I met Laura through her bridesmaid Olivia for whom we provided the flowers at her gorgeous wedding in 2012. From the very first meeting I knew this was going to be a wedding I loved being involved with. Laura and her family and friends are so easy to work with, and very open to suggestions as well which is great news for us. Laura and John were planning a large wedding but one with a very relaxed Glastonbury / festival vibe. The ceremony and reception were going to be at a private house, and hence they chose fabulous LPM Bohemia marquees for the various spaces they needed. Such a lot of organisation to get this right for the big day, and what a fabulous job they did.
Laura had chosen the most gorgeous and unusual Amanda Wakeley gown for herself and we designed a soft and textured bouquet of roses, peonies, bouvardia and silvery foliage wrapped in satin with a lovely guipre lace bow at the top and finished with a small brooch as a keepsake.
For Laura's three eldest bridesmaids, we designed smaller hand-tied bouquets to resemble the bridal bouquet, but omitting peonies on the grounds of size. As the dresses had lace panels in them, we opted for lace ribbon for the stems of the bouquets and followed this through for the remainder of the bouquets. For the junior bridesmaids, we decided to use just the peonies and foliage and continued this theme through for the Flower Girl who had a single peony. We then designed light circlets for the three youngest girls to finish the look. Three baskets full of confetti cones filled with mixed petals were also provided for John's nieces to hand to the guests (but we forgot to photograph them!)
The boys had rose buttonholes with John's being the amazing O'Hara rose and a touch of astilbe, and the other boys having the lovely Quicksand rose. We also designed corsages for the ladies to tie in with their chosen outfits.
Laura and John said their vows in a fabulous gazebo in the grounds of the house, with the guests seated on benches under a beautifully printed open marquee. The planting around the area was wonderful anyway, but we added some colourful wellies to the front of the gazebo, all filled with arrangements and added one planted welly on the celebrant table along with a china bowl full of flowers. We also dressed the upright stanchions of the gazebo with a garland of foliage and roses.
The wonderful wooden strutted marquee was lined with a botanical print around the sides and set the scene for the reception. The top table was in the centre of the marquee and appropriately called Glastonbury. We dressed the table with a planted welly for the tablename and surrounded it with teapots, tins, apothecary jars and pots, bottles, teacups, vases, vintage preserve jars etc all packed full of gorgeous flowers.
We did the same the remaining 24 tables, making sure each had a similar mix of flowers and containers. It meant that not only were the flowers interesting, but the containers themselves were a talking point. It's always nice to hear comments from others when we are setting up at a venue, but when members of the groom's party walk in and comment that the flowers are "awesome", we know we've got something right.
Laura and John's wedding was such a wonderful event to be involved with. The venue was lovely, the marquees so original and the flowers we got to work with were so gorgeous. The weather may not have been great on the day itself, but we know that they will have had a wonderful day, and the beauty of being in a private location was that they continued the celebrations the following day with a family and friends and got to see the floral arrangements for a second day.
With the number of tables and number of containers per table, it was an interesting (!) wedding to plan and to manage in terms of our workload, but thanks to my fab team, it was great fun all round. I even got to buy more containers which we'll use again in other locations. The only sadness left with the wedding is that we won't get to work with Laura and John anymore but we wish them a truly wonderful life together.
Here's what Laura said in an email that brought tears to my eyes in the week following her wedding....whilst it was addressed to me, this really refers to the whole team as it was a huge team effort from start to finish.
Hi
Amanda,
Wow!!
Your photos look amazing. I've only seen a few photos so far & none of the
tables so thank you for sending them & yes please I would love to have
copies on a disk.
Where
to start in my praise & thanks....I absolutely loved 'working' with you
from day one. Your enthusiasm & excitement was infectious & I trusted your
ability to match my ideas with complementary flowers completely. I
worried I was taking up too much of your time with our continuous
correspondence but you were always so lovely in your replies, even adding to
your own work by suggesting you plant all my wellies!
The
final result on the day was breathtaking. My bouquet was more than perfect, the
gazebo looked amazing & captured the essence of the day precisely. I made
sure I took time during the champagne reception to go round all the tables with
one of my bridesmaids before anyone else was in the marquee and couldn't
believe how incredible they were. All of our guests commented on how
spectacular they looked & begged to be allowed to take home both flowers,
tea tins & wellies!
My
father was deeply impressed & said they were simply stunning & I have
already passed on your details to friends with up coming weddings.
So
thank you Amanda, thank you, thank you! You are a truly wonderful woman
& deserve to win florist of the world!!
Warmest
regards,
Laura
x
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