Christmas wedding

And finally our last wedding of 2011 was Michelle's, who organised it all in about 6 weeks. Keeping it all local by getting married in the village church and the reception in the village pub just after Christmas, meant it was a very relaxed day. The colour scheme was in keeping with the time of year, red and white with foliage and berries. The brides bouquet was red and white roses, hypericum berries and tree fern and salal foliage. The stems were wrapped in a large leaf with thin ivory ribbon criss crossing around it.The bridesmaid carried a similar design with just white roses.
We also provided buttonholes for the wedding party and a top table design for the reception.

An all white affair

An all white wedding.

A December wedding where the only colour was to be white. The brides hand-tie was three snowball chrysanthemums surrounded by akito roses a collar of white feathers. (Apologies for the quality of the photos but white on white just doesn't take and we were short for time.)
The bridesmaid carried a hand-tied bouquet of akito roses and white feathers.
All the buttonholes ready to be presented to the bridal party.

Ivory, red and orange wedding flowers

These are Polly and Chris' flowers from their wedding back in November. The bridal bouquets were to be kept neutral with a hint of autumn.

Polly's hand-tied bouquet included ivory roses with dark red hypericum berries with bupleurum and salal leaves. The stems were part bound with ivory satin ribbon.
The two bridesmaids both carried a hand-tied bouquet of ivory roses, bupleurum and salal leaves.
The flower girl carried a miniature version.
The grooms buttonhole matched his brides flowers, being a single ivory rose with a few hypericum berries, bupleurum and salal leaves.
The mums each wore a rose and freesia corsage.
The rest of the bridal party were given a single ivory rose buttonhole to wear.
The table centres were a lovely vibrant mix of seasonal flowers in autumnal colours. They were arranged in a glass cylinder, available to hire, and included orange gerberas, red hypericum berries, carnations, ranunculus, deep red English chrysants, bupleurum and cotinus foliage.
Polly had asked for two of these for the top table, one at either end.
Guest table display.
The reception was held at The Dovecote, near Swinderby.

This is the marquee set up and ready for the arrival of the bride and groom.
Polly and Chris were kind enough to send the following a week or so after their wedding.

Rose and germini wedding flowers

Laura's wedding took place in October at Washingborough Hall.

The colour of all the flowers was to be kept neutral, in whites and ivory.

Lauras bridal bouquet was a hand-tied design of white germini and ivory roses with gypsophila and ruscus foliage. Bear grass was added to give some movement and length to the design.

The stems were bound with white satin ribbon.
The two bridesmaids each carried a similar but smaller bouquet.
They both wore a germini in their hair.
The groom, following tradition, wore a double buttonhole of a rose and a germini to match in with his bride.
The mums wore a corsage of roses and a germini.
A single rose buttonhole was given to the best man to wear.

Columbian Garden roses

Garden roses are getting to be very popular especially with brides looking for vintage inspired flowers. Some will know the very popular David Austin roses from gardens and now available as cut flowers in limited colours. There are, however, other companies which grow and sell garden roses and some in a much wider colour spectrum, so there should be a colour to suit most colour schemes.

These beauties are from a Columbian supplier, with their descriptions.

Augusta Louise is mostly pink, but it does have some yellow undertones and becomes lighter as it opens. It is very fragrant and will freshen up an entire room as it opens into beautiful, large blooms. Sold with side shoots.
Marietheresia is the medium pink sister of Baronesse. They both have the same perfectly round and cup shaped opening, have a respectable vase life and open virtually flat. The fragrance is very slight, but the nostalgic shape makes up for it.
O'Hara is a light pink rose from France that has 4 hearts in the center and is incredibly fragrant. It will open up in the vase all the way and has a tremendouse vase life. It will add texture and fragrance to any vase work! It is also a perfect bridal pink for weddings.
Baronesse is a darker more intense sister of Marietheresia. Blooms are delicate, medium sized, and have a perfect cup opening reminiscent of Old Garden Roses in Josephine's Bonaparte's Malmaison Rose collection.
Alabaster is a new white from Germany. It is from the Floribunda family of roses, has a good fragrance, opens perfectly flat with a rosette shape and lasts a good time in the vase. Finally a great white variety with a fragrance for both events and vase work!
White O'Hara is a large, French, white rose, with a slight ivory tinge at the center, that opens up fully in a quartered way. It is very fragrant and wonderful for weddings and special events. It is hardy to ship and its vase life is extraordary. A perfect white garden rose!
There are many more colours including, reds, oranges, yellows and green.

Yes they do cost more than normal roses and they don't last quite as long but they do put on a great show while they are here and the scent is fantastic.

Garden roses

Are you looking for scented flowers for your wedding? Do you love roses?

Then these gorgeous garden roses may be what you are looking for. There are many varieties and colours available (watch out for another post on these). This variety is called O'hara and it is a lovely pale pink which opens up into a huge rose, getting paler as it opens.

A brides bouquet made entirely of O'hara roses, the scent is fabulous. There are galax leaves at the base of the roses to cover the bear stems.
Detail is added on the stems by wrapping them in satin ribbon and then adding small pale pink butterflies.
A matching groom's buttonhole. A single O'hara rose with galax foliage and lily grass loops with a small butterfly centre.
A single O'hara buttonhole suitable for a guest.

The Coach House, Doddington Hall

Johanna and Rich held their wedding breakfast at the gorgeous Coach House at Doddington Hall. It is a lovely light room which can be opened up into a courtyard garden to give more space.

We continued the lily theme through all the designs. As there were eleven tables including a round top table it was agreed that two styles of displays would break up the room.

The first was a cylinder vase filled with oriental lilies and bear grass. These were in high and low groupings so guests could still talk to each other.

The next was a design Johanna had seen at a function and asked if I could recreate in her flowers. These were in a glass cube with white curcuma, calla lilies, oriental lilies and roses.
In the arrival area we placed a modern pedestal in yellows and creams. Gladioli, roses, carnations, lilies and alstoemeria.
There is a seating area with a couple of coffee tables in here and not to be left out these had their own cube arrangements, in matching flowers.

The door way to the garden was treated to a pair of bay trees adorned with ivory roses.
The arrival area and dance floor.
The fabulous Coach House at Doddington Hall, ready and dressed to greet the bride and groom.

If you would like to see more photos of the day, click here to be taken to Natural Expressions (Photographer) blog. Scroll down to Oct 12 2011.

St Helen's Brant Broughton

Johanna and Rich were married on 17 Th September 2011 at St Helen's Church Brant Broughton.

A family friend arranged the bridal flowers and I was asked to provide the church and reception flowers.

We arrived early morning to set up the church, in between sun and showers. While the sun shone the church was flooded with light.

The theme of the day was lilies. A lovely variety that has a cream stripe in the centre of every petal.

The pews have all been taken out and replaced with chairs. Johanna had asked for 10 rows to be alternately dressed with lilies and roses and cream ribbon.
We had made sure that most of the lilies were open, so the church was filled with scent.
The chair bows.
Instead of two pedestals at the Altar the couple decided it would make a change to decorate the Rood screen. This was designed using open lilies and seasonal hops to add to the fragrance.

A pedestal also adorned the Altar. This consisted of lilies, roses, gladioli, and carnations all in white and creams.
Another pedestal was positioned by the entrance.
Each of the back four windowsills were also treated to a display of lilies and hops.


The lovely St Helen's all dressed and awaiting the bride and groom.
The entrance porch wasn't left out and had its own display of lilies.
The gate posts each had a posy of lilies and alstroemeria adorning the top.

The gateway, ready to greet the bride.