Rachel and Nick's wedding - The Red Barn, Blindley Heath

 

Rachel and Nick are a lovely unassuming couple who wanted nothing more than a wedding that matched their own styles and personalities.  No over the top bling and nothing that felt too formal for them and I have to say with everything they arranged, they couldn't have done it better.  They both wanted soft, romantic and pretty flowers in shades of pale green, soft pinks and ivory to work with sage green bridesmaids' dresses. 

Rachel chose a beautiful soft v-neck gown in ivory with soft draping across the bodice and a deep v back with covered buttons running right to the bottom of the train.  It had a chiffon overlay that flowed fabulously and Rachel kept most of her long hair down with a slight wave and finished with a floral comb that we designed centre back.

For Rachel's bouquet, we kept it soft and scented with Amnesia and Vendella roses, sweet peas, bouvardia, freesias, trachellium, astrantia, lavender along with eucalyptus and cinerarea foliage.  We wrapped them stems in ivory and then added a narrow sage green bow to bring in the bridesmaids' dress colour.

For the four adult bridesmaids, we provided smaller versions of the bridal bouquet and then a smaller one again for the Flower Girl.

For the buttonholes and corsages, Rachel's Aunt bought some flowers from ourselves to match and took it upon herself to make them all for the bridal party...she was last seen cursing my suggestion to wire astrantia on the morning on the wedding but they were already looking lovely!  Well worth the hassle.

We hadn't been to The Red Barn at Blindley Heath before, and I have to say it is a wonderful venue...so good we stayed for lunch after delivering!  The barn itself where the wedding reception was held has a lovely cosy and welcoming feel and it had been dressed beautifully with bunting and floral table runners by Rachel, Nick, friends and family...we loved the wedding rock as well!  We therefore simply added enamel pitchers of flowers to each table using all the flowers used elsewhere in the wedding. 

We also added a larger arrangement to the front of the top table and dressed the gorgeous chocolate Creative Cakes cake as a finishing touch.

I loved everything about Rachel and Nick's wedding, from delivering to Rachel's Mum's lovely house in the morning (and saying hello to horses, kitten, cat, various dogs...my kind of heaven) to the outfits chosen, the relaxed styling, the lovely venue and pretty finishing touches.  A lovely wedding for a really lovely couple.  We were honoured to be involved!

Katie and Steve's Knowlton Court wedding

 

Katie and Steve were married at Knowlton Court earlier in June on a lovely day that would have allowed them to explore all the topiary animals in the grounds whilst enjoying a Pimms.  All this, croquet, suits of armour and a wedding party that continued all weekend.  What could be more English or more perfect for a wedding.  It really was a lovely wedding and perfect for Katie and Steve.

To fit with the beautiful location, Katie and Steve chose soft, romantic, very English style flowers in a dusky pink and ivory palette.  We added David Austin roses to the bouquets and the scent was amazzing.  So very pretty too.  Katie's bouquet was a textured hand-tied bouquet of roses, freesias, bouvardia and trachellium.  It smelt gorgeous!  We decided to add pearl pins at random around the stem of the bouquet rather than in a more formal straight line, and this reflected the slightly more relaxed style that Katie and Steve wanted.

 

 

Katie's four adult bridesmaids carried smaller hand-tied bouquets and we used more ivory than pink in their bouquets to contrast against their dressees.  For the Flower Girl, we used a single Cezanne rose surrounded with bouvardia and foliage.

The boys buttonholes followed suit (if you'll excuse the pun) with Steve wearing a Cezanne rose, a freesia head and a sprig of trachellium.  The remainder of the groomsmen had an ivory rose with foliage and the Page Boy had a "mini-me" version designed to be appropriate for his size.  Mums and Nans had corsages with the addition of spriggy pearls for the Mums.  All very pretty indeed.  We also provided a sweetly scented thank-you bouquet for Nan and Grandad.

As the ceremony was going to be held in the Great Hall, as was the reception, we used a long and low arrangement of flowers on the gorgeous table at the front of the hall, along with clusters of additional vases at either end.  As you can see, it's a long table that really needs to be dressed along it's length.

As we couldn't set up the reception tables, we did the next best thing and arranged the variety of vases on other pieces of furniture, keeping each grouping together as closely as it should be provided on the tables.  We're perfectionists and even provided photos taken from every angle of how each table should be set-up to ensure that the caterers would get it just right (probably a bit OCD, but we thought it was important). We wanted to ensure different heights, so used cake plates and vintage books to raise certain items up from the tables.  Against the wood panelling, the colours Katie and Steve had chosen, and the range of vases, jugs etc that we used looked really striking and very appropriate for the hall.

Katie was already looking gorgeous when we delivered the bouquet and was only in the process of having her hair and make-up done.  I can only imagine how lovely she will have looked walking down the aisle.  I can bet she took Steve's breath away.  We hope it was a perfect day for them both.  They were so very easy to work with and it was a pleasure being at Knowlton Court again.  We hope all their guests had a lovely weekend.

Rachael and Simon's lovely Eastwell Manor wedding

 

We first met Rachael and Simon through Rachael's sister Sarah and brother-in-law John at their wedding in 2011.  They too married at Eastwell Manor and I was so thrilled to be asked to work on Rachael and Simon's wedding.  It felt like being part of the family and it was great to provide a completely different look for Rachael and Simon than I had for Sarah and John.

Rachael had chosen a fabulous Ian Stewart dress in a gorgeous pale silver lace...so vintage and so different.  She looked stunning.  Sarah was Rachael's bridesmaid and looked so slinky in blue...fab dress as was Rachael and Sarah's Mum's outfit.  A trio of lovely ladies looking fabulous on such a special day.

Rachael and Simon wanted a soft, romantic, very English Country House style for their flowers in shades of pale pinks and ivories.  We used roses (Sweet Avalanche, La Belle, Cezanne), freesias, bouvardia along with rosemary and eucalyptus parvifolia for Rachael's bouquet and wrapped it in silver lace, finished with decorative pins. 

We decided a smaller version of Rachael's bouquet would be best for Sarah and provided a Cezanne rose wand for Caitlin the Flower Girl.

 

For the lovely Simon and his boys, we provided rose buttonholes with Sweet Avalanche for Simon and Cezanne for the rest of the boys. 

To dress the Bayeux Room for the ceremony, we placed a couple of baytrees at the end of the aisle dressed with organza bows.  We then added large hydrangea heads to the front aisle chairs to frame Rachael and Simon.  We added several small vases to the celebrant table and then garlanded the mantelpiece with foliage and matching flowers.  A perfect set-up for a perfect couple.  Just look at how happy Simon is...I love this photo. Thanks to Rachael and Simon for sending them over.

For the wedding reception in the Rose Garden Room, Rachael and Simon decided on a vintage look and we provided a mismatched selection of vases for each of the tables, the top table and the mantelpiece, all with soft arrangements of flowers.  We ensured they were designed to be at different heights and placed some on cakeplates to raise them up further.  We added various ribbons and laces to different vases and finished the tables with additional petals. 

To finish, we provided some thank-you bouquets for members of the wedding party and then dressed the tableplan easel with flowers to match.

 

The cake was once again provided by Creative Cakes and smelt very tempting! 

It truly was lovely to be a part of Rachael and Simon's lovely wedding.  I felt so welcomed by all their family and friends and it was such a pleasure helping out.  I know they had an amazing day and we wish them all the very very best for a happy future together.