Kirstie and Gary's glamorous Cooling Castle Barn wedding

We first met Kirstie at Cooling Castle Barn's Open Day and hit it off straight away.  We talked balls!  Floral balls to be precise!  Kirstie knew that she wanted a pretty but striking, neat and contemporary feel to her wedding flowers.  The colours were pinks and ivory and additional sparkles were obligatory.  Kirstie also knew she didn't want her day to look like everyone elses and hence wanted some different pieces.

Kirstie's dress was a princess gown with tulle skirt and an embellished sweetheart bodice and it suited her perfectly.  She said it was going to be big and it didn't disappoint.  Her bouquet was a neat, domed hand-tied bouquet of Amnesia, Sweet Avalanche and Vendella roses with some of the roses having sparkles added to the centres.   Neat, glamorous and with no greenery was the order of the day.

Kirstie's "girls" wore one shouldered dusky pink dresses and we decided to once again provide hand-tied domed and neat bouquets but just using the Sweet Avalanche and Vendella roses.  Kirstie also had a Flower Girl for whom we provided a hand-tied posy of spray roses in pale pink and ivory to match the bigger girls.

The boys looked so dapper in their grey suits as you can see.  Gary wore an Amnesia rose buttonhole with eucalyptus foliage (not too much green!) and the rest of the boys wore Sweet Avalanche buttonholes with foliage.  We provided corsages for the Mums to match their outfits and also provided some thank-you bouquets to match the wedding.

For the ceremony, we used our perspex "invisible" stand on the dais at the front and added a tall trumpet vase with a full floral ball on the top.  It does look as though it is floating in mid air, but I can assure you that there was no way it could do that...it was far too heavy!  We also added glass cubes with floating floral balls onto the celebrant table, again with added sparkles.  To finish the look, we added hydrangeas to the newel posts at the front.  Lanterns lineed the aisle and the whole look was finished with sprinkled petals.

For the main barn, we added mirrored plates to each of the guest tables and then topped them with tall trumpet vases with trails of carnations hung down the stem.  We then added full floral balls to the top, with different length and shaped crystals trailing from each ball to finish.  We piled rose petals up around the base of the vase and lighter petals elsewhere on the mirror.  The overall look was finished with crystals.

For the top table, we added mirror plates from end to end along the front and then added four glass cubes either end to take the bridesmaids' bouquets and added cubes of hydrangeas, or floating floral balls at strategic intervals.  We also added roses to the napkins to finish the table settings.  Square glass votives were added in between along with petals and crystals...a really unusual and contemporary look.  Having purchased the mirrors for Kirstie and Gary, I wondered what they were going to do with them all...turns out they will become a feature wall in their bathroom.  What an ingenious idea!

 

The finishing touches for the wedding made it very special and ensured that nothing was left unfinished.  The cake was a lovely Creative Cakes creation, and we loaned a fishbowl to sit as a tier seperator filled with sugarcraft flowers.  We again piled up the petals at the bottom to match the tables. 

It was lovely working with Kirstie and Gary and being part of their special day.  Everyone looked stunning and I know they all had a fabulous time.  We loved the finished floral product, despite it giving us a few logistical nightmares (and arm ache!).  We just hope they will be amazingly happy together and always remember their big day whenever they look at their bathroom wall!

Charlotte and Andy's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

After all the wintry weather we've been having recently, it was quite ironic that we provided the flowers for Charlotte's snowflake themed wedding on probably the nicest day in the year so far.  It was an unseasonably gorgeous, warm and sunny day...perfect for a wedding and drinks on the lawn.  Charlotte had chosen an elegant and strikingly simple colour scheme of white / ivory and platinum with lots of sparkles and it looked wonderful against the brick and wooden beams of Cooling Castle Barn.   If anything, the sunshine showed it off even more.

Charlotte and Andy chose a very simple and streamlined selection of flowers with white tulips as the main flower with lots of silver willow, birch and hazel.  We added lots of other lovely small headed spring flowers in the top table such as ranunculus, paperwhites, chincherinchee, bouvardia along with long stemmed french tulips and parrot tulips.  Crystal droplets were added everywhere along with snowflakes and scatterings of glitter.  It all worked so well.

For Charlotte, we provided a massed white tulip bouquet with lots of spriggy diamantes and glittered silvered decorative birch.  We wrapped the stems in platinum ribbon to match the bridesmaids' dresses and finished them with clusters of diamante pins.  Extremely elegant and different...on the day people were asking what the flower was which shows how different tulips look when massed together.

For the three adult bridesmaids, we provided smaller hand-tied tulip bouquets with glittered silvered birch and wrapped the stems in ivory ribbon to contrast against their platinum dresses.  For the three younger bridesmaids, we scaled down the hand-tied bouquets and provided smaller versions of the adult bridesmaids' bouquets.  Once again we wrapped them in ivory ribbon as their dresses were ivory with platinum sashes.

And just so you can see how stunning Charlotte and her girls looked (what a great choice of dresses and the hairstyles are beautiful), here's a photo courtesy of www.ianboothphotography.co.uk.

For the boys, who were wearing morning suits with platinum cravates, we provided tulip buttonholes.  Whilst not the strongest or longest lasting of flowers, they matched the girls' bouquets perfectly.  We provided a double tulip buttonhole for Andy with silver bear grass and birch.  For the rest of the groom's party, we provided single tulips with silver bear grass and birch.  For the four main female family members, we provided lovely spring hand-tied thank you bouquets full of all the flowers used in the top table.

For the ceremony room, we dressed the celebrant table with a long and low, full spriggy arrangement of spring flowers and silver birch, willow and bear grass with additional crystals.  To frame Charlotte and Andy taking their vows on the dais, we provided two tall glass vases with tulips, willow, birch and grasses with hanging crystals and snowflakes.

For the main barn for the reception, we dressed the tables with mirrors and tall lily vases with tulips down the stem in testtubes, some hung with metal snowflakes.  We then added a tall and striking hand-tied arrangement of silver willow, birch and hazel branches with white tulips and silver bear grass with added crystal droplets and snowflakes to catch the light.  Each was hand-tied with platinum ribbon as a final finish.  The crystals, snowflakes and glitter on some of the branches really caught the light and the whole room glittered.

Photo courtesy of www.ianboothphotography.co.uk

The top table had a long and low arrangement of spring flowers in front of Charlotte and Andy.  To finish www.your-beautiful-day.co.uk wrapped the beams with fairy lights and dressed the chairs with white covers and platinum sashes.  They also tied the napkins with platinum ribbon and finished them with a slightly larger crystal droplet to match those in the arrangements.  All done beautifully ensuring the guests would be wowed wherever they looked.

Finally, the cake was a lovely four tiered cake in white with platinum ribbons and with delicate snowflakes cascading all down the front.  It was really beautifully and worked so well with the rest of the decoration.  It was placed on a mirror to reflect the light and show off the snowflakes even more.  It was made by Debbie Downing on 01474 850952.

All in all I don't think there could have been a more perfect contrast for a February day...sunshine, sparkles, spring flowers and snowflakes.  We hope Charlotte and Andy enjoyed every second of their lovely special day.