Sarah and Rob's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

I have to admit a weakness for all things purple, and hence I was delighted when I first met Sarah and Rob and they had chosen purple with flashes of hot pink as their colour scheme. It really was striking and looked great in Cooling Castle Barn. We used quite an eclectic mix of flowers from Giant Alliums to delicate sweet peas through to exotic phalaenopsis orchids, and it all worked really well together. I also think a simple touch such as the purple water makes a huge difference to arrangements and finished everything off beautifully.

For the ceremony, we used table centres from the reception area, and the top table arrangement to finish the dais area, which looked great and is something I often suggest to bridal couples. Whilst the ceremony is the most important part of the day, it is also the shortest, and hence if arrangements can be re-used within a venue, this is often an option that is chosen.


The cake was designed to look similar to the table centres, and we wanted to ensure that we had plenty of the purple colour coming through, without using the Giant Alliums!!! We added some extra phalaenopsis orchid heads in to ensure that they tied in with the bouquet and top table, and it all looked lovely (well we think it did!)

I was lucky enough to see Sarah looking lovely and very relaxed in her fabulous dress when I delivered the flowers. It's not often my brides are ahead of time on the day, hence I usually only get to see the dress on the hanger. I finished Sarah's bouquet at her home by attaching a kookaburra brooch that had been given to her by a family member, which worked really well. As Sarah is having her bouquet preserved, the brooch will have pride of place for a long time. I love it when we can use an heirloom or sentimental piece within a bouquet as it makes it all the more special.

Liz and Terry's wedding at Turkey Mill

We have had a lovely range of colours to work with recently with our weddings, which ensures we keep all the designs fresh and different and Liz and Terry's wedding was a rich splash of red and ivory. The couple wanted luxurious roses and wanted to keep the flowers simple, striking and elegant. The single iris was added for sentimental reasons, and was kept as prominent as possible in all tablecentre displays.

Liz was particularly calm and relaxed when we delivered her bouquets, and was all set for a wonderful day. She looked stunning with her hair and make-up done and I'm looking forward to seeing photos of her in her gown. Her bouquet was a largely hand-tied bouquet with the weight at the top, but with a trailing extension. It was very easy to hold and will have looked lovely against her dress.

Liz's bridesmaids wore tea length fifties inspired dresses and we decided wrist corsages would complement them perfectly. Just before we delivered all the flowers, Liz's sister popped into the shop for a thank-you bouquet, not knowing that we were providing the flowers for the wedding, and commented on what a strange coincidence it was that we were doing flowers in the same colours for another wedding! She didn't know we were involved, so clearly fate brought her to our shop on such a special day.

Finally Liz and Terry's cake was a masterpiece from Shelley's Cakes and I'm sure all the guests enjoyed their bags of dolly mixtures once the cake was cut!!

Sarah and Jamie's wedding at Little Silver

It seems a very long time ago when we first met Sarah as a shop customer and not long after that she started to talk about her wedding. After all her planning, her wedding took place recently at Little Silver and was a lovely elegant and yet sparkly theme of white and silver with touches of green. Sarah loves gerberas, which featured heavily, but we added a touch of opulence with the green tinged Omega phalaenopsis orchids which Jamie had as his buttonhole.


Her bridesmaids were in green (all 8 of them, and all glamorous) and we kept all the flowers fairly neutral. Sarah was originally going to choose fishbowls, but then decided that the martini glasses would work particularly well. As the reception room has a high ceiling, they work particularly well and we decided to add fairy lights in the base of the vases to give a little extra sparkle later in the day. We designed mini versions of the vases for the top table, which were set on one side until the room was set up later in the day for the reception.

The bridesmaids' were all busy adding lovely butterflies and dragonflies to the stems of the vases when we left, and whilst the ceremony was set up for inside, we hope that a last minute set up outside was managed to allow Sarah and Jamie to marry in the gazebo.

Recent Weddings including Heidi Hook and Debbie Senft

Whilst we have weddings every month of the year, and it is often the earlier months that are busier than the traditional July / August months, we are in the midst of a wedding whirlwind at the moment. We are managing about 7 weddings a week at the moment, hence we can't include all of them on the blog....well we could if I didn't sleep, but I'm too old now to do that. We are therefore including as many as we can, as we know that the happy couple and their families like to see the photos as soon as possible. We often find that ours are the first photos they get to see of the day, hence we try to get them live as soon as possible.

Here are a couple of recent smaller weddings, one for Heidi and Adam at Oxonhoath and one for Debbie and Richard at the Archbishops Palace followed by a marquee reception.

For Heidi and Adam, the venue for their big day was the place they met when working, hence it was very special to them. They wanted to keep everything as natural and rustic as possible, and Heidi chose an overarm bouquet for herself and bridesmaids. They provided small vases which we filled and dotted around the venue for them, and then dressed the main staircase, which they wanted to look soft, romantic yet natural, with additional sparkle added from the fairy lights.

Debbie and Richard's colour scheme was a champagne and gold theme, and hence the roses chosen for Debbie were Vendella, which were also used for buttonholes and bridesmaids, combined with vanilla carnations, which are Debbie's favourite flower. Her marquee was dressed with low posy arrangements including the Vendella rose and vanilla carnation along with Cherry Brandy roses which provided a splash of colour.

Hannah and Chris' wedding at Turkey Mill

Yesterday Hannah and Chris were married at Turkey Mill and we were really pleased to have been involved in such a lovely couple's special day. Hannah met us at the Wedding Experience at Detling and then forgot our name.....she then phoned the organisers, explained where we were situated and what we were like and took it from there. We're really pleased she went to so much trouble to find us, as all her family are lovely people to work with and I hope had the best wedding day.

Turkey Mill was ready early and looking very elegant to match the black and white theme with a hint of red. The tablecentres were very simple, but we think they were very striking and will hopefully be gracing the tables of many of their guests as they were all hand-tied ready to be given away. I particularly liked the combination of flowers we used in Hannah's bouquet and the slight glitter on the black birch set everything off perfectly.

Despite a poor weather forecast and tarpaulins covering the chairs at Turkey Mill in the morning (just in case!), Hannah and Chris got their wish and married outside. I just can't wait to see the photos now as having seen Hannah's dress on the hanger, I know she will have looked stunning...it really was very beautiful and as Hannah said all along, it probably wasn't what her friends and family thought she would choose, hence she will have made quite an entrance!

Victoria and Aaron's wedding at London Golf Club

One of last week's weddings was at London Golf Club, which we haven't done for a little while. Victoria and Aaron were married in Borough Green and then moved to the London Golf Club for their reception. Their bridesmaids were in magenta pink and hence we wanted to bring the colour into the flowers without it being too overpowering. We mixed magenta with paler lilies to give a more toned down feel.

Overall they wanted a sophisticated feel and loved the phalaenopsis orchids and lilies. I haven't mixed the two flowers in a bridal bouquet before but it worked out pretty well I think....I was worried that the lilies would overpower the orchids, but as we recessed them a little it seemed to work. The bridesmaids carried elegant overarm bouquets which complemented the bridal bouquet perfectly.

Victoria and her family were pleased to see us, and all tried out their bouquets for size whilst we were there.....her Dad had always joked about carnation buttonholes, despite the fact that orchid buttonholes were chosen for the big day, so we delivered a "spoof" carnation buttonhole just for him (with an orchid in reserve!!) He was evidently planning to take it to the church with him!

I'm looking forward to seeing some photos as the dress was gorgeous and the petticoat to go under it absolutely huge! They had to make a few changes to the church so that Victoria would comfortably be able to take her vows, so I can't wait to see her wearing the beautiful gown.

..it's funny how you sometimes don't notice the details when setting up for a wedding, e.g. the ceiling of the reception room is painted blue with fluffy clouds....you'll see it on the photos and I hadn't noticed it before. I guess I need to keep my eyes open and not be quite so focussed on our flowers all the time!

Another circus themed night - this time with Take That at Wembley!!

Hot on the heels of the Sutton Valence Ball (see the post from last week), with its bright and colourful circus theme, I found myself at Wembley for Take That's last night of their 'Circus' tour. Jugglers, trapeze artists, trampolining, balloons and an enormous elephant made it an incredible night to remember....... some over-sized flowers even made an appearance around the stage. Well I have to mention flowers somewhere.

Oh, nearly forgot, the boys absolutely rocked the stadium as well. They appeared in a blast of colour and kept everyone singing and dancing for 2 hours.

It was so inspirational, I feel a window design coming on.....and just imagine how amazing a circus themed wedding would be.....it would be worth getting married again just to plan it all. So are there any brides out there up for it..???

Sarah and Barry's wedding at Boughton Monchelsea church with a marquee reception

Yesterday was the eagerly awaited wedding of Sarah and Barry. Sarah had been planning her wedding for a while and and ensured all details were covered in the run up to the day. She used Isis Events as her wedding coordinators for the day, and it was a dream to turn up to a marquee that was ready to work in, with no obstacles in the way, everything set and ready and Toni from Isis ready and willing to help if required. It made our set-up very easy to manage. Even sprinkling the crystals on mirrors was an easy job as they were measured out in advance to ensure each table had an equal amount.

Sarah and Barry wanted an elegant, crisp and contemporary feel to their wedding and their colour palette was white and silver. Sarah particularly dislikes roses at weddings, and hence we decided on a range of orchids for her special day. Crisp white phalaenopsis orchids in a contemporary design were used for her bouquet, and unusual overarm cymbidium orchids were used for her bridesmaids, designed to follow the natural arc shape of the phalaenopsis orchid stems.

For the church, we kept the flowers very simple and a little more structural in appearance. There had been a rose festival the week before, but Sarah was keen not to have roses included in her special day, and so the flowers were kept to white cymbidium orchids along with ornithogalum arabicum along with grasses and palms, and we think looked quite striking and not overpowering in such a lovely setting.

We decided to use both phalaenopsis and cymbidium orchids for the marquee to tie in with all the bridal flowers, and persuaded Sarah and Barry to have tablecentres with an additional arrangement on the top to give height and a touch more "wow" to the marquee. We also thought it would be nice to have orchids cascading from the top table forwards to give an additional element to the front of the top table....we think they worked really well.

Despite the heat of the day, the marquee looked cool and sophisticated and reflected the New York, New York theme that flowed through all the table names. I think you'll agree the attention to detail and the intricate planning paid off and I know Sarah and Barry had a wonderful day...can't wait to see their photos as I only saw Sarah mid make-up with exquisite hair, and I've no doubt she looked amazing in her dress.