Delicate Anemones

Delighted to receive photographs from Jemma who was married at Penshurst Church and Place a few months ago.
Beautiful photography from Stephen Bunn Photography
I love the combination of softest pink roses, senecio peeping through with freesia buds and spray roses but what  has the most impact is the inclusion of the black centred anemones.

Just divine shed??

Traditional Garage And Shed design

I've just found this most gorgeous garden building. Am in love.

Willow Bridal Arch

Let not a little precipitation dampen the spirits! Last weekend I had a fabulous teepee to decorate. The entrance posts were wound with fresh Kent hops (keep the windows down while you drive, I was advised by the Hop Shop, or you may feel a little happy by the time you get home!) Four large birdcages were hung from the beams too, filled with bright dahlias, alchemilla and green bell foliage. Rustic pitchers were dotted around and looked fabulous and seasonal with crocosmia, sedum, glistening red viburnam berries and the aniseed smelling yellow dill. Standing back with a steaming cup of tea it looked wonderful, shame I cant say the same for my photos but the light inside the teepee wasnt great!

The use of hessian on the tables for the bar area was the perfect foil for the rusted pitchers

I was asked to make a portable archway which was to be  carried by the bridesmaids after the service at the church with the bride and groom walking underneath it, followed by all their guests. The reception was just a short stroll from the church. Here is the base frame of willow and moss being carried to the church gate before being dressed on site the following day.
The trick here was making it as light as possible to enable two people to comfortably carry it but to have sufficient strength to maintain its shape.





On the day it was covered with berried ivy, cerise gerbera, crososmia, berries and green bell and left in pots outside the church ready to be picked up and carried.......what a lovely idea

Renovations, creations and rediscovering

After months of chaos on the home front (which also meant the work front) with building works my new floor went down this week.  I cannot believe the transformation from pretty much building site to room that I can furnish and use. From a concrete, dusty screed to stunning karndean vintage pine in 2 days! I chose this for practical reasons, it's also got a worn look to it including woodworm holes which appeals to me as I don't like new very much - unless we're talking handbags - and a subtle grey tinge every so often.  Then there was the joy of unpacking boxes that have been put away since March, so much fun getting all those lovely bits out again though I do wonder if I need quite so many jugs? Clearly a jug fetish going on here, it's the shape of them I can't resist.  A dresser I fell in love with in April takes pride of place and it's lovely patina made the perfect backdrop to a drop dead gorgeous arrangement that I was delivering on Thursday.  The hydrangea was stunning, pink almost nude and teamed with amnesia  and wham roses with some dainty fillers.

Meadow Flowers

 Off to Ramsgate today, spectacular view over Pegwell Bay and temperature in the thirties to boot. Melissa opted for lilac theme and her bouquet was lovely - the photos I took really dont do them justice, whisps of panicum grass with lavender-pink hydrangea, Ocean Song roses, green bell, astrantia, poppy and scabious heads, flowering mint (smelt divine!) white snowberry , silver balls and wax flower. Her bridesmaids were similar except I substituted the lavender roses for white spray roses and kept them simpler

Vintage Tea Party at Chiddingstone Castle

 The sun beat down at Chiddingstone Castle for Claire and
Marks wedding. Jugs bursting with summer flowers including
scabious, stocks, daisies, spray roses and Sweet Avalanche
roses graced the tables which were also scattered with
my fresh flower confetti.





Vintage crockery was hired in and the outdoor aisle was lined with dainty buckets on hooks with roses, nigella and green sedums

 

Marquee Elegance

  

Lovely jubbly flowers for marquee wedding in superb setting in Benenden. Although the bridal flowers were soft I upped the tone slightly for the marquee. Personally I think the 'whiteness' of a marquee needs to be broken up a bit. Mercuried glass cake stands elevated the table pieces for more impact but without impeding views across the tables. I used Splash Sensation roses, fresh lavender, Amnesia roses, astilbe, astrantia, senecio, fabulous lavender/blue/pink hydrangea and more.

 Bird cages were suspended over the Chill Out Zone with fab sofas and tables provided by The Complete Chillout Company who really know how to transform a marquee limited it seems only by your imagination.

Photoshoot at The George in Rye

What fun! what lovely ladies I met, fab hair and makeup artists, gorgeous frocks from Isabella Grace Bridal and the result? these beautiful photographs by the lovely and talented Claudine Hartzel

 Slightly boho vintage with a bold contrast of blue and orange, softened by blousy cream peonies and nude roses, oh and the odd succulent

A few of my Favourite Things

Definitely one of my all time favourites. I think its the combination of silvers with the palest pink and the inclusion of the divine white anemones with black centres for drama.





These pew ends looked so fresh and lovely. We moved them afterwards and placed them on the side tables in the Barons Hall at Penshurst Place.  Its the contrast of the white garden spray roses, with greeny white alstromeria and fresh box and hebe that does it!

I have to say this job was fabulously decadent. Having a client who appreciates the value of flowers in all ways and really wanted to make a statement in her marquee.

These two urns were bursting with roses and peonies with fresh english beech

Glorious bowls of roses and english peonies (direct from the farm) in shades of pink and cream. 

Its just a shame the tables werent set properly when I took these!! Definite wow factor here. On her top table Georgina had no less than 43 vases of all sizes filled with Sarah Bernhardt peonies, sweet avalanche and faith roses, sweet peas and cream peonies. Not one stem of foliage here

These peonies were so perfect, just look at the size and shape of them, perfect balls! Teamed with white hydrangea and majolica spray roses.






Dodged the showers to install this lovely long
garland at The Great Barn in Rolvendon, to compliment the rural setting I used lots of daisies,
stocks and spray roses

Bit of a different job for me here and I was very happy with the result, strong colours and some daintiness too at Cooling Castle

Beautiful David Austen Juliet roses with dusty miller and senecio foliages and creamy spray roses for Andrea at Leeds Castle





















FUN! craspedia ball buttonholes

Country Wedding at Wadhurst Castle

Francesca carried a bouquet of muted lavender roses inc Blue Curiosa and Faith with fresh lavender, senecio and ruby astrantia for her wedding at Wadhurst Church and Castle

Where did June go?

The last month has been a bit of blur to be honest and I am just finding my feet again. I have lots of fabulous photos to share, from classic white and green weddings to a truly tropical affair created for a bride who lives in Singapore and wanted lots of colour.

Ive been at Penshurst Place, Preston Court, Whitstable, Winters Barn, Chiddingstone Castle, Wadhurst Castle, several marquees, The Great Barn, Cooling Castle, Mountains....and I am sure there are others! I want to take this opportunity to thank the fantastic ladies who work alongside me, sharing my vision and bringing the dreams to reality and a calming influence in busy times! Together we notch up around 40 years of experience (not that we are old of course) and the flowers have been superb as my brides testify.  Im looking forward to catching my breath soon and having some time to try new things and want to learn how to felt. Have visions of felted cushions adorning my battered chesterfield....and experimenting with some high impact suspended installations in time for Christmas...

Rather a nervous week on account of the wet weather but on Saturday the sun was out in Lamberhurst for a garden wedding. The church was decorated with stocks, the marquee up in the garden, jam jars on tables with sweet peas, peonies, dill and tied onto the fence. The bride carried a divine and delicate bouquet in pure white. Excuse the slightly less than professional shot but wanted to let you have a peek, it was quite Kate in style!

The brides bouquet was made at the very last minute as we used the beautiful lily of the valley which doesnt do well out of water. Such a dainty posy, stunning scent and my new favourite.

Huge English stocks were used as pew ends, these really are far superior in quality to the Dutch ones. Rule Britannia!

Splendid Marquee at Penshurst Place

My latest job was decorating a marquee at Penshurst Place with style! 

It was absolutely stunning with large wooden birdcages suspended over every table and complimented with a table display as well. 

I used garden roses in shades of pink and coral,

 Sarah Bernhardt peonies and Peptita spray roses 

with jasmine trails and of spanish moss.

These photos were taken on my phone -

 longing to get the official ones (patience, Lara!)

The marquee was by James Marquees www.jamesmarquees.com who were incredibly helpful with measuring, cutting and suspending the chains for us to hang the cages on.

There were 13 tables in all, with the cages being hung at 2 different heights throughout. Silver cakestands were used on the tables and silver tealights

with vintage cups and saucers also holding a bloom of ranuncula

 I used Romantic Antic roses, Baronness roses, O Hara roses, ranuncula, parrot tulips, wax and peonies in these. The smell was heavenly.

Moss being one of my favourites (and the brides) we created two large letters, their initials, hers decorated in pink flowers and his covered in green moss. These were placed near the entrance to the Barons Hall and were over 2 foot tall

The bride arriving....





.....making her way up to the church.

Her bouquet was made  with Sarah Bernhardt peonies, 

lily of the valley, O Hara and Romantic Antic roses with majolica roses and parrot tulips.

What a magnificent dress!

 This shows perfectly the enormous size and beauty of the roses...

...and the Baroness rose in all its glory.

And a big thank you to the team who helped me: Perinda, Gayle and Kirsty.

Work in Progress

Very exciting job coming up....lots and lots to do but nothing like an adrenalin flow to get you moving! I am suspending lovely large wooden birdcages from marquee ceiling directly over the tables. This will have enormous impact as guests enter the marquee. The tables are also having flowers, slightly raised on mercuried glass cake stands.
The flowers are ordered, lots of fabulous blousy garden roses and peonies in shades of pink. The bride has chosen some pink lighting for the marquee as well to really add atmosphere.
Heres a sneak peek at mock up stage of the birdcage. In reality we have gone with paler shades of pink with contorted hazel and jasmine coming out - to create movement and make it more organic

Narcissi, hyacinths and forget me nots

Bright jugs of flowers

Bright jugs of flowers were placed on long trestle tables, I love the way the pink and blue really zing when put together.

 Given a free reign by my bride last weekend, wanting something seasonal, natural and with a touch of blue. Perfect! I used hyacinths with white ranunculus, narcissi, forget me nots and memory lane roses. The scent was already divine but I couldn't resist adding some jasmine trails to the edges.

This was her bridal bouquet.

The tables were similar mix but bolder in colour with clashing pinks and blues and lots of daisies for a riot of colour. Here they are waiting to be delivered

Candleabra with Jasmine and flowers at base

 For Sam & Adrian at Chilston Park a generous arrangement to the bottom of the candleabra. I think this is sometimes better than decorating the top as it provides colour on the table. To dress the candleabra I used jasmine trails - lovely scent too

The bride opted for a vibrant pink and green theme, achieved using lots of green hypericum berries and green bell with pink lisianthus, roses and ranunculas, astrantia and freesias

Table Centre in White and Cream Palette

A close up of part of the table centre, thlaspi is one of my favourites, delicate, fresh and interesting. This was combined with fresh mint and lavender foliage and pittosporum. The white dill reminds me of cow parsley, stocks provide scent and sense of movement and I got to add spanish moss at the back to surround the storm lantern!

Vintage & Classic combine at Chilston Park

Last weekends wedding was at the beautiful Chilston Park Hotel in Lenham, Kent. Elspeth chose to carry a handtied posy of vintage pinks and Tom wanted classic cream, white and green table centres to surround the storm lanterns. This simple colour palette was wonderful to work with, enabling me to introduce texture, interest and scent. 

I used a base of small leaf pittosporum and added sprigs of fresh mint and lavender foliage, clusters of cream double lisianthus and large heads of white dill.

Superb large cream stocks and freesia provided scent with lots of filler flower including wax flower, astrantia, thlaspi green bell and strands of spanish moss to the back.

It was fantastic to receive an email from Elspeth on Monday morning to thank me for such beautiful flowers