MOTHERS DAY - SUNDAY 14th MARCH 2010

One of our favourite days of the year is just ahead....Mothers Day.  As florists it is one of the nicest annual occasions as people of all ages and all types celebrate their wonderful Mums.  This year, we have recognised that no two Mums are the same, and hence they are unlikely to want the same flowers.  However, to give you some ideas and inspiration we have included some bouquets, arrangements and planted spring bulb arrangements below, all of which can be adapted and changed to suit specific requirements.

It is suggested orders are placed early to ensure that we can source specific flowers and that we buy the right amount of flowers to meet our customers' needs.  Call us on 01732 850723 or email us on info@distinctlyfloral.co.uk with any questions.

Firstly we have designed some hand-tied bouquets for Mum, one being a more standard all-round design including lilies, germinis, skimmia, chincherinchee, palms and grasses, wrapped in toning tissue and cellophane and finished with a very "on-trend" polka dot bow.  This bouquet would be delivered in an aqua pack for freshness and can start from £30 plus delivery.  The bouquet shown is a larger size and would be £45.

The second bouquet we have included is a front-facing bouquet including the exotic cymbidium orchids, molucella, skimmia and willow along with aralia leaves.  Again this bouquet would be delivered in a water bubble and wrapped in a stylish cellophane.  This is a long lasting bouquet and very stylish.  Colours can vary as the fabulous cymbidium orchid is grown in a range of colours.  This particular bouquet can start at £30.

We love spots here at Distinctly Floral and as they are particularly trendy this season, we've introduced a range of polka dot zinc containers for Mothers Day in a range of sizes.  We decided to plant some of the containers with spring flowers (hyacinths, narcissi, primulas) and also to prepare a cut flower arrangement using lilies, germinis, cymbidium orchids and foliage in one of the pots.  They range in price according to what we include, but start at £20 plus delivery.

We also use a range of ceramic containers and again planted some with spring bulbs, and another one was completed with an arrangement of freesias, germini, lisianthus, and eryngium which we think any Mum would love.  As a final presentation, we included one of our planted pots in a handbag and finished it with the obligatory polka dot bow.  Another idea of how to make Mum feel special this Mothers Day.

We hope you like the designs and see something that Mum would like and something that inspires you.  If you have any different or specific requirements, please call or email us at any time. 

Happy Mothers Day!

Jodie and Jonathon's wedding at Chilston Park Hotel

Last week, we provided the flowers for Jodie and Jonathon's wedding at Chilston Park.  Jodie and Jonathon wanted a mainly ivory theme, with hints of pale pink and lilac and wanted a very natural and slightly vintage feel to their wedding.  We decided to focus on predominantly spring flowers and used ranunculus, parrot tulips, paperwhites, freesias, bouvardia and chincherinchee along with rosemary sprigs.

Jodie chose very natural hand-tied bouquets for herself and her bridesmaids, with hers having a touch of colour to contrast against her stunning dress, whilst her bridesmaids' bouquets were kept ivory. Jodie's bouquet was wrapped with a touch of lace to tie in with her dress whilst the remaining bouquets were wrapped simply in silver ribbon.  For her flower girl, we designed a beautiful, sweet smelling bouquet of paperwhites, which we just loved.

For the grooms' party, we used mainly chincherinchee and rosemary and added ranunculus to Jonathon's buttonhole to tie in with Jodie's bouquet.  We added a sprig of muscari to Jonathon's Dad's buttonhole as he loves bluebells!  Having helped the boys with their buttonholes, we can confirm that they all looked very handsome indeed.  We then added either freesia or paperwhite pips to the Mum's corsages along with small loops of ribbon to match their outfits.  We loved the whole collection of bridal flowers and felt that they fitted beautifully with the overall theme.

  

For the venue flowers, Jodie and Jonathon had bought a selection of different hurricane lamps for the guest tables and the ends of the top table.  The "nothing matches, yet everything goes" vintage approach worked so well in Chilston, and we kept the flowers to a minimum to show off the vases.  We used tulips and wired trails of rosemary inside the guest tables, with paperwhite pips sprinkled around the mirrors.  For the top table, we added ranunculus to the hurricane lamps and sprinkled paperwhite pips along the front of the table between the central arrangement and the hurricane lamps. 

Finally, for the most important part of the day, the ceremony, we provided a soft, natural and pretty arrangement for the celebrant's table containing the full range of  flowers used elsewhere in the wedding.  We look forward to seeing the photos from what was a very pretty wedding for a lovely couple.

Sharon and Steven's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

In a strange coincidence, another of our weddings last week also featured the stunning Picasso Calla lily and followed a similar colour scheme to Michelle and Charlie's wedding.  Sharon and Steven wanted an elegant and yet simple floral theme to match their aubergine and ivory colour scheme and we chose Picasso and Schwarzwalder Calla lilies teamed with unusual frilly edged Honeymoon tulips and oriental lilies.  Again Sharon wanted quite a contemporary feel for her flowers and wanted to combine candlelight in the form of hurricane lamps with church candles for the table flowers.

Sharon's bouquet was a hand-tied bouquet using the Picasso and Schwarwalder calla lilies, along with tulips, lily grass and salal and finished with sprigs of pearls and crystals to match her chosen jewellery.  Her bridesmaids carried hand-tied bouquets of Picasso calla lilies and tulips in a smaller version of Sharon's bouquet.  We wrapped the stems of their bouquets in offcuts of their dress fabric so that they would be a perfect match.  The flower girl carried a triple "wand" of calla lilies with feathers and crystals.

Bridal party flowers matched the remaining flowers with Steven wearing a Schwarwalder Calla lily buttonhole to match Sharon, and the remainder of the party wearing the Picasso calla lily as buttonholes to match the bridesmaids' bouquets.  Very elegant and understated indeed.

Cooling Castle reception tables were dressed with hurricane lamp arrangements with floral surrounds using all the bridal flowers along with oriental lilies in toning shades.  Two were also placed on the celebrant table to bring the floral theme into the ceremony room and ensure the flowers would be represented in photographs of Sharon and Steven signing the register. 

Finally, we dressed the cake with flowers to match the tablecentres.  Another beautiful and elegant wedding that matched the personality and style of the bridal couple and will produce stunning photographs and happy memories.

Michelle and Charlie's wedding at Bradbourne House

One of our weddings on Saturday was Michelle and Charlie's very elegant and striking wedding at Bradbourne House.  Having met Michelle for our intital consultation, it was clear this was going to be a beautiful, contemporary and elegant wedding in shades of aubergine, purple and ivory with black accents.  We love these rich colours and it also gives us an opportunity to showcase the amazing vanda orchid, which Michelle loved and which really provided a talking point for the day.

For Michelle's bouquet, we used a fabulous combination of vanda orchids and Picasso calla lilies along with black grasses, small rolls of black tie leaf and with added sparkle provided via transluscent crystals.  We can't wait to see photos of Michelle carrying this bouquet as it would look beautiful against her stunning dress.

Michelle decided upon wrist corsages for her bridesmaids, and the long trailing ivory and black ribbons set

off the orchid, grasses and crystals beautifully and worked well against their dresses.

Bridal party flowers matched the remainder of the wedding flowers, with Charlie wearing an orchid, and the groom's party wearing the Picasso calla lily...very elegant indeed.

Bradbourne House was dressed to impress for the day, with garlands around each of the main entrance pillars, into which we wired calla lilies and orchids and added a trailing black bow at the top to ensure all the wedding colours were included.  We then provided a striking pedestal for the ceremony, which worked well with the fabulous chair covers at Bradbourne....what a fantastic colour scheme and what an elegant wedding overall. 

Vivien and Justin's wedding - Cooling Castle Barn

Continuing on the aubergine and purple colour scheme, we provided the flowers for Vivien and Justin at Cooling Castle Barn last week.  Whilst the bridesmaids were wearing the aubergine / purple dresses, Vivien and Justin wanted to keep the flowers largely ivory and keep them simple, elegant and a little more natural for the tables. 

We used solely lilies for the wedding, ranging from large white Oriental lilies, through the striking bi-coloured Picasso calla lily, ivory Avalanche calla lilies and even the smaller Crystal Blush calla lilies for some of the bridal party flowers.   We added a touch of willow and grasses to the table centres with just a hint of sparkle provided by the crystals on the grasses, and a touch of colour in the ribbon ties. 

As Vivien and Justin had a circular top table, we provided a table centre like the remaining guest tables, but added calla lilies in to match the bridal flowers and to give an extra wow for such a special table. 

For the bridal flowers, Vivien's bouquet was a contemporary, simple yet oh so striking hand-tied bouquet of Picasso Calla Lilies with just a few sprigs of steel grass, whilst her bridesmaids carried Avalanche calla lily hand-tied bouquets, again with a few sprigs of steel grass.

The bridal party flowers echoed the flowers used elsewhere with Justin matching Vivien with a Picasso Calla Lily and the remainder of the groom's party following the bridesmaids' flowers and wearing Avalanche Calla Lily buttonholes.   The overall feel was clean-lined, elegant, contemporary and very coordinated. 

Whilst we only got to see Vivien with her stunning hairslide in place and didn't see the finished look, we had insider information from Bows 2 Belles wedding cars, who told us how beautiful she looked on the day.  We hope to see the photos at some point in the future.