Eleanor and Alex's rustic Cooling Castle Barn wedding

 
Ok, I know I have so many weddings from last year and this year to blog, but I fell in love with the colours of Eleanor and Alex's wedding (any opportunity to showcase seasonal flowers).  Eleanor and Alex wanted a very rustic, natural and seasonal wedding...think Robin Hood...and chose plums and burnt oranges as their colours.  This was further enhanced with the addition of red to match Eleanor's shoes.  I mentioned the colour scheme to several people who didn't look impressed, but changed their minds as soon as they saw it.  One future bride who was struggling to find the right mix of colours for her big day was even reduced to tears when I sent her some photos.

So, to the flowers (ranunculus, anenomes, hellebores, tulips, calla lilies, anigozanthus, syringa, veronica, hypericum and lots of fresh greens in the form of ivy, guelder rose, panicum fountain). We then added pussy willow and willow to bring in a touch of brown, although we had to be careful not to use too much as it would have blended in with all the wood in the barns in Cooling Castle Barn.

Eleanor's bouquet was a spriggy textured, but not too wild bouquet tied with raffia and including most of the flowers and colours.  Her bridesmaids' followed suit but with smaller bouquets and less orange.  I LOVED them all, so fingers crossed you all do too.

And then came the buttonholes which were a first for me...I can honestly say I have never tried to attach Batman, a Stormtrooper, Bob the Builder et al to buttonholes before.  Alex chose the lego pieces specially for his groom's party and left the rest to us, so textured buttonholes were designed and my only dilemma was how to attach Batman with his moveable cape!

For the wedding ceremony, we used one of our large rustic hearts at the centre of the dais, dressed with gorgeous flowers to match the wedding.  We then added two tall vases of flowers with trailing ivy to frame Eleanor and Alex taking their vows.  The ceremony room was completed by a natural hollowed out piece of wood dressed with an organically styled arrangement of the flowers which we think worked perfectly on the celebrant table.

For the main barn, we wrapped the beams with faux blossom garlands and fairy lights, then added four tall vases with full and natural arrangements and trailing ivy to the corner tables to frame the room.  We added tealights in votives and pinecones at the bottom to tie in with the other tables.

The remaining guest tables all had rustic woodblocks added with a random selection of jars, pots and containers (many made by ourselves) and filled with selections of the flowers used elsewhere.  We finished the tables with pinecones, votives with tealights and some bun moss.

The circular top table was dressed with a hollowed out wood piece at the centre front to fill the gap between the chairs and to allow guests to see the happy couple.  We then added lots of rustic pots and vases to a stacked arrangement of wood blocks. We also added a wood wrapped vase to take Eleanor's bouquet during the meal. 

Finally, we provided a terracotta pot arrangement to be placed on the gift table filled with lots of lovely flowers to match the wedding...I reluctantly left this at Cooling as I have a perfect place for it at home!!!

Not that we're obsessed with cake (much!), but when the wedding cake is the fabulous Hummingbird Bakery Cakes, we have to include a picture.  Placed on large log stands, finished with great picks and with added flowers and pinecones by us, it was almost irresistible.

We personally loved this wedding and it got a lot of love from staff and other wedding couples alike when we were setting up, so I hope it shows how well a more unusual colour scheme can work.

Nikki and Paul's contemporary purple and ivory wedding at Rowhill Grange

 
Nikki and Paul's story dates back to schooldays...with a long gap in the meantime and a chance meeting up North.  Fast forward a while, include a lovely baby and we provided the flowers for their lovely wedding at Rowhill Grange last August (I know...it takes me a while to catch up).  Nikki and her family are wonderful people and a joy to work with and I was so pleased to design their flowers.  Nikki knew that she wanted a purple and ivory theme and she liked a more contemporary look, so we used orchids, anthuriums, calla lilies, lisianthus and roses and added striking purple hydrangeas into the tablecentres.

Nikki chose a shower bouquet in a more contemporary style, which additional crystal sprigs for that touch of sparkle.  We added rolled leaves into the bouquet to give further definition as well.

For her bridesmaid, we designed a hand-tied bouquet of calla lilies, roses and lisianthus along with grevillia and grasses.  As she was wearing purple, we used more ivory than purple to allow it to stand out.  We then made a smaller version of this for Nikki's junior bridesmaid.  For her Flower Girl, we used a single calla lily surrounded by freesias and lisianthus.  As she was wearing an ivory dress, we used more purple to contrast.

For the boys, we used the stunning Vanda orchid with spray roses for Paul, so that he matched Nikki's bouquet, then used roses with lisianthus for the rest of the boys.  We then provided pretty corsages of dendrobrium orchids and spray roses with detailing added to match the Mums' outfits.  For the remainder of the guests, we provided pretty purple and ivory lisianthus buttonholes with simple foliage.

For the ceremony in the Clockhouse, we designed a contemporary full arrangement for the celebrant table using all the flowers used elsewhere. 

For the reception, we dressed the top table with a striking contemporary styled arrangement using all the flowers used elsewhere.  We then added hydrangea florets to the front of the cloth to give extra colour and added purple vanda orchids to the napkins as a finishing touch.

For the guest tables, we placed tall lily vases filled with purple water on central mirrors and added full arrangements of flowers to match all others at the top of the vase.  To finish the look, we sprinkled purple hydrangea florets and clear crystals on the mirrors. A final finishing touch was the cake topper which we designed to match the other flowers.

We know that Nikki and Paul, and all the family, had a fabulous day and it was so well deserved.  I'm so happy for them both and wish them a very long and happy life together.