ranunculus

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pink-and-white-flowers

Can you work out which of the flowers above costs the least and which is the most expensive? extra points if you can put all 6 in order of price (The answers are at the bottom of the article).  The flowers & plant association has a very useful guide to flower prices, perfect if you don’t know a dahlia from a delphinium.

Setting a budget for your wedding flowers can seem daunting, especially since the price depends a lot on what flowers you choose.  Before you set your heart on a particular flower or design, work out what you can afford and tell your florist roughly what your budget is.  If you have no idea what flowers cost, as a rough guide allocate around 10% of your overall wedding budget to flowers.  Your florist will be able to give you a good idea of what you will get for your money and advise you on suitable flowers and designs that fit within your budget.

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If you are on a tight budget your florist will help you make the most of your money.  They are the floral experts and know lots of clever techniques and special touches to give your flowers the maximum impact without blowing the budget.

A recent survey showed the average amount spent on wedding flowers is £200 – £400, 60% of florists surveyed placed their average order value within this range. For that amount brides received a bridal bouquet, bride’s maid bouquets, button holes and a top table arrangement.  Nearly 30% of couples spend £400-£1000, they received the bridal bouquet, bride’s maid flowers, button holes, top table flowers and reception table flowers.

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The price of flowers is also dependant on the time of year, around St Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day nearly all flowers are more expensive because of demand.  The types of flowers you choose will affect the price, some flowers like carnations may cost a pound a stem, others like calla lilies could be six or seven pounds a stem.  If you choose a loose informal style for your flowers they will have more foliage and require fewer flowers, whereas a compact style arrangement with no foliage will need a lot more flowers per arrangement.

Don’t get hung up about all this information though, good florists are like miniature flower encyclopedias, packed full of information on flowers, prices and ideas.  They will know all the tips and tricks to ensure your flowers look fantastic whatever your budget.

So were you right?  The flowers are in ascending order starting with the cheapest, gerbera.

6 – Gerbera

1 – Ranuculus

2 – Lisianthus

5 – Rose

3 – Lily

4 – Hydrangea

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Breaking Dawn wedding ceremony

Image source Wedding Inspirasi

In the previous blog we had a quick look at the stunning flowers used for Edward and Bella’s wedding.  The designer Tammy Polatsek went to town with the natural woodland theme .  Thousands of flowers were using to make the wedding set, but don’t despair you can re-create the fabulous look without a big film budget.  To help keep your flower costs sensible try to use ivory flowers that are in season when you get married.  The flowers used in the film included roses, delphiniums, stocks, sweet peas, hyacinths, ranunculus, freesia, cherry blossom, wisteria and viburnum along with umbrella ferns, and lots of moss.

Bella's wedding bouquet

Image source Twitter

Bella carried a simple hand tied bouquet packed with beautiful ivory flowers.  It must have smelt truly scrumptious, it contained hyacinths, freesia, stocks and ranunculus.  Freesia and ranunculus also make beautiful buttonholes with a couple of simple leaves.  Although you can’t currently get married in a forest in the UK, you can get around this by having a legal ceremony in register office, and then having your ‘real’ big day with all your friends and family at a later date in your favourite woodland. Or you can of course bring the great outdoors inside.  Create a woodland feel by lining your aisle with tall branches with mossed arrangements at the base and flowers arranged to look as if they are growing.

Viburnum

The floral arch in Breaking Dawn was breath taking; it was very tall and packed with flowers.  It featured delphiniums, cherry blossom and other white flowers.  The arch in the film was so full with flowers, it would be budget busting for most brides.  A scaled down version could still feature lots of gorgeous flowers but with a bit more foliage and moss.  Many florists will have an arch structure that they decorate and hire out for weddings.

Ranunculus

The reception tables had a very natural organic looking design on them, but they were quite tall and sprawling, so the plates and tableware were very close to the edge of the tables.  Things can get knocked over when the table is that full and if your guests can’t see across the tables they may even move your lovely flowers elsewhere.  I would opt for a design with the candelabra at the centre of the table and have the flowers around the base, arranged in a natural style with lots of moss and foliage.

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We’ve had a few glimpses of the amazing Twilight wedding scene.  The trailers promised a magical woodland setting, but only showed the flowers for a split second. But the time has finally come, Breaking Dawn is released today.  The lady behind the wedding set design and flowers is Tammy Polatsek.  She was responsible for designing and sourcing all the flowers for the wedding and reception.  She also designed a porcelain dinner set for the reception that was used in the film.

Twilight wedding scene

Image source Entertainment Weekly

The wedding had a Mid-summer nights dream feel to it, everything was very natural and earthy in a forest setting surrounded by lots of flowers, foliage and moss.  The colour scheme for the flowers was white and ivory with lots of deep green ferns.

The ceremony featured low woodland style arrangements lining the aisle and a stunning floral canopy.  The canopy was made with thousands of white wisteria flowers made into 40-50 feet lengths. White lavender and cherry blossom also featured in the ceremony flowers. There were tree stumps dotted around the ceremony to complete the woodland theme, these were decorated with flowers so they appeared to be growing from the stumps.

The aisle was strewn with white petals and at the end of the aisle there was a magnificent floral arch where Edward and Bella said their vows.  It was covered in white flowers including delphiniums and cherry blossom.

Breaking Dawn reception table

Image source casasugar

The reception tables were dressed with moss green table cloths with fabric leaves attached to them.  The centrepieces were large natural designs with viburnum opulus, delphiniums, sweet peas, hyacinths, ranunculus, umbrella ferns and moss.  The centrepiece incorporated candelabras shaped like tree branches.  Small candles were also dotted around the arrangement.

Breaking Dawn wedding cake

Image source Summit Entertainment

The wedding cake was a large five tier design, simply iced and decorated with ivory and white flowers.  The floral ring surrounding the cake contained roses, viburnum, and sweet peas.

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Mixed ranunculus

Common Name: buttercup, Persian buttercup

Botanical Names: Ranunculus

Origin: Middle East

Colours: White, yellow, pink, peach, red, copper and purple

The Ranunculus is a member of the Ranunculaceae family.  There are about 400 species of Ranunculus in the wild which include the buttercup.  The only species used commercially by florists is Ranunculus Asiaticus, it has many petals and a ruffly appearance.  Most of the other species are single petalled varieties that look similar to common buttercups.

Ranunculus comes from the Latin ‘Rana’ which means frog.  This is because in the wild they live near water and marshlands like frogs.  They are grown from corms and are also popular as garden plants due to the many colours they are available in and their hardiness.

raunculus Cocktail

They are available in winter and spring and grow to about 60cm.  They are a great flower to add colour to spring bouquets and arrangements as they come in so many bright colours.  They last well with a vase life of 10 to 14 days, which is very good for a spring flower, especially since they are cut at a mature stage when they are showing colour.

They also come in beautiful soft pastel shades such as soft peach and pink.  These are popular in wedding bouquets for their romantic quality and perfect compact shape.

ranunculus Jug

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We are a nation that loves our mothers. Thousands of us choose to thank our mums with pretty gifts of flowers or plants.  Mother’s Day is one of the busiest weeks of the year for florists and despite the economic uncertainties, this year was no different.  Florists reported a very busy weekend sending beautiful bouquets to mums all over the UK.

Weeks before most people have realised Mother’s Day is coming the florist’s preparations start.  Suppliers require the order for fresh flowers weeks before Mother’s Day, so this means predicting what customers will want and how much they are likely to buy normally weeks before customers place any orders.  In the week running up to Mother’s Day there are a few long days and late nights required to get all the flowers in water and organised, so they can be made into gorgeous gifts in time for Mother’s Day.

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Bouquets of spring flowers were very popular this year.  These pretty bouquets include things like hyacinths, tulips, ranunculus and British narcissi.  The hyacinths and narcissi make them smell gorgeous.   Giant vintage teacups were also popular this year over-flowing with spring flowers …..and there were happy mums all round.

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Don’t forget a mother is for life, not just Mother’s Day.

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