Well it’s been a while since I’ve managed to get near the
blog so there are lots and lots of weddings to catch up on. We’ll not get around to blogging all of them,
but over the next couple of months, hopefully we can find time to add a few
lovely real life weddings for inspiration.
So to start with today, I thought
I’d include one of the August Bank Holiday weddings from Chiddingstone
Castle. This was the wedding of Stefania
and Tom, a totally lovely and exceptionally glamorous couple who were a dream
to work with.
Stef and Tom wanted a very soft and romantic look to
their wedding which works beautifully at the Castle. Stef’s gown was a dreamy princess gown by
David Tutera with sweetheart neckline and a lace overlay which truly will have
wowed on the day. Therefore the flowers
needed to be soft and blowsy. We chose a
selection of roses (O’Hara, Amnesia, La Belle, White Naomi) along with large
spray roses, hydrangeas, astilbe, gentiana, waxflower and bouvardia. We wanted to add a touch of silver so used
senecio, eucalyptus and also olive foliages which brought in Stef’s Italian
heritage).
Having described the soft, romantic and very English feel
we were hoping to achieve, you won’t be surprised to find we designed a
textured and soft hand-tied bouquet in ivory, champagne, dusty and faded pinks and
blue for Stef and wrapped the stems in lace.
We added pearl buttons down the stem to reflect the pearl buttons down
the back of her dress. For the
bridesmaids who were wearing blue, we omitted the blue from the bouquet and
kept everything soft and with a slightly “faded” palette.
The boys were given buttonholes to match the bouquets
using the O’Hara rose that Stef loved. We added gentiana to Tom’s to
differentiate it from the rest of the boys.
Mums had spray rose and freesia corsages with small details to match
their outfits.
Stef and Tom married in the lovely Orangery and to dress
the area we added wicker hearts that Stef had provided along with glass baubles
with flowers, all of which we hung from the tree by the side of the aisle. Teetering on the top of a stepladder throwing
the ends of the ribbon over branches whilst my lovely colleague Claire walked
away and refused to watch!!!, was interesting but we got their in the end! We also added flowers to the dogs (as usual...well dogs need to feel special too!)
For the reception, we provided central enamel pitchers
for each of the guest tables surrounded by jars / vases / vintage china all
filled with flowers to match the wedding.
We also added votives with tealights which could be lit during the
meal. To finish off the look, we added strings
of pearls randomly to the tables.
For the long top table, we used a random selection of jam
jars with lace, vintage glass, vintage china, bottles and other containers all
filled with flowers to match the wedding.
Some were placed on vintage books and pearls were draped throughout.
We followed the same theme through to the mantelpiece in
the Great Hall with mismatched bottles, jars and china filled with flowers. The overall look was soft, slightly eclectic
and super pretty...just what you need from an English Castle. It was a pleasure working with Stef and Tom
and it’s always a great pleasure working with the wonderful team at
Chiddingstone Castle...despite teetering at the top of the ladder, it’s always
a relaxing and pleasant set-up for a wedding and we loved being there.
