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.

Nicole and Daniel's wedding at The Barn, Tunbridge Wells

Nicole and Daniel married in July on a lovely warm day at The Barn, Tunbridge WElls and chose a very striking puprle and ivory colour scheme for their wedding.  They wanted their flowers to be simple, yet striking and hence chose structural and noticeable flowers such as calla lilies and vanda orchids along with some softer hydrangeas, sweet peas and lisianthus.  A striking combination all around.

Nicole had chosen an ivory gown with embellishment at the top and a lovely sweetheart neckline.  It was gathered and fitted into the waist with quite a bit of detailing before flowing out into a full skirt.  We therefore decided to stick with the contemporary feeling of the flowers and design an overarm bouquet filled with Picasso calla lilies, purple vanda orchids, purple lisianthus, purple sweet peas along with curled aspidistra leaves, china, bear and steel grass to add a sense of "sprigginess".  We finished the stems with ivory ribbon, a purple bow and a crystal.  Just to show how versatile these bouquets can be, we photographed it as an overarm bouquet of turned around to trail downwards.  Nicole wasn't sure which way she wanted to carry her bouquet, but on the day opted for the striking overarm style.

For the bridesmaids, we used ivory calla lilies in a hand-tied style with sprigs of grass throughout.  We added a purple bow to the ivory ribbon on the stem to match Nicole's bouquet.  For the junior bridesmaids, we used a single calla lily surrounded with crystals and grasses and wrapped to match the others.

For the boys, we matched Daniel's buttonhole to Nicole's bouquet using a Picasso calla lily and a vanda orchid.  For the rest of the groomsmen, we used an ivory calla lily to tie in with the bridesmaids and a lisianthus at the front for a touch of colour.  We provided pretty corsages for the Mums and contemporary front facing thank-you bouquets.

At The Barn, we worked with the differing sizes and shapes of the tables by providing a range of oblong tablecentres designed in a contemporary packed and boxy style using the hydrangeas, lisianthus, orchids and carnations with folded black tie leaves at the base.  We spread them out along the tables and "joined" them by using hydrangea florets and sweet peas as table sprinkles.  It was so striking, and yet designed not to get in the way of the guests at the rectangular tables.  We added extras to the top table as we couldn't leave Nicole and Daniel just with her bouquet on the table could we!

For the celebrant table, we used another boxy arrangement and hydrangea florets and then decorated the windowledges with hydrangea florets as it was really too warm in the conservatory for the thirsty hydrangeas in the arrangements.

We thought it was  lovely set of flowers for a lovely couple.  We liked their style and LOVED the cake topper (photo taken from Facebook) with a wonderful replica of Nicole's bouquet.  We hope they had the best day and that these photos bring back happy memories. 

Emma and Jamie's wedding at Cooling Castle Barn

The most nerve wracking time for us is designing flowers for friends and family... you might think it would be easier as we would have more access, but I can assure you it's not.  This was true for Emma and Jamie's wedding as Emma is the sister of Claire, one of our florists. Not only did we pile on extra pressure for ourselves, we were minus the skills of Claire who had bridesmaid duties to perform.  However, Emma and Jamie are two of the most lovely and laidback people ever...so easy to work with.  Despite Emma not really knowing an awful lot about flowers, she trusted our judgement (with back-up from Claire) and pretty much left us to it.  We knew that the look needed to be soft, pretty, glamorous and classic and knew their colour scheme was purple / aubergine, dusky pink, green and ivory.  We therefore chose roses, bouvardia, chincherinchee, sweet pea, lisianthus, hydrangea, freesia and veronica along with scented foliages including flowering mint, rosemary and eucalyptus.

For Emma's bouquet, we went for a textured mix of the chosen blooms, ensuring we graduated them down through the bouquet to avoid it being too "flat".  We simply tied the stems with ivory organza ribbon and finished the whole look with a pretty brooch.  She looked truly gorgeous and radiant as you can see in the photos kindly provided by Doug and Sheila at www.style-photography.co.uk

For Emma's two elder bridesmaids we provided a hand-tied textured bouquet using a range of the blooms used in Emma's bouquet, but using more ivory than colour to contrast against their dresses.  For Abigail and Erin, Emma's lovely daughters, we provided small spriggy posies for them to carry, although I'm not sure Erin was particularly keen on carrying hers!  Don't they all look fab...and talk a matching family smile!  Also, what a garden to be photographed in....stunning work by Emma's Mum and Dad!

For Jamie, we designed a special buttonhole in a silver boutonniere using an Amnesia rose along with chincherinchee, veronica, eucalyptus and rosemary.  The rest of the boys wore textured spriggy buttonholes of chincherinchee, veronica, rosemary and eucalyptus.  We followed this theme through for the Mums and Nans and personalised them to match individual outfits.  Thank-you bouquets were also provided for the Mums to match the theme (not photographed).

To welcome guests into the smaller barn, we added a birdcage "post box"to the coffee table, which was moved over to the gift table later in the day. 

We then added a low arrangement to the front of the celebrant table for the signing of the register.

For the main barn, Emma and Jamie wanted an immediate impact and had seen candelabras we had provided before at Cooling Castle Barn, and decided this was the look they wanted.  We therefore dressed the tables with a tall elegant silver candelabra with a full pretty softly trailing arrangement of roses, hydrangeas, spray roses, freesias, bouvardia, lisianthus, veronica, alchemilla mollis, mint, rosemary and eucalyptus.  As Cooling Castle Barn don't allow candles for somewhat obvious reasons, we used battery operated dinner candles to ensure extra flicker!


BEFORE.....

AND... AFTER!

For the top table, we decided on a slightly different table dressing.  Rather than a single trailing arrangement in the centre, or smaller candelabras at either end, we provided three more compact cylindrical arrangements which we evenly spaced out at the front of the table, and then "joined" the three sections with hydrangea florets and Smart Candles.  We finished the place settings with single purple veronicas.  We think it looked really nice.

We then finally added flowers to the cake and cake table to match the rest of the wedding.

Having been worried sick about getting everything right for Emma (and for Claire as our best informed critic!), we needn't have worried as Emma loved the bouquets and especially the scent.  And evidently we reduced both Emma and her Mum to tears as they entered the barn for the first time.  Emma said it took her breath away which is just what we had hoped for. 

Having seen all the photos from Style Photography, it clearly was a day filled with fun, love and laughter.  I don't think there is a single photo of Emma and Jamie together where they're not laughing...what a perfect wedding.  Enjoy!