu had chosen gorgeous ivory dresses but wanted their flowers to be different yet complement each other. So for Claire we provided a hand-tied bouquet of deep red Black Baccara roses along with ivory roses, finished with a simple looped grass edge and with crystal pins added. For Lu, we decided on ivory calla lilies in an overarm style, finished with a burgundy feather.

Both Claire and Lu had bridesmaids, so we decided to use a single calla lily with feather for Claire's bridesmaids so that they tied in with Lu's bouquet and contrasted Claire's roses. For Lu's bridesmaids we reversed the flowers and used a single rose to tie in with Claire's bouquet.

Buttonholes were simple calla lilies with loops of grass and aspidistra leaf.

For the tables, Claire and Lu had already seen one of our exotic martini vase arrangements and were completely "sold" on them straight away. We therefore provided large martini vases filled with ivory sisal and fairy lights. We then added an exotic arrangement of monstera leaves, palms, aspidistras along with red and ivory oriental lilies, Black Baccara and ivory roses, anthuriums and grasses. Each had dramatic ostrich feathers added and the mask table name provided by Claire and Lu. We finished the tables with a mirror and rose petals for the final touch of drama.

We then dressed the gazebo in the herb garden with a loose foliage garland with wired roses, anthuriums and lilies to reflec the flowers used inside.

Despite being extremely nervous, Claire and Lu both had a wonderful day with friends and family and all their hard work, planning and surprises paid off. They are a fantastic couple who look after each other wonderfully and we hope their gorgeous wedding day is the start of a long and fabulous life together.

Kent Wedding Awards 2011..."and the winner is..."

2011-11-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

...Distinctly Floral! Kent's new Wedding Florist of the Year 2011.

We collected our award last night at the awards ceremony at the Ashford International Hotel from comedienne Jo Caulfield. We are all thrilled to bits! The team were all there to collect the award dressed in their finery.

The happy team

They thoroughly deserve the award for their constant hard work, enthusiasm and dedication. We are so lucky to all love our jobs and to work with great wedding couples but getting this award was the icing on the cake, especially against the stiff competition in our category.

Lucky Martin with the gorgeous Claire and Jane

A very happy and proud Jane with the trophy

Cheer up..we've won. Why the long face?

Thanks to everyone for their support and to all the lovely comments we received last night....it's nice to be recognised within the industry as well as by our customers.

Here's to loads more lovely weddings ahead!

Pat and Colin's wedding in Cornwall

2011-10-31T05:06:00.000-07:00

I recently included some of my photos of these flowers in a previous blog, but thought I'd include the "real" photos by the lovely Liz Mulloy (pictured wearing the wrist corsage) just to show how well flowers can last and travel. They travelled to Cornwall the day before the wedding amongst lots of other bits and bobs, including the cake, and were still great the following day. It also goes to prove we don't need lots of notice, and lots of meetings to make things work perfectly....this wedding was booked about 10 days in advance and we managed all the details by phone call....and what a gorgeous wedding it was....loving the dress!

Sarah and John's professional photos from Eastwell Manor

2011-10-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

It is always lovely to see some of the professional photos from our weddings as we always miss out on seeing the bride in her gown. For Sarah and John's wedding, we were lucky enough to see the boys looking dapper, and to see the gorgeous dresses hung up on the four poster bed at Eastwell, but again hadn't seen the finished look. And what a gorgeous look it is! Sarah looks amazing...so beautiful and so poised! We love the photos, courtesy of www.nphotography.info and are thrilled to have been sent them.

Let's start with my favourite....
.

And then more....enjoy!

Kerrie and Dan's wedding at Rivenhall Hotel, Witham

2011-10-31T03:54:00.000-07:00

Kerrie and Dan married at the Rivenhall Hotel in Witham Essex, and Kerrie knew straight away that she wanted her colour scheme to be hot pink and black. Her dress was a gorgeous beaded sweetheart neckline gown with detailing all over the bodice and down onto the full skirt. Kerrie wanted lots of sparkle to match her dress and tiara and chose the Serena Gerbera as her sole flower.

For Kerrie's bouquet we used the Serena gerberas with black feathers, crystals and black bear grass and wrapped the stems in black ribbon, with ivory ribbon criss-crossed over to match the corset style lacing at the back of the dress.

For the three elder bridesmaids, we used the Serena Gerberas in a hand-tied bouquet with a few feathers and then wrapped the stems in ivory to contrast with their black dresses, and then added black ribbon criss-crossed over the top. For the little Flower Girl, we designed a gerbera "wand" but made it in silk so that she could keep it forever...we surrounded the gerbera with narrow feathers and crystals and wrapped the stems in ivory ribbon, with black criss-crossed over the top.

Dan's buttonhole matched Kerrie's bouquet with a single gerbera, a small feather and sprigs and loops of black bear grass, with added sparkle. The other boys wore the same buttonholes without the sparkles. The Mums had ivory lapel corsages, one with black ribbon loops and lots of diamantes, and the other with red ribbon and transluscent crystals.

For the celebrant table, and subsequently the top table, we provided a contemporary style arrangement of Serena Gerberas, grevillia, black tie leaves, crystals and grasses.

Finally, we dressed the three tier cake with black ribbon and with a section of flowers, feathers and crystals on each layer. All a perfect match to the day. Kerrie looked wonderful getting ready, and so happy and relaxed so we know it was going to be a great day and wish them both all the very very best for the future together.

Kent Showground Wedding Experience

2011-10-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Wow! What can I say but OMG,what a day. We know it is always lovely and busy at the Detling Wedding Experience show, hence why we always do it, but yesterday's show was amazing! c. 1400 registered couples later, and with nearly no voices left, the team looked back on the day with a smile. Claire said she felt like she was playing to a Wembley crowd...the crowds just went on for ever. The downside was that I know there were people we couldn't get to talk to, people who wanted to say hi, future and past brides who had swung by to give us a hug and we missed them. So sorry but we really couldn't see everyone who was there. So, as is usual for us, here's the photos of our stand to look at in peace and quiet and to remember us.

We went for lime green and white with splashes of hot pink and designed a range of contemporary and vintage styles to suit everyone.

For the English tea party, we designed bouquets, tablecentres, cups and saucers etc. We have lovely vintage jars, accessories, tea sets, silver coffee pots etc in stock ourselves, but there were some lovely ones on display at www.thekentvintageteaparty.com with the wonderful Anastasia.

We then designed a range of tablecentres from classic to contemporary and with the exception of the ever popular martini vase arrangement, the others all seemed to be liked equally.

Bouquets were then designed to tie in with the tablecentres with the calla lilies coming a close second to the favourite hydrangea bouquet in the vintage section. The handbags stole the day as ever, and many people liked the idea of the silk version as a keepsake for flower girls.

Thanks so much to everyone we spoke to yesterday....we may have seemed as though we were babbling by the end of the day, but hope it all made sense to you! Thanks for the fab comments as well and the comments on our matching uniforms and necklaces!

Some recent bouquets and buttonholes

2011-10-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

A bride to be contacted us recently and asked whether it was at all possible for us to provide her bouquet and buttonholes for her wedding. She said she knew we generally only did large weddings....this really isn't the case at all, but I guess is down to the fact I include lots of tablecentres, venue dressing etc in blog entries.
So, here's a few of the many bouquet and buttonhole weddings we've done recently.

Firstly a calla lily based wedding...

Then a completely different multi-coloured gerbera wedding....

And a beautiful calla lily and rose wedding with bronze accents (which actually travelled to Cornwall the day before the wedding, hence showing that anything is possible)...

We hope you like them, and you may feel more comfortable approaching us for your own bouquets...nothing is too small or too large for the team.

Nicola and Daniel's vintage inspired wedding - Part Two

2011-10-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

A little while back we blogged Nic and Dan's wedding at Boughton Malherbe church and Leeds Castle. It was a truly beautiful wedding...pretty, romantic and elegant. We mentioned Nic's stunning dress and how fabulous they were all going to look, but when we saw the photos, they blew us away! Everyone who has seen the photos thought it was a magazine shoot using models, but it really was a wedding.

And just to prove it, we've got these gorgeous photos from http://www.ajwilliamsphotography.co.uk/. We'll leave the photos to tell the tale.

And, just to add to it, Brides Magazine decided to cover the wedding under the title of Vintage Inspired. Have a click through to see how it looks and read Nic and Dan's story.
http://www.bridesmagazine.co.uk/community/weddings/story/130932-Vintage-inspired

And finally, Beyond Beyond blog (one of the top 5 wedding blogs in the UK) also covered the wedding and showed our lovely flowers.

Kerrie and Aaron's wedding at The Hop Farm

2011-10-11T04:11:00.000-07:00

Kerrie and Aaron's wedding was designed to be an elegant and contemporary affair using exotic flowers such as the Previa anthurium, the purple Vanda Orchid and Picasso Calla Lily. Kerrie and Aaron wanted it to be stylish and memorable and had themed their wedding around the purple bridesmaids dresses they had chosen.

For Kerrie's bouquet, we designed a contemporary shower bouquet or orchids, anthuriums, calla lilies and germini along with rolls of aspdistra, sprigs of grevillia and sprigs of lily and bear grass. We added transluscent crystals throughout to catch the light. Against Kerrie's dress, this was going to look fabulous...a real show stopper.

For Kerrie's Maid of Honour, we designed a hand-tied bouquet of gerberas, vanda orchids, rolls of aspidistra and grevillia. We then left out the orchids for the Senior and Junior Bridesmaids (but sized the bouquets accordingly). Finally for the Flower Girl, it had to be a cute gerbera "wand" surrounded in purple feathers. All bouquets were wrapped in ivory ribbon but with purple bows attached to bring in the colour.

Aaron wore a stunning orchid buttonhole to match Kerrie and the Best Men and Dads then wore calla lily buttonholes with loops of aspidistra and grasses. The remainder of the Groom's party wore calla lily buttonholes without the aspidistra leaf. Mums wore corsages of mini calla lilies and spray roses, and other female members of the party wore a range of corsages using either calla lilies or spray roses. All very elegant indeed.

Being at the Hop Farm with low beams, we decided on low table arrangements and Kerrie and Aaron chose large fishbowls for the guest tables and smaller ones to be placed on purple runners on the top table. All very elegant. For the large fishbowls, we used the bi-coloured Picasso Calla Lily and for the top table, we filled the mini fishbowls with the gorgeous orchid. Each of the tables was finished with scatter crystals and we added additional Previa anthuriums to the top table to tie in with the bridal bouquet.

The cake was dressed with a structural topper to reflect the bridal bouquet shape and cascaded gently down the side. We then finished the look with a couple of additional wired sections placed strategically. Finally we provided thank-you bouquets for the Mums to match the flowers used elsewhere.

It was a lovely wedding, befitting a lovely couple. Kerrie and Aaron were so easy to work with and knew just what they liked, and yet left us to the design elements. We know they'll be very happy and wish them all the very best in the future.

Helen and Dave's wedding at East Peckham Church followed by Holiday Inn

2011-10-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

The lovely Helen and Dave married in September and had the most wonderful weather imaginable. Helen chose very glamorous and elegant dresses for herself and the bridesmaids, and we wanted to bring an element of this into the flowers whilst still using romantic English style flowers. Whilst the colour scheme was ivory and purple, we used a touch of cerise pink to give a pretty contrast.

Helen kindly sent in some photos of her special day and it allows me to show you just how beautiful and glamorous her dress was...very Marilyn Monroe, curvy and yet elegant. Her bouquet was designed to be a slimline teardrop bouquet so that Helen's dress and figure weren't hidden by the flowers. We used calla lilies, hydrangeas, lisianthus, chincherinchee, bouvardia and foliage and we think the bouquet looked perfect. Helen's make-up was stunning too and really natural, having been done by a former bride of ours, the gorgeous Susan from http://www.beautybysusan.co.uk/.

Helen's bridesmaids wore deep purple dresses, all with slightly different styles and necklines which really worked well. We designed hand-tied bouquets of calla lilies, lisianthus, chincherinchee and bouvardia with the junior bridesmaid's flowers being a scaled down version of the older attendants.

The boys were given toning buttonholes with Dave's being a calla lily to match Helen and the rest of the groomsmen wearing lisianthus and chincherinchee buttonholes to match the bridesmaids. Mums wore lisianthus and chincherinchee corsages.

For the reception, we provided low tapered vases filled with a lovely hand-tied arrangement of hydrangeas, lilies, chincherinchee, lisianthus and bouvardia. The top table had a vase at each end and Helen used her bouquet for the centre of the table. Unfortunately we were a little early for the venue to have completed their set-up, so photos are a little limited.

I know Helen and Dave had a fab day, as you can see by the very natural smiles, and have since had a wonderful honeymoon away. Hopefully these photos will be a little reminder of their special day.

Kent Wedding Awards

2011-10-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

After a well deserved break for all the team, and a blog break for me too, we are delighted to re-start our blogging by announcing that we are finalists in the Kent Wedding Awards. Yay!

The judging was done by both professionals and future wedding couples. For us, the inclusion of current wedding couples was so important as we love working alongside our couples to design the best flowers for them. We produced examples of our work, testimonials and also directed the judges to our blog which includes more information than we could submit elsewhere.

We have no idea what the outcome will be, and will only know on 3rd November, but the team are all excited (and slightly nervous) and focussed now on what to wear for the Awards Ceremony...not sure the canine members of the team will be allowed to join us though.....

For all of you who read the blog regularly, keep your fingers crossed for us. As they say....watch this space.

Sarah and John's wedding at Eastwell Manor

2011-09-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

I know we keep saying how lovely our wedding couples are, but it is true, and very true of Sarah and John. They are an unassuming couple who know what they want, but don't like too much fuss and were just excited to be getting married. Their family and friends were equally lovely and made us really feel an important part of the day, even giving us favours that Sarah had prepared, which was so lovely. They had chosen a lovely contemporary calla lily and rose theme, which looked really striking in Eastwell Manor. Often softer and fuller arrangements are provided in the Rose Garden Room, but this just shows how good it looks with more structural arrangements. In some ways it sets off the ornate ceiling and fireplace more...the best of both worlds.

Sarah chose a gorgeous dress, which we were lucky enough to get a sneak preview of when we delivered the flowers. The detailing was gorgeous and Sarah was clearly going to look a million dollars in it. She was having hair and make-up done when we delivered the flowers and was so excited about the day ahead. We had agreed upon an overarm bouquet for Sarah to show off the detailing on the dress to best effect, and we provided quite a structural and striking bouquet of calla lilies and roses.

The bridesmaids had lovely elegant purple dresses and we agreed upon ivory rose bouquets with sprigs of grass. Simple, yet a striking contrast against their dresses. For the Flower Girl, a simple rose wand was provided all in ivory.

For the Groom's party, we provided a calla lily buttonhole for John to tie in with Sarah, and then rose buttonholes with aspidistra leaves and grasses for the remainder of the party. A combination of mini calla lilies and spray roses was used for corsages. Thank You bouquets was also provided in different styles to match the personality of the recipients.

For the ceremony in the gorgeously sunny Maids Garden, we dressed the aisle chairs with trailing double bows and added a rose or a calla lily to alternate chairs. We then provided striking Picasso Calla Lily and Monstera arrangements in zinc pots to frame Sarah and John and also either side of the ornate gate. For the celebrant table, and subsequently the top table, we provided a very striking and contemporary long and low arrangement of calla lilies, roses, exotic foliage and grasses.

For the Rose Garden room, we dressed each table with a central mirror onto which we placed a tall slim lily vase with an arrangement of calla lilies, grasses and monstera leaves. We added slightly smaller arrangements to either end of the mantelpiece and finished it with rose petals and clusters of church candles. The top table would be finished with the striking arrangement we placed on the celebrant table outside for the ceremony.

Finally, Creative Cakes (http://www.creativeweddingcakes.co.uk/) had provided a lovely square tiered cake which was dressed between us with a more structural topper of calla lilies and roses (plus a few freesias and lisianthus) and with softer lisianthus, freesias, roses and foliage packed between each tier.

It was a lovely day Sarah and John have already been in touch to say what a perfect day it was for them with everything exactly as they hoped and planned for. We're so pleased it worked out like this and wish Sarah and John a very happy life together.

Cooling Castle Barn Open day

2011-09-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

We were delighted to be asked to become the new preferred supplier at Cooling Castle Barn a little while ago and to exhibit at their Open Day yesterday. They are such a fabulous venue and so popular that we knew it would be a busy day. They opened their books for 2014 yesterday and predictably had queues of people waiting to book their own special day. It was hard not to get caught up in all the excitement. It was a day and a half and we have no idea how many people we spoke to...we couldn't even see where we all were part way through the day as it was so busy.

Our themes were vintage and contemporary, as is often the plan, and colours were muted greens, ivories and pale pinks or purples, blues, greens and the odd splash of hot pink.

We exhibited a range of tablecentres.

And also designed a range of bouquets in overarm, hand-tied or shower styles, both contemporary and more traditional.

We dressed four beams and two tables and the candelabra seems to have been the favoured item of the day along with several of the hand-tied bouquets.

Thanks to Rebecca and the team for arranging such a mega day yesterday and thanks to all the lovely people we met and chatted to...your kind comments were most welcome.

Ramada Maidstone Wedding Fair

2011-08-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

As promised, we are including some photos of the flowers we exhibited at the Ramada Hotel on Bank Holiday Monday. Thanks for all the positive comments and the interest and we look forward to speaking to some of you very soon.

Here's the more structural, colourful and contemporary side of our stand.

And here's our vintage English tea party side.

Which is your preferred side...?

Lydia and Gareth's glorious wedding in the beautiful surroundings of Slaugham Place

2011-08-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

We knew that we wanted to be involved in Lydia and Gareth's wedding as soon as we met them. They're a great couple, so easy to get on with and we had fun planning their flowers. Lydia wanted orange, and Gareth was adamant that being "ginger" (or more properly strawberry blonde!) that he couldn't possibly have orange and wanted his favourite colour, hot pink. So, we of course decided on hot pink and orange!

It's also lovely seeing a new location and the fantastic Slaugham Place was worth a little trip into East Sussex. The crisp, bright, immaculate marquee (http://www.superevent.co.uk/) is set in the most beautiful 12 acre surroundings of a ruined Elizabethan manor house. It's so lovely and we can only imagine the photos that Lydia and Gareth will have. The recent dodgy weather also decided to stay away for their wedding day, making the surroundings look even more lovely.

Another reason we wanted to work with Gareth and Lydia, was Lola......their fabulous blue roan cocker spaniel. We're biased having a blue roan ourselves, but we think she is gorgeous and she was so perfectly behaved amongst all the pre wedding preparations and people in and out of their house. She also sat so beautifully whilst we attached flowers to her new sparkly collar specially to go to the wedding ceremony in church....and then bounced off to bring us her ball. Absolutely adorable!

Lydia had chosen a gorgeous slimline dress which will have looked amazing on her. Her hair and make-up was also looking beautiful, despite not being finished when we saw her. To accentuate the slimline nature of her dress, Lydia chose a hand-tied bouquet of Mango Calla Lilies with the stems being left long. A glittered flexi grass cage was added to the top of the bouquet, and the stems had additional sparkly pins added down the length of the ribbon.

For Lydia's bridesmaids, we chose simple bouquets of ivory calla lilies with a glittered flexi grass cage. We then designed a Mango calla lily "wand" for her flower girl.

The boys wore buttonholes to match the bouquets, and Gareth gave in and wore and orange calla lily .....but with a hot pink feather! The rest of the party wore ivory calla lilies, and Mums corsages included ivory, orange and hot pink.

Lydia and Gareth were marrying in Albourne Church and then welcoming guests at Slaugham Place for their reception. We thus added baytrees to the entrance to the marquee with pink and orange bows, and added sparkly fairy lights to the tops for later in the day.

Within the marquee, we alternated between martini vases and candelabra on the tables. For the top table, we used a martini vase filled with hot pink sisal (for Gareth) and added fairy lights inside for the evening. We then added a full top arrangement of calla lilies, lilies, roses, gerberas, anthuriums and contemporary foliage, some of it glittered for extra sparkle. The backs of the chairs were dressed with bows finished with sparkly brooches which looked so glamorous, especially when we finished them with calla lilies or roses.

For the other tables having martini vases, we chose ivory sisal in the base and made the top arrangements slightly smaller and less packed with flowers, but still very striking and contemporary.

For the remainder of the tables, we used tall silver candelabra to which we added glittered ivy and Milano roses and Mango calla lilies.

Finally, we provided two pedestal arrangements to seperate the reception area from the dancefloor.

We knew Lydia and Gareth would have a fabulous wedding day and were so pleased to be able to work with them, and to finally meet the lovely Lola along with the rest of their family. We know they will have a wonderful life together.....all they need now is a Dalmatian to keep Lola company!!

Lorna and Alex's English Tea Party wedding at Chiddingstone Castle

2011-08-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

There's vintage, and there's vintage.....and this wedding most certainly fit the bill with hand-made bunting, vintage crockery and plates, vintage vases, jars etc, a birdcage with birds (not real...don't panic) and lots of gorgeous country garden flowers. Some vases and crockery were from us, some from Vintage Flair (http://www.vintage-flair.co.uk/) and some belonged to Lorna and Alex.

Lorna and Alex had a very strong sense of the English tea party theme they wanted for their wedding, and their attention to detail was fabulous. They knew exactly what they wanted it to look like, had chosen truly gorgeous outfits for themselves and quirky teadresses for the bridesmaids and hence all that was required to finish the picture was flowers....queue us! We spent quite some time working through the best flowers and rose varieties to use and decided upon La Belle, Sweet Avalanche, Amnesia, Carousel Illusion, Snowflake and highly scented English garden roses. Mix it all with mint, rosemary, lavender, lisianthus, freesias, hydrangea, astrantia, veronica and lots of other goodies, and it made for a perfect day.

Despite being very petite, Lorna wanted a full, blowsy bouquet with lots of varieties of blooms for texture and that just picked look. We finished it with rustic raffia and a horseshoe vintage brooch. Clusters of spray roses and astrantia heads were wired to add to her hair and to her bridesmaids' hair too.

For Lorna's bridesmaids, we wanted a similar look, but much paler in colour with a slight hint of blue as their dresses were made from a print fabric with lots of colour included, hence we wanted the bouquets to contrast against them.

For the boys, we chose roses with astrantia and lavender and Mums had corsages using chincherinchee and foliage. They looked lovely, but you'll have to take my word for it as I forgot to photograph them!

At Chiddingstone Castle, we decorated the lovely Orangery with foliage garlands with roses, spray roses and raffia bows interspersed. We then added two standard hydrangeas in terracotta pots to frame Alex and Lorna. We then added some lovely jugs and pots full of flowers to the beautifully dressed celebrant table.

Being dog lovers, we couldn't leave the hounds out.....don't they look grand! Wish ours would sit as still to model floral collars!

Within the Great Hall, we had a wonderful time deciding which vases and arrangements went on each table ..there are too many photos to show, but we've included a selection below. All tables then had a few votives with tealights included to be lit later in the day for extra glow. All tables were finished with dried rosebuds and pearls, and each napkin was to be dressed with a single purple veronica tied with a raffia bow (but we finished too early to show this final touch in the photos).

The mantelpiece was similarly dressed with a range of vases and containers, with pearls and rosebuds and votives with tealights.

The top table was going to have the lovely teapot added from the celebrant table but it was dressed in the meantime with lots of other cups, saucers, jugs, cakeplate etc. The gorgeous bunting on the front of the table actually says "hooray", which we thought was a lovely touch.

We also added flowers to the cake to tie in with the theme.

It was a true English Tea Party and the weather was perfect...not too English thank goodness, but dry, warm and with a lovely warm sunlight. We think the attention to detail makes this look like a magazine shoot....so perfect in a fabulously mismatched way. We love it! We know Lorna and Alex had the most perfect day and when their professional photos are ready, we'll be able to show you how gorgeous they looked as well. They are such a lovely, well matched couple and I'm sure their happiness is going to shine through in the photos. In the meantime, hope you like our contribution to their special day.

Carrie and Stuart's fabulously colourful wedding at Chapeldown Winery

2011-08-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Carrie is a customer of ours from back in the day, so when we met to talk about her fabulous wedding, it was no surprise that Carrie wanted a different, contemporary, eclectic look. I think the photos are going to say it all for this fab wedding. As well as multi- coloured turquoise, orange, pink, purple and green, Carrie wanted a messy, unstructured look and to bring in some of the Chapeldown surroundings, which we did with roses, rosemary, ivy and lavender.

Carrie's dress is a fabulous fitted ruched strapless gown with a very full bottom and with her figure, it's going to be a show stopper. She wanted a bouquet that reflected the rest of the wedding, and we decided on a partly hand-tied more European style bouquet with wired extensions using all the colours and flowers used elsewhere.

For her bridesmaids, we decided hot pink, purple and orange was the order of the day with Cherry Brandy roses, Serena gerberas, Vanda orchids, ivy and grasses. We wrapped the stems in orange ribbon and then criss crossed hot pink ribbon over the top. The Flower Girls carried Serena gerbera wands surrounded by turquoise feathers and then wrapped the stems in colours that they chose themselves, with one being hot pink and gold, and the other being purple and turquoise.

Stuart wore a Vanda orchid buttonhole with orange chincherincee and foliage, with the Groom's party wearing Cherry Brandy rose buttonholes along with purple lisianthus, rosemary and ivy. Stuart's Mum wore dendrobrium orchids, chincherinchee, eryngium and foliage.

For the ceremony in the beautiful Herb Garden, we provided a very full and colourful arrangement for the celebrant table in the gazebo with the entrance dressed with a messy ivy garland with lots of colourful flowers wired in. The aisle chairs had different coloured organza bows with non matching flowers through the back...lovely! Even the sunshine came out to see it all, which was a very different look from when we arrived in torrential rain....thank goodness it decided to behave itself for Carrie and Stuart.

Now to the marquee....a fantastic burst of colour featuring roses, anthuriums, orchids, eryngium, gerberas, gloriosa, chincherinchee, celosia and loads of other flowers. We provided bows for the backs of the chairs as an alternative to the normal chair covers and sashes and I have to say I loved the look, with each having a different flower through the back of the bow.

Each table then had a full floral surround to a chrome candelabra. We used different coloured candles in the candelabra, attached different coloured bows to the top, draped each with messy ivy and wired flowers and finally finished them with delicate invisible wire trails of cerise pink dendrobrium orchids that looked as though they were floating over the tables.

For the top table, we went to town with a full and fabulous arrangement in the middle of the table extended out along the length of the table with a messy trailing ivy garland with flowers wired in at intervals. A bit of a show stopper!

We then added a candelabra to the present table and a low arrangement to the wine vat by the bar. Finally we added a few random flowers to the cake table so as to complement and not to detract from the wonderful and unusual cake designed by Stephanie at Posh Puds Patisserie (http://www.poshpuds.com/). Their attention to detail and dedication was great and we've thoroughly enjoyed working alongside them.

I know how much work and thought Carrie has put into this very special day (including making the homemade jam for each guest, made to her Mum's recipe), and also know that it will be an emotionally charged day for all, but just hope that it lives up to her and Stuart's expectation. We think it is an unforgettable wedding set-up and hope the rest of the day is just the same.

Beth and Simon's wedding at Chapeldown Vineyard

2011-08-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

This week's featured wedding is Beth and Simon's glamorous wedding at Chapeldown Vineyard. I think their consultation last year was one of the most enjoyable in a long time. Beth and Simon had so many lovely ideas and all of these ideas showed through on their wedding day, with place names being heart cards in corks, table names being champagne names on blackboard hearts, hearts being attached to tables etc. A wonderful attention to detail from a fabulous couple. Despite Simon and I ganging up on Beth with regards to the original hot pink and orange colour scheme (whilst lovely, it wasn't right for the overall feel of the day ... glamorous white tie Hollywood), the pink, lime green and white theme we decided upon worked fabulously with the duck egg blue chosen for the bridesmaids.

Beth is extremely glamorous and last time we met was chanelling the "Marilyn Monroe look" beautifully (are you sensing envy here...) Her dress lived up to expectation being white, encrusted with sparkles across the fitted bodice, and being very full at the bottom. With her gorgeous long blonde hair, this was always going to look fabulous, and we needed a fabulous bouquet to match. Hence, we designed a full white phalaenopsis orchid shower bouquet. We added crystals and diamantes throughout the bouquet along with knotted grasses, lime tips and folded and rolled aspidistra leaves. We then wrapped the handle with white ribbon and added a beautiful beaded section taken from Beth's dress.

All of the bridesmaids were wearing duck egg blue and we provided a range of different flowers to complement different roles and outfits. For the Maid of Honour, we provided a small bouquet of Greentrick, pink Phalaenopsis orchids, knotted grasses and crystals. She also wore a wrist corsage to match the other bridesmaids. Each of the other adult bridesmaids wore wrist corsages on duck egg blue ribbon using greentrick, phalaenopsis orchids, dendrobrium orchid buds, lime tips and crystals. For the flower girl, Beth found a wooden heart to which we attached a duck egg blue ribbon wrist loop along with a spray of orchids, sparkles and grasses (all silk so Chloe could keep it as a long term reminder). Each of the bridesmaids also wore a pink orchid with grasses in their hair (not photographed).

We provided a range of buttonholes and corsages depending upon the role of individuals within the Groom's party. For Simon, we provided a white phalaenopsis orchid buttonhole with grasses, lime tips and diamantes. For the Best Man, we provided a similar buttonhole to Simons, minus the sparkle. For the ushers, Dads and Page Boy, we provided pink orchid buttonholes with grasses and lime tips. For other male members of the bridal party, we used chincherinchee, grasses and lime tips. For the Mums, we used a range of dendrobrium orchids, chincherinchee and foliage along with ribbon loops to match their outfits, For Nanna and Grandma, we provided slightly smaller corsages with no ribbon. For Beth's Confetti Angels plus sisters and other members of the party, we used chincherinchee and a single dendrobrium orchid along with foliage.

Beth and Simon married in the Herb Garden, and a bespoke sign dressed with silk orchids, sparkles, foliage and ribbon pointed the way for guests. We then added simple fishbowls with sprays of phalaenopsis orchids, grasses with crystals and lime green water to the celebrant table. We also added a lovely wicker heart dressed with orchids, sparkles, grasses and duck egg blue ribbon to the front of the table. To frame Simon and Beth in the gazebo, we added simple bunches of celosia, anthuriums and greentrick along with sanderiana to the posts.

For the circular tables in the marquee, we provided large martini glass vases filled with an exotic arrangement of eye catching flowers in shades of strong pink and lime green, including anthuriums, celosia, curcuma, greentrick, alpinias, calla lilies, dendrobrium orchids, pandamues, typha and lily grass and sanderiana. We added pink phalaenopsis orchids to the place settings on the top table. To direct guests to their tables, we added tall blackboard hearts to the tablecentres, each with the table name (a champagne variety) added. Very appropriate and a lovely way of bringing hearts and champagne together.

Beth and Simon had chosen a wonderful tiered cheeses cake, for which we provided wired floral sections to dress the cake. As the cheeses needed to be brought out nearer the time of the wedding breakfast we couldn't photograph it, but have included a photograph of the wired sections. Beth and Simon were also provided with a single tiered cake made by their family as a surprise. It had been dressed with icing orchids in white, to which we added a silk phalaenopsis orchid and some greentrick just to tie it into the overall theme.

We know that the guests will have looked extremely glamorous in their long dresses and white ties, but I am absolutely convinced that Beth and Simon will have stolen the show (as they should have) and will have looked sooooo fabulous. I just hope their day is everything they dreamed of and planned and that it didn't fly by too quickly. We think all their decisions were fabulous and hope you like them too. I'm looking forward to seeing all their photos in the future, over a glass of something sparkling! Well, it is appropriate given the table names!

Danielle and Ryan's wedding at Chilston Park Hotel

2011-08-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

We always knew that Danielle and Ryan's wedding would be stylish, classy and with every detail perfect and I'm so pleased to say that this was the case on the day. As you can see from the photo above, Danielle and Ryan are a very handsome couple and they were both extremely involved in all the decisions made for their special day, which made sure that it was exactly as they both wanted. They really are a lovely couple as well as looking great, and hence we wanted to bring their ideas to life in terms of the flowers.

Danielle and Ryan had chosen teal bridesmaids dresses, each with a very slightly different design around the neckline, which I thought was lovely. They all included sparkle as did Danielle's gorgeous dress, and hence we didn't need to add much extra to the flowers. Both Danielle and Ryan knew a fair bit about flowers and wanted that soft English feel that works so well at Chilston. They love hydrangeas and roses and wanted to make sure that scent was added which we did in the form of rosemary, eucalyptus, sweet peas and some scented roses.

As you can see from the photos kindly provided, Danielle's dress was gorgeous. It fit her like a glove and was beautifully complemented by the length of the veil and her jewellery. We therefore wanted her bouquet to be full and lush, but not too over the top. We kept her bouquet all ivory and used hydrangeas, roses and lisianthus with light asparagus fern at the edges with hydrangea leaves. We added spriggy crystals throughout to catch the light but not compete with the dress, and finished the stems with a gorgeous brooch.

For the striking bridesmaids, we used a colour palette from pale lilac to stronger purple which looked fabulous against their teal dresses. We used the same sort of flowers as in Danielle's bouquet (hydrangea, lisianthus, roses, sweet peas, asparagus fern) and made the bouquets smaller in size. We wrapped the stems in the teal dress fabric and finished them with a sparkly brooch.

The boys had rose buttonholes, backed with asparagus fern and hydrangea leaves, with Ryan wearing an ivory rose to complement Danielle's bouquet and the remainder of the grooms' party wearing Pacific Blue to match the bridesmaids. Mums wore wrist corsages with ribbons used to tone with their outfits (lilac and teal).

Within the orangery for the ceremony, we provided a long and low, soft and natural looking arrangement for the celebrant table using roses, hydrangeas, lisianthus, freesias, spray roses, eucalyptus, rosemary and soft asparagus fern. Ryan's Mum then made lovely little pew ends to go through the chair bows using all the same flowers.

For the Hussey Hall reception, we provided tall trumpet vases with a diamante garland twisted around the outside to reflect the light and add a touch of sparkle, and then added arrangements on top in the lovely lilac to purple colour palette using all the flowers and foliage used in the top table. They were placed on Danielle and Ryan's square mirrors.

For the top table, we added a long and low arrangement in front of Danielle and Ryan, and added a single Pacific Blue rose through each of the beautifully tied napkins and placed the pretty favour boxes on top. Ryan's Mum also dressed the cake and made some candle rings for the stables for the evening....very brave of her to take it all on on such an important day, but a great job done...a future florist in the making maybe?!

I think you'll agree that the wedding was so elegant and pretty and the colours worked beautifully together. The sun shone, everyone looked amazing and the stage was set for a perfect day. It's a perfect case of "I do love it when a plan comes together"! Hope you enjoy!

Laura and Glenn's wedding at Combe Bank School

2011-07-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

I know I've said it before, but we are very lucky to meet some lovely people in our work, and I have to say that Laura, Glenn and their families fall at the top of the nice list. It has been such a pleasure working with them for their special day, and I hope all was as they dreamed of throughout the day. Laura and Glenn chose a pale pink and green theme (after Glenn was persuaded that green really did work with it by looking at the ceiling in the Adam Room in Combe Bank School!). Laura wanted it to be soft, English, pretty and romantic and was very open about the flowers we chose.

Laura is such a pretty and gentle bride that we decided her bouquet should be a soft mix of roses, bouvardia, trachellium, chincherinchee, lisianthus, eucalyptus and rosemary. We also added freesias (Honeymoon) for additional scent and because they were her Mum's favourite...Mum noticed the scent at Combe Bank straight away so choosing a really scented variety was definitely worth it.

For her bridesmaids, we provided hand-tied bouquets all in ivory to contrast against their dresses. We used roses, trachellium, freesias, chincherinchee, rosemary and eucalyptus.

For the boys, Glenn wore a pale pink Sweet Avalanche rose buttonhole with rosemary and eucalyptus to tie in with Laura's bouquet, and the remainder of the bridal party wore ivory Avalanche roses. Mum had a corsage contianing freesias (of course), chincherinchee and foliage with ribbon to match her outfit and spriggy pearls.

For the ceremony in the very pretty chapel, Laura and Glenn chose bows of alternating colours for the pew ends, and then we added a long, low, pretty and full arrangement on the altar.

For the drinks reception in the Adam Room, we added a long and low arrangement to the beautiful mantelpiece. This just shows how well the colours went with the venue..it was definitely a perfect choice for the Adam Room! Well chosen Glenn!

We added battery operated Smart Candles along the window ledges in the ante chapel for additional glow and flicker later in the evening, interspersed with rose petals. A very simple, pretty and safe option.

For the reception, Laura and Glenn had quite a large number of tables, so we decided that providing wide and tall arrangements for every table may be too much. We therefore used tall lily vases with soft arrangements on every other table, and then low tapered vases containing full hand-tied arrangements for the others. It gave a lovely open look to the room, rather than being too packed. The top table was dressed with a long and low arrangement to allow the guests to easily see Laura and Glenn and to frame them during the wedding breakfast. All arrangements were designed to be given away at the end of the day to selected guests.

For the evening in the ballroom, Laura had made a sweet topiary tree for each table....they were fabulous. Each was different and each had sweets at the base as well as the top. What a fabulous job!

Laura and Glenn had their cake made by a family friend and decided on a simple stacked cake with alternating ribbon which we dressed with a topper and a couple of wired arrangements. Very pretty and yet not overdone.

We had such a lovely time working on Laura and Glenn's wedding...they are such a wonderful couple and every conversation has been a pleasure. Laura was extremely trusting about the flowers and really left it all to us to decide on flowers, varieties and what best to do. We know they loved the flowers and we hope they had the best day ever!

Lucy and Reece's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

2011-07-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Lucy and Reece married at the weekend at the fabulous Cooling Castle Barn, and have been planning their wedding for over eighteen months now. Despite having booked her flowers so long ago, Lucy has always known what she wanted in terms of colour and style and when you see her choices, you'll know why. With hot pink and orange, gerberas and exotic proteas and celosia, it was a wedding to remember.

Lucy was looking stunning on her wedding morning, and will have been a radiant bride. Her hair and make up was stunning and her choice of a simple, yet striking and contemporary hand-tied bouquet of hot pink and orange gerberas along with simple grass loops would set off her dress perfectly.

For the bridesmaids, we decided to mirror Lucy's bouquet, but use the smaller germini. We then scaled down bouquets from the older to the more junior bridesmaids, and then finally went for a single gerbera and shaved feathers in a "wand style" for the Flower Girl.

For Reece, we opted for the burnt orange germini and loops of grasses, with the hot pink germini used for the rest of the groom's party. The Mums decided they would like wrist corsages to match their outfits, and again we incorporated germini to match the focal flower. We then provided lapel corsages for the Nans and sisters.

For the ceremony in Cooling Castle, we removed the artifiical arrangement at the front of the ceremony room and replaced it with a striking hot pink and orange arrangement using gerberas, germinis, celosia and proteas along with palms, grasses and other striking foliage. We matched this arrangement with a long, low striking arrangement for the celebrant table.

Within the main barn for the wedding breakfast, we dressed the guest tables with central mirrors onto which was placed a large martini vase filled with hot pink sisal. Into the top of each martini glass, we placed a striking hot pink and orange arrangement designed to give plenty of width and to give that "wow" factor. As we had a larger number of tables, using such striking arrangements filled the barn with bright, summery flowers. We also dressed the beams with fairy lights which framed the whole barn perfectly.

We finished the top table with a long and low arrangement placed over the front of table draping. We then added a few small clusters of flowers into the stunning (and large) tower of cupcakes Lucy and Reece had chosen for their wedding cake.

We think the barn and the colour scheme looked lovely and lots of people commented on how summery and attractive it all looked on the day. It was a lovely day and we're sure that everyone will have had a wonderful day....hard not to at Cooling Castle Barn! We just hope it lived up to Lucy and Reece's expectations and to their long planning period.

Charlotte and Steve's professional photos from The Secret Garden courtesy of www.rachelluckhurstphotography.co.uk

2011-07-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

We love being able to show the professional photos from a wedding,especially when they are as lovely as the ones Rachel took at Charlotte and Steve's wedding. Bearing in mind that Charlotte was very nervous about the wedding as she doesn't like being the centre of attention, you would never this so looking at the photos as they are so relaxed and natural. We think Charlotte looks amazing int he photos and could be a model, but she won't like us for saying that!!

We hope you like these photographs....we've included quite a few as they were hard to choose between and we were lucky enough to have as many as we wanted. Thanks to Rachel at http://www.rachelluckhurstphotography/ for letting us use them....they're gorgeous!

Kim and Daniel's wedding at Little Silver Country Hotel

2011-07-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

We first met Kim many years ago when she looked after Gromit (our quality controller) when we were away. She remembered us, we remembered her and Gromit was very happy to see her again! Kim wanted her wedding to be striking and colourful and with a very contemporary feel. She had chosen beautiful aubergine dresses for her bridesmaids, but wanted her flowers to be more than just aubergine and ivory. We came up with a strong pink, lime green and aubergine colour palette and it looked stunning in the sunshine at Little Silver.

Kim's dress was a fabulous and glamourous ruched ivory gown with lots of gorgeous detailing (plus an amazing hair piece that we all want!), and hence we decided it would be better for Kim to carry a shower bouquet rather than a hand-tied bouquet to avoid all the detailing on the dress being covered. We used Picasso Calla lilies, strong pink gerberas and germinis, Greentrick, green roses and lots of lovely contemporary folded leaves, grasses and crystals added for sparkle throughout the bouquet. Kim looks gorgeous in her dress and the flowers were just the right size and shape to show all the details off to perfection.

The bridesmaids dresses were a lovely colour and worked so well with the hand-tied bouquets we designed using strong pink germinis, greentrick and green roses with grasses. We added in touches of silver bear grass to match their accessories, and just scaled the size of the bouquet down for the young bridesmaid. We also provided strong pink germinis wired for the bridesmaids' hair, which finished the look off beautifully.

For the boys, we provided a Picasso Calla Lily buttonhole for Daniel, which looked lovely on his suit lapel, and tied in with Kim's bouquet. We then provided strong pink germini buttonholes for the remainder of the party so that they matched in with the bridesmaids. For Mums and Grandmas, we provided corsages which were personalised to match individual detailing in their outfits.

Given the horrible spell of weather we are having at the moment, Little Silver had set up for the ceremony inside and outside, but we needn't have worried as the sun shone all day and provided a perfect backdrop for the wedding. Kim had always said she was going to get married on a working weekday as the weather is always nicer when people are working, and horrid at weekends.....how right she was! The ceremony was held in the garden and we placed a mini martini vase arrangement on the celebrant table, which was moved indoors for the wedding breakfast to the top table.

For the reception, we provided large martini vases filled with aubergine sisal and fairy lights, and with an arrangement in the top of strong pink and ivory oriental lilies, gerberas, shamrock blooms, lime green kangaroo paw and various leaves and grasses, including silver bear grass. The table names were really original, being the local African names for various safari animals. Kim and Daniel also had an elephant "bank for donations to their safari fund, so no guesses where they were headed on safari.

For the top table, we provided three mini martini vases to match the main tables, but adding Greentrick and calla lilies to match them to Kim and Daniel's personal flowers. When the top table was set, they would be placed at either end, and in the middle of Kim and Daniel.

Finally we dressed the four tier offset cake with a topper and added an additional section in the middle.

We already know Kim and Daniel had a wonderful day as they have sent us the photos to use on the blog, and hence we get the chance to see how fabulous everyone looked and not just focus on the flowers. We also thought it worth showing you the attention to detail of the "Quality Controller" who insisted on checking out the arrangements in the van, and the driving instructions....she clearly wanted to leave nothing to chance for her special friend Kim!!