Kelly and Dan's wedding at Bearsted Church and Frasers Barn

 

 

When we first met Kelly and her lovely Mum, she was clear about the vision for her glamorous wedding.  She wanted white, silver and we persuaded her to have a touch of lime green as well.  She loves orchids and hydrangeas and just looking at her everyday style, we knew it was going to be a beautiful and glamorous wedding.  Unfortunately Kelly's original venue closed and left her at relatively short notice needing a new venue.  We suggested the lovely Frasers Barn and Lisa and her team there had the date free and held it until Kelly and Dan could view it (it was clearly meant to be!).  It was a wedding where fate definitely had a hand as lots of the original details changed (church, bridesmaids' dresses, hairdresser etc) and they ended up with the most perfect day.

I know we've said it before, but Kelly and Dan are a stunning couple and with their striking looks and fabulous taste, the wedding photos were going to be amazing (check out the initial family photos they sent across to us and you'll see what we mean).  Kelly had chosen a slimline lace dress with a sweetheart neckline and gorgeous train to show off her fabulous figure and we decided the best possible option for her bouquet was a long slimline orchid cascade bouquet with a few hints of lime green, bear grass and some additional sparkles.  We wrapped the handle in an offcut of her dress fabric and it all looked so lovely.  We wired silk phalaenopsis orchids for Kelly's hair so that they would remain fresh and gorgeous all day and all night long.  Having helped her find her hairdresser, we knew it was all going to be fabulous.

For Kelly's lovely bridesmaids, we had decided upon extended wrist corsages of phalaenopsis and dendobrium orchids, greentrick and chincherinchee along with lime tips and grasses.  Their dresses were a lovely graphite empire line design which were just perfect for them, despite being a last minute purchase after problems with the previous dresses purchased (the path of true love and a perfect wedding really doesn't run smooth all the time as you can see!).  We think they looked lovely and loved the design of the wrist corsages.

Dan and his groomsmen wore orchid buttonholes to tie in with the rest of the wedding, with Dan having a crystal added to his to tie in with Kelly's bouquet.  Mums had corsages of chincherinchee, dendrobrium orchids and lime tips with sparkles and ribbon loops to match their outfits.  We also provided colourful thank-you bouquets for them at Frasers Barn.

 

 

At Holy Cross Church Bearsted, we welcomed guests into the main porch with a large and full arrangement of hydrangeas, orchids, greentrick, anthuriums, delphiniums, bouvardia, palms and aspidistras.  We replicated this pedestal at the front of the aisle and then finished the aisle with pew ends of hydrangeas attached with graphite organza bows.  It looked so fresh, contemporary and yet opulent.  Perfect!

 

 

Welcoming guests at Frasers Barn was a lovely mirrored table plan showing the unusual arrangement of the guest tables all off a single central table in the marquee.  We dressed the central table on the runner with mirrored cubes of double stemmed tall planted orchids, with an additional orchid leaning against the corners to give reflections from the mirrored cubes.  Being a bit OCD, I had to make sure the stems of the orchids were alternating in direction through the centre line, but all in line when viewed from the side! (No-one else would notice but I wanted it to be perfect!)  Each was placed in between a globe crystal candleholder and we then added green hydrangea florets in between.  Each of the side guest tables were also dressed with orchids and hydrangea florets.

For the long top table, we used glass cubes filled with moss, and then added either orchid sprays or hydrangeas in the top.  In front of Kelly and Dan we provided an oblong vase filled with layers of moss and hydrangeas and with sprays of phalaenopsis orchids on top.  We then completed the look with individual orchid heads on the napkins.  It truly looked lovely.

Kelly also added additional touches such as my fave Pomegranate Noir Jo Malone candles, sparkly flipflops for tired dancing feet. hand-painted signs and personalised grey boxes for cards.  It was all so lovely and a wedding we would all have loved to have attended.  It was a true pleasure being involved and able to help out with the additional details.

Kelly and Dan had a fabulous day, gorgeous Italian honeymoon and are now back at work but hopefull looking back to their wonderful day and reliving it through the pages of Kent Bride magazine where they are featured at the moment. 

Sue and Anton's wedding at Hadlow Manor Hotel

We've been looking forward to Sue and Anton's glamorous wedding for some time.  Sue's fabulous evening dress set the scene for a black, white and burgundy theme, and as Anton's favourite flower is the orchid, we knew where we had to start for the flowers.  As Sue is so slim and her dress was quite streamlined, we designed a long slimline phalaenopsis orchid cascade incorporating grasses and pearls but also sprigs of local Hadlow ivy to add a natural feel to the bouquet.  We mirrored Sue's bouquet with an elegant orchid, ivy and grass buttonhole for Anton. 

Sue decided to wear her dark hair loose at the back, and she was concerned that as she and Anton took their vows, the view of the back of her dress may not have enough interest, and hence we designed a hair comb using Black Baccara roses and matching spray roses with ivy and grasses with long trails of invisible thread onto which ivory spray roses and pearls were attached.  Photos of the hairpiece without Sue's hair were wholly inadequate, so you can only see it nestling in the box.  Hopefully we will get to see it in full glory in photos in the future.

Reversing the usual colour scheme for the bridal outfits, Sue's bridesmaids wore ivory dresses to contrast with hers and we therefore used Black Baccara roses to best effect in neat hand-tied bouquets edged in ivy.  We added the touch of black with a bow around the top of the bouquet stems.  We finished their look with matching roses for their hair.  Buttonholes followed the theme, with Black Baccara taking centre stage to match cravates and ladies wearing corsages of spray roses, ivy and grasses.

Sue (not having enough to organise for her day) decided to make the cake herself and wanted us to provide a full and rich dressing of roses, ivy, lily of the valley and a single orchid.  She wanted the flowers to flow around and in between each tier and to have a natural, yet striking appearance.  We added blueberries throughout in wired strings as Sue liked the idea of fruit and this was the best colour match.  The cake was Sue's piece de resistance and was on view throughout the ceremony, hence we spent quite a while getting it right.  Anton and his groomsmen did a sterling job of putting the dowels in and assembling the cake, making it very easy to dress on site.  We hope that the flowers lived up to Sue's cake making skills on the day.  We certainly enjoyed preparing them.