Gabrielle and Tom's wedding at Combe Bank School

We met the lovely Gabrielle late last year to talk through her wedding flowers and immediately knew this was going to be a beautiful, relaxed, pretty and fun wedding.  Gabrielle is a naturally beautiful lady who was so easy to work with and who was planning the kind of wedding we love...all about the bridal couple and their likes and dislikes.

Gabrielle had chosen an exquisite gown with a fitted bodice, belt and full skirt all overlaid in beautiful lace out to the train at the back.  She also had a lovely lace bolero jacket to wear over the top.  For her bridesmaids, she chose knee length royal blue dresses.

Gabrielle knew she wanted paler and stronger pink in her flowers as well as blue and ivory and wanted a very soft and pretty look.  Following the theme of the wedding, Gabrielle and Tom didn't want too much formality and wanted to keep everything relatively relaxed.  We therefore decided upon ranunculus, roses (Dolce Vita, Avalanche and Sweet Avalanche), freesias, lisianthus, bouvardia, muscari and agapanthus with rosemary and eucalyptus parvifolia.  Small touches of lace to tie in with the dress were also added. 

For Gabrielle, we provided a gorgeous textured bouquet using all the blooms and colours.  We wrapped the stems simply in a piece of lace ribbon to complement (and not detract from) her dress.  We also provided a smaller "throw" bouquet designed to resemble the main bouquet.  Finally, Gabrielle's beautiful naturally curly blonde hair was going to be loosely put up with flowers dotted here and there according to need.  We therefore provide lisianthus heads and buds, spray roses and muscari on wires to be placed throughout her finished hair style.

Soft, pretty and quite relaxed...a perfect bouquet

A smaller "throw bouquet"

Individual wired blooms for the brides' hair

For the bridesmaids, we designed smaller hand-tied bouquets using the range of pinks and ivories and omitting the blue.  We again tied each simply with lace ribbon.

For the boys, we decided the pale pink Sweet Avalanche rose was best and for Tom, we added an ivory ranunculus and muscari to tie into Gabrielle's bouquet, and for the other boys, we added a stronger pink ranunculus to tie in with the bridesmaids.

 
To welcome guests into Combe Bank, we designed a very pretty and simple newel post arrangement for the bottom of the very decorative staircase, tied with a simple piece of lace ribbon once again.  This really attracted the guests' eyes towards the beauty of the staircase.  We then added three vases of differing heights to the celebrant table, each containing a soft mix of flowers used elsewhere.  We then added a gift box arrangement to the grand piano, and one into the hearth of the fireplace in the Adam Room.

For the wedding breakfast we dressed each table, including the circular top table, with a large ivory gift box arrangement filled with all the flowers and colours used elsewhere.  We added a royal blue organza ribbon around the side and finished it with a lace bow.  So effective, yet so simple and soft.

We know Gabrielle and Tom will have had a wonderful day, and they have promised to send us a photo of them together on their special day when they have had time to honeymoon and re-group, so watch this space.  In the meantime, you can see what a beautiful wedding it was, and we wish the lovely couple all the very best in their lives together.

Jane and Rod's wedding - Westerham Golf Club

When we first met Jane, she was being "led" around a wedding fair by her friends who were trying to persuade her to buy a "proper" wedding dress and to get into the whole "wedding" vibe.  Jane was clear that she and Rod didn't want a very formal wedding and really just wanted a small ceremony with a party afterwards.  She'd also been dissuaded by other florists from using tulips (we'll never understand why!).  Luckily some things change...

...Jane chose a stunning gown with a beautiful fitted bodice and dropped waist. 
...Jane met with us and we reassured her tulips were wonderful and anything at all was possible with flowers.! 
...Jane and Rod also ended up with more people than anticipated at the ceremony as so many people wanted to share their special moment. 

We were also thrilled to see that one of our old friends Steve Smith was Jane and Rod's photographer.  He's taken time out from his photography recently, but it's good to see him getting back into the swing of things.  We'll hopefully show some of his photos again soon...in the meantime, you'll have to put up with ours.

To go with Jane's elegant gown, we decided to keep the flowers pretty simple with a hand-tied bouquet and used the stunning Honeymoon tulip with additional eryngium thistles to match the colour scheme and bring in a Scottish element for Rod.  We also added lots of natural willow, sprigs of grass and spriggy crystals throughout.  We wrapped the stems simply with ivory organza.

For Jane's bridesmaids, we provided smaller hand-tied bouquets of tulips, eryngium thistle and grasses.  We added a navy blue bow to the top of the bouquet stems to match their dresses.

Rod wore a double honeymoon tulip buttonhole with sprigs of willow and grass and some eryngium thistle.  The remainder of the grooms' party wore single tulip buttonholes with grass sprigs and loops.  We also provided corsages for the ladies and tied them into their specific outfits with loops of ribbon.

Rod and Jane kept the ceremony at the Old Palace, Bromley really simple and hence we focussed the flowers on Westerham Golf Club.  We had decided upon tall, simple lily vases placed on central mirror plates for the tables.  To add a different perspective, we added tulips and eryngium thistles to test-tubes fastened onto the sides of the vases with navy blue ribbon, and then added hand-tied full, natural and pretty arrangements of peach blossom, willow, birch, Honeymoon and french tulips and eryngium.  Once again we tied the arrangements with navy ribbon to match the bridesmaids' dresses.  For the top table, we added flowers to the favour boxes under the navy blue ribbon.

To finish the overall theme, we designed a lower cube arrangement using all the same flowers along with some exotic leaves.  We placed this on the table inside the doors with the guest book.

We know that Jane and Rod had a wonderful day and have since enjoyed a fabulous well deserved honeymoon.  We were so pleased to have met Jane at the original wedding fair, and pleased that we could persuade her that florists can be flexible and work with tulips!  We enjoyed every moment of working with her and meeting her family.  We wish Jane and Rod a wonderful future together.

Marlotte and David's wedding in Willesborough Windmill and after at Secret Garden, Mersham

Childhood sweethearts Marlotte and David married recently after knowing each other all their lives.  They were clearly destined to be together and are a wonderful couple.  Marlotte is Dutch and David is English, and hence they wanted to represent both countries within their flowers.  Marlotte loves the red and yellow Flaming Parrot tulip and hence we used this as the base for the flowers and also the colour scheme.  The Dutch were represented by the tulips, and the English by the roses.  How well they go together too!

Marlotte chose her gorgeous dress overseas and it was truly stunning with a heavily detailed bodice tailing off into delicate appliqued sections on the full skirt.  Perfect for Marlotte.  David look very dapper too in a slim fitting suit with ivory cravate.  A lovely couple as you can see.

For Marlotte's bouquet, we married tulips and roses using the parrot tulip, Grand Prix roses, yellow tulips and spray roses along with rosemary and eucalyptus parvifolia.  We finished the stems with ivory organza finished in a simple bow.

For Ellemieke, Marlotte's Maid of Honour, we decided upon a wrist corsage on ivory ribbon to contrast against her yellow/gold dress.  Being Dutch, we wanted to use the tulips, but also added a few spray roses in to ensure the wrist corsage matched Marlotte's bouquet.

For David, we used both a rose and a tulip to signify bringing together the Dutch and the English sides of the family and we arranged it in a beautiful silver lapel vase which David would keep as a memento of the day.

For the English family, we provided rose buttonholes and spray rose corsages, and for the Dutch family we provided tulip buttonholes and corsages.  They all complimented each other perfectly.

Marlotte and David kept their ceremony and reception small and intimate at both Willesborough Windmill and The Secret Garden with a larger gathering in the Coach House in the evening.  We provided a simple mirrored cube with an arrangement of tulips, roses and spray roses for the celebrant table.  We then dressed the long tables in the conservatory for the reception with mirrored cubes matching the one at the Windmill.  We added an empty larger cube in the middle for Marlotte's bouquet.  We then "joined" them all together with petals and rosebuds.  It looked so bright, cheerful and yet relaxed and pretty.  Perfect for Marlotte and David's style and the feel they wanted for their wedding day.

We hope Marlotte and David had a good day.  They kindly sent us a few photos taken by Marlotte's father and they look so happy.  We were so pleased to be involved in such a happy and relaxed day and having bought flowers from Holland for so long, it was nice to be using them for a Dutch and English wedding.