Sutton Valence Summer Ball

Saturday was the day for Sutton Valence School Ball, with a circus theme this year. The marquees were beautifully dressed in a range of wonderful circus colours, and the tablecloths again tied in with the theme with a range of napkins to bring it all together. Our brief was quite open but we were tied to a very tight budget and the vases had been provided for us.

We decided to use a range of accessories within the arrangements to reflect juggling balls, hire wires etc and kept the flowers on the top of vases so that we could add coloured water, and later in the evening submersible lights in colours to match the water. The overall effect was wonderful and finished the tables off without taking away from the rest of the decorations.

Whilst the event was evidently a huge success, it meant a late night on the Friday getting the 36 tablecentres prepared and very messy hands on the Saturday getting the water colours to match the tablecentres! All in a days work I guess, but it's a good job we weren't planning a special night out on the Saturday as we ended up with hands looking like Joseph's proverbial coat.

Joanna's party at home in Frittenden

One of our weddings last week was at Joanna's Mum's home in Frittenden. The setting was wonderful, the weather beautiful and the marquee scorching! Joanna wanted a soft, romantic, English Country Garden theme to fit in with the setting, and chose a range of bi-coloured pink and white roses, peonies, freesias and soft foliage, including herbs such as rosemary. Her bridesmaids wore wrist corsages which worked really well with their dresses.

We think the terracotta pots worked beautifully on the tables, and the scent from the peonies and freesias was lovely.

Despite the heat, the marquee looked great, and we just hope everyone wore suncream! Perhaps we need to develop a version for the flowers given the way the English weather is shaping up!

Claire's wedding at The Royal Wells Hotel

One of our weddings last week took us to The Royal Wells hotel in Tunbridge Wells, which is a venue we have only dressed a few times as they generally provide flowers for each wedding as part of a package. Claire however had very clear ideas about how she wanted her wedding to look and had seen some photos in magazines which we then adapted to create her own special look.

Claire wanted soft, romantic flowers all in greens and ivories and we used a range of textures to ensure all the flowers had their own space and weren't overcrowded by too many larger flowers. We loved the final look, and thought that as this style hasn't appeared on our website yet, this may provide some inspiration for others.....it certainly did for some customers who saw them in the shop before they were delivered, and we hope you like them too.

Natasha and Chris' wedding at Barming Church and Barham Court

Natasha and Chris wanted a very soft, natural and textured floral theme for their wedding based around white and ivory, but with flashes of sky blue and silver. Hydrangeas were at the heart of the wedding along with delphiniums and veronica, with a few cornflowers used throughout for sentimental reasons.

It was a lovely hot day for Natasha and Chris, and the marquee at Barham Court was very warm indeed. Good job that we had decided to arrange the table centres in hidden aqua packs so that they could keep drinking during the day...it also made them much easier for guests to take away at the end of the day.

The touches of blue matched the colour of the sky as well as the bridesmaids dresses, and with a glint of silver throughout, the flowers chosen were perfect for the location and the time of year.

Susan and Matthew's wedding at Nettlestead Place and a marquee at home

We always knew that Susan and Matthew's wedding would be a glamorous and gorgeous event and we'd looked forward to providing the flowers for quite a while. Susan had fallen in love with one of our favourite flowers, the Blue Magic Vanda Orchid, and as her bridesmaids' dresses were a pinky purple / purply pink (we didn't quite decide which was the best description!), we knew the orchids would work. Combined with phalaenopsis orchids and a profusion of Hot Pink and white flowers, we were guaranteed to be able to create the "wow" factor that Susan and Matthew were looking for.

After an intimate ceremony at Nettlestead Place, the guests were treated to a reception to remember in a beautiful marquee. The planning that Susan and Matthew put into their special day really showed, with finishing touches such as the coloured wine glasses, the purple lighting around the marquee and the light coloured carpet (slippers were a necessity when setting up!). We even added fairy lights to the martini glasses for extra sparkle in the evening to match the dance floor.

We loved working with Susan and Matthew and were so pleased that everything went according to plan on the day and I think you will agree that it was a beautiful and glamorous wedding, yet with a personal and particularly intimate ceremony...the best of both worlds.

Claire and Nick's wedding at Headcorn Church and Chilston Park Hotel

Claire and Nick were very clear from the outset what look they wanted for their wedding day. A typically English, country garden feel filled with a range of ivory flowers enhanced by baby blue and with a touch of chocolate brown to bring in the detailing on the dress was the plan from the beginning. Claire and Nick even planted hydrangeas, foxgloves, delphiniums and sweet peas in their garden and in poly tunnels to hopefully have enough flowers for the bridal party. However, thanks to the good old English weather, they weren't all quite ready.....but we did say it was a typical English Country Garden feel!!

Despite intermittent drizzle, and a really tough time trying to attach the flowers over the church door (the nails that had been in place had weathered away over the winter!), all went according to plan, and as you can see in the photos, Claire and Nick looked so happy on their special day.

We think the colours and style used in the Fitzhammond Suite in Chilston Park worked really well, and brightened the room and the slightly duller day. All in all, a very English Country wedding.

Sue and Vince's wedding on the Isle of Sheppey

To complement the beautiful clear blue skies, and to provide a fresh feel for Sue and Vince's weddings, we teamed gerberas and germinis with Vendella roses and delphiniums to bring all the colours together. The overall look was fresh and crisp and will have worked beautifully with the chosen outfits.

Sue chose a shower bouquet for herself, but smaller hand-tied bouquets for her bridesmaids, and a gerbera wand surrounded in pale blue feathers for her flower girl. We kept the stems short on the hand-tied bouquets as one of the bridesmaids was expecting a baby and was worried that longer stems and her baby bump may not work well together!

Rebecca Stillman and Nick Hart's wedding at Leeds Castle

One of our most anticipated weddings this year was held on Saturday evening at Leeds Castle, with the ceremony in the gatehouse, followed by reception in the Fairfax Hall. Rebecca and Nick are a lovely couple with fabulous taste and a keen eye for detail and we were really looking forward to putting the final look together after lots of discussions. We even managed to find the perfect tall frosted votives to provide soft flickering light (battery powered) which worked beautifully in the Fairfax Hall.

As the ceiling slopes downwards in the Fairfax Hall, we suggested a slightly lower table centre for the side tables, and much more dramatic taller arrangements in the centre, hence the use of tall trumpet vases and fishbowls, which really accentuated the shape of the room.

A heavy focus on hydrangeas and soft multi petalled flowers along with skeleton leaves helped add to the overall vintage feel of the day, and the elegant green and white fitted in perfectly in the surroundings. We were thrilled with the overall look and hope that you like seeing this beautiful venue dressed for what we hope would have been the most perfect day for such a lovely couple.

Once again, concidence occured as one of Rebecca's bridesmaids was a former bride of ours, who also liked a slightly vintage look...hopefully she too enjoyed getting a second bouquet from Distinctly Floral.

Estelle Grant and John Hudson's wedding at Tudor Park Marriott

We were really looking forward to Estelle and John's wedding thanks to the lovely striking colours they had chosen. Bridesmaids'dresses were claret and hence we wanted to use the claret / burgundy / red pallet as the core colour, but instead of just adding ivory, we added my favourite lime green to the mix, which we felt made all the colours really "zing out".

Using ivory and burgundy peonies as well as freesias in the wedding flowers was guaranteed to add some beautiful scent to the day, but as the marquee room was closed up on a hot Saturday morning, the scent of the flowers just added to the overall effect.

As Estelle and Steve didn't want too much burgundy throughout, we decided on ivory chair covers and bows for the guest chairs and ivory covers with claret bows for the top table, which we think looked particularly distinguished and elegant.

When delivering the bridal flowers, I was really surprised to find that Estelle's sister had been a bridesmaid at one of our other weddings the previous week, and hence had benefitted from two bouquets....lucky girl!

Melanie Goldup and Kevin Shilling's wedding at Turkey Mill

Kevin and Melanie wanted a little more of a contemporary twist to their wedding flowers, and when we first met weren't really sure what flowers or colours to choose. They wanted an elegant and understated look with the base colour being ivory with touches of gold. To add some drama, we agreed upon lime green anthuriums for the venue, and added some exotic palms. Height was needed for Turkey Mill, hence the addition of the tall vases, finished simply with clear gel crystals.

Overarm bouquets were chosen for Melanie and her bridesmaids, with a pretty wand for her daughter Meghan. These bouquets were designed to show off the detailing on the dresses to best effect and hopefully looked quite striking in their photographs.

The only element of the day that didn't go according to plan was a few tears from Melanie when we delivered the flowers.....happy tears I hasten to add and at least the make-up artist hadn't finished Melanie's make-up at that point!

Sarah Bain and Chris Richardson's wedding at Tudor Park Marriott

Once again the sun shone for Sarah and Chris at the Tudor Park on the Bank Holiday Sunday and with the flowers chosen for the wedding, it was a really pretty, light, fresh and summery wedding. Although I only saw Sarah half ready for her big day, she looked truly beautiful and the flowers we agreed upon were a great choice for her.

Sarah wanted her flowers to be soft and romantic and to be in shades of pinks, creams and lilacs. She loves peonies which are wonderful at this time of year and reflect the English Country Garden feel she wanted in the marquee. The scent was lovely with the peonies, freesias and roses, and I hope added to the overall memories of the day.