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.

Rehanna and Chris' winter wedding at Lympne Castle

For our last wedding of the year yesterday, we were lucky enough to work with the nicest wedding couple (and families) possible.  Rehanna and Chris have been (excitedly) planning their wedding for some time now and knew that despite it being so close to Christmas, they wanted a slightly different feel to the wedding.  They wanted lots of sparkle and candlelight and a feel of Christmas but also wanted a slightly Indian accent to the decoration in the Castle.  Overall though they wanted a very striking and contemporary feel to their wedding and used purple / aubergine as the main accent colour.

Rehanna's wedding dress was stunning!  She is very petite and gorgeous and any dress would look good, but Rehanna chose the most perfect heavy lace dress with a halter neck and a smallish train.  It fitted her so well and with her glossy dark hair up with a few small decorations, she looked amazing.  We chose a smallish contemporary styled shower bouquet using Picasso Calla Lilies and Purple Vanda orchids along with grasses and small rolls of aspidistra leaf.  It was perfect for Rehanna and not too overpowering against the beautiful wedding gown.

Rehanna's bridesmaids wore lovely colourful saris and hence we decided against flowers for them.  As for Chris, he looked wonderful in a slimline three piece grey suit with a single breasted slimline jacket piped in ivory.  So different and so striking.  The Best Man was also lucky enough to have a matching suit.  All the boys wore a single Picasso calla lily buttonhole with a few sprigs of grass and a roll of aspidistra at the front.  For the Mums, we used the vanda orchid used in Rehanna's bouquet on wrist corsages.  It all tied together so beautifully.

For the main reception room, Tania from Bows Chair Covers (www.bowschaircovers.co.uk) chose a perfectly matching sash for the chairs which  were dressed in ivory tailored covers.  Her bows are quite distinctive and always perfect...they set the scene for the contemporary table centrepieces which were placed on central mirrors and consisted of tall glass trumpet vases filled with a trio of Picasso Calla Lilies in purple water and with a tall silver "tree" arrangement on top.  The "tree" tops were made from corylus and birch sprayed silver with a touch of glitter.  The table names were then added on bauble shaped cards (all tables were named after the reindeers...all nine of them....can you remember them all?) along with glass baubles containing tealights, each with the name of one of the guests on the table written in purple on the front.  Very striking and perfect for the room and time of year.

For the top table we then provided a long, low intertwined arrangement of silver branches with calla lilies and orchids woven through.  We added orchid heads onto the napkins which had been ingeniously tied with multi coloured ethnic bracelets to bring in the Indian theme.  Beautiful and very memorable.

We provided a smaller version of the top table arrangement for the celebrant table (but forgot to take photos of it....!!).  Every window ledge was then dressed by Rehanna and her friends and family with artificial pine garlands, wreaths, vases of multicoloured baubles and more glass baubles holding tealights everywhere.  It looked magical and showed just how much time and thought they had put into all their planning.

We know they had the perfect day and looked so wonderfully happy together.  Their families and friends were all wonderful and complimentary and I think everyone had the perfect start to Christmas and Rehanna and Chris had the perfect start to their lives together.  What a way for us to end our 2011 wedding season.

Kerrie and Aaron's wedding at The Hop Farm

Kerrie and Aaron's wedding was designed to be an elegant and contemporary affair using exotic flowers such as the Previa anthurium, the purple Vanda Orchid and Picasso Calla Lily.  Kerrie and Aaron wanted it to be stylish and memorable and had themed their wedding around the purple bridesmaids dresses they had chosen. 

For Kerrie's bouquet, we designed a contemporary shower bouquet or orchids, anthuriums, calla lilies and germini along with rolls of aspdistra, sprigs of grevillia and sprigs of lily and bear grass.  We added transluscent crystals throughout to catch the light.  Against Kerrie's dress, this was going to look fabulous...a real show stopper.

For Kerrie's Maid of Honour, we designed a hand-tied bouquet of gerberas, vanda orchids, rolls of aspidistra and grevillia.  We then left out the orchids for the Senior and Junior Bridesmaids (but sized the bouquets accordingly).  Finally for the Flower Girl, it had to be a cute gerbera "wand" surrounded in purple feathers.  All bouquets were wrapped in ivory ribbon but with purple bows attached to bring in the colour.

Aaron wore a stunning orchid buttonhole to match Kerrie and the Best Men and Dads then wore calla lily buttonholes with loops of aspidistra and grasses.  The remainder of the Groom's party wore calla lily buttonholes without the aspidistra leaf.  Mums wore corsages of mini calla lilies and spray roses, and other female members of the party wore a range of corsages using either calla lilies or spray roses.  All very elegant indeed. 

Being at the Hop Farm with low beams, we decided on low table arrangements and Kerrie and Aaron chose large fishbowls for the guest tables and smaller ones to be placed on purple runners on the top table.  All very elegant.  For the large fishbowls, we used the bi-coloured Picasso Calla Lily and for the top table, we filled the mini fishbowls with the gorgeous orchid.  Each of the tables was finished with scatter crystals and we added additional Previa anthuriums to the top table to tie in with the bridal bouquet.

The cake was dressed with a structural topper to reflect the bridal bouquet shape and cascaded gently down the side.  We then finished the look with a couple of additional wired sections placed strategically.  Finally we provided thank-you bouquets for the Mums to match the flowers used elsewhere.

It was a lovely wedding, befitting a lovely couple.  Kerrie and Aaron were so easy to work with and knew just what they liked, and yet left us to the design elements.  We know they'll be very happy and wish them all the very best in the future.