Wedding Flowers

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Top ten green flowers – part 1

30 May 2012 | Permalink

succulent

Green flowers may seem like an unusual choice for wedding flowers, but green can be a very beautiful and natural colour scheme.  There are plenty of green flowers to choose from whether you prefer soft sage green or bright lime green, you can even get acid green flowers.  Adding green flowers to a mixed colour design will ‘lift’ the other colours.

Counting down from number 10:

Green-Chrysanthemum10 – Feeling Green Spray Chrysanthemum
This is a spray type of chrysanth so it has several heads on a stem.  The flowers are very hardy so are good for designs that won’t be in water.  The uniform shape of these chrysanths looks great in compact designs like pomanders or spheres of flowers.
Green-Trick-Dianthus9 –  Green Trick Dianthus
These unusual looking flowers are a type of sweet william, from the carnation family.  You usually see them in small bunches of pinks and reds.  This fluffy flower is a spherical shape and looks a bit like moss.  It looks great mixed with a vibrant colour in modern textured bouquets or kept simple with white flowers and foliage.
Green-Hydrangea8 – Hydrangea
For summer weddings Hydrangea are the perfect flower.  The large blooms come in various shades of green from a soft pale colour to lime to and green with hints of pink.  Hydrangeas work well with a country garden theme or a more contemporary look.  They are also  lovely grouped together for bridal bouquets. Hydrangea may seem a little pricey but they are at least twice the size of most flowers and fill a lot of space in an arrangement.
Green-Chrysanthemum7 – Shamrock Chrysanthemum Bloom
This is the second chrysanth in my top ten list, but it looks so different to chrysanth spray I had to include it.  You would be forgiven for not regconising these flowers as Chrysanthemums.  Their spiky shape and vivd lime colour is a million miles away from the old fashioned chrysanth sprays supermarkets offer.  These blooms work best in large contemporary designs and look fabulous mixed with bright exotic flowers.
Green-Amaranthus6 – Amaranthus
This flower has beautiful flowing heads that look lovely anywhere flowers can naturally trail or hang down.  The edge of a mantelpiece arrangement, hanging from a garland at the church entrance or hanging from a bouquet.  It is a pretty alternative to ivy or grasses.
My top 5 green flowers will follow in tomorrows post.
Images:
Green Trick Dianthus – sieraflowerfinder.com
Amaranthus – Petitfleurevents.com

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The McFly wedding: a magical woodland theme

29 May 2012 | Permalink

McFly-Tom-Fletcher-Wedding

Giovanna Falcone and McFly guitarist Tom Fletcher recently tied the knot at One Marylebone in London.  The theme was a romantic, woodland glade; the couple wanted the decorations to give the venue a magical feel.  London florist By Appointment Only provided all the flowers for the day, they created designs in a palette of soft pinks, lilac and papery blues with lots of natural looking foliage.

The ceremony took place in the Soane hall, the vast space was dressed with lots of floral displays and fairy lights were hung with ivy wound through them.  The alter was decorated with a long woodland style arrangement using stocks, lilac, viburnum, roses, hydrangea, spray roses and peonies in pinks blues and creams, with green viburnum and moss.  Behind the alter two large pedestal arrangements were placed with summer flowers and delphiniums for added height.

The beautiful bride wore an ivory Phillip Lepley gown with a vintage lace overlay and bead detailing.  She carried an informal teardrop bouquet of garden roses and peonies in shades of pink and cream, with trailing variegated ivy.

Giovanna’s bride’s maids wore full length dusky pink Kelsey Rose dresses.  They carried small hand tied bouquets of white sweet peas and roses in shades of pink and cream.  The men wore grey suits, with green ties and pink rose buttonholes.

McFly-wedding-flowers-Tom-Fletcher

blue hydrangea - Grey Wulf Flickr, lilac - Marisa DeMeglio

The room was transformed for dinner with a combination of low centrepieces and tall canopy arrangements.  The low designs featured summer blooms and candles.  The tall arrangements rested on twisted willow bases and featured lots of summer flowers and natural foliage.  The tables were dressed with paisley cloths in moss green and the napkins were tied with ivy.  For favours the guests were given personalised guitar picks that featured the couple’s initials and the date of the wedding.

The couple also had a magnificent floral arch that many of the photos were taken in front of.  It was packed with summer flowers in soft shades of pink, blue, lilac and cream, with lots of foliage including asparagus fern, photina, ivy and French ruscus.

I think the flowers achieved the magical woodland look perfectly, the bouquets and the venue looked truly wonderful.  Full photos are in OK! Magazine issue 829, May 29th 2012.

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Flower of the week – Hydrangea

24 May 2012 | Permalink

hydrangea-plants

Common name:  Hydrangea

Botanical Names: Hydrangea

Origin: Japan

Colours: White, pink, purple, blue

Hydrangeas are thirsty plants and get their name from the Greek word “Hydor” meaning water, they were introduced to the UK in 1788 from Japan.  There are many varieties and colours from pure white through to blush pink, and amethyst, as well as many beautiful two tone varieties.  There are three main types of hydrangea, pronounced hiy-DRANE-gee-a, the Mophead has large round flowers made up of dozens of tiny florets.  This is the most recognizable type and popular as a cut flower.  Panicle is a long cone shaped cluster of florets and Lacecap is a flatter shape with lots of tiny buds surrounded by a circle of normal sized flowers.

purple-white-hydrangea

Hydrangeas have become very popular cut flowers in recent years; they are often featured in home and lifestyle magazines for modern rooms or country kitchens.  They drink a lot of water, so hydrangeas should always be in deep water.  If the flower head goes soft or starts to wilt the stem should be recut and plunged into boiling water for 30 seconds before replacing into the vase.  For a contemporary look use a vase of hydrangeas in a vivid colour.  The beautiful pastel shades or two tone varieties give a more vintage or rustic appearance.  I would mix hydrangeas with roses or peonies for a vintage look.

hydrangea-bouquet

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Gothic wedding inspiration

21 May 2012 | Permalink

gothic-wedding-ideas-mood-board

I’ve put together some ideas to give your gothic wedding a dramatic and mysterious style, based around a colour scheme of reds and black.  Picking a suitable venue will help you achieve a gothic look more easily; Victorian buildings or medieval castles are perfect.  If you can’t find a gothic venue that’s within budget don’t panic, there are plenty of things you can do to transform a venue into a gothic masterpiece.  Lighting plays a big part for gothic weddings; low light with candles will help create the right ambience.

You can really go to town dressing your tables for a gothic theme.  You might want to book the services of a venue dressing company or event planner to provide most of the items as they will be able to hire them to you. To dress your tables, hire black cloths and team with red and black accessories.  Linen companies can provide baroque print table cloths like the one on the mood board, the fabric gives a luxurious opulent feel.

red-rose-bouquet-with-ivy

For your centrepieces you could use black candelabras with Ivy wrapped around the arms.  Or for floral centrepieces stack some vintage horror books on the table and place a collection of apothecary bottles on them, place single flowers in the bottles in black, deep reds and purples.  You can’t really get a true black flower but some purple and red flowers are so dark they appear black so they are named as black.  Deep red flowers include black dahlias, black baccara roses, and chocolate cosmos which are a velvety red/chocolate colour.  Dark purple flowers include schwarzwälder or black forest calla lily, queen of the night tulip and moonvista carnation.

Use red charger plates, black napkins and ornate goblets to continue the theme.  Calligraphy is perfect for a gothic look so have your place cards written by a calligraphist.  Miniature potion or apothecary bottles would work well for favours.  If you want to make your own favours make some sloe gin and decant into bottles with personalised labels.

apothecary-bottle-favours

Mood board supplies:

Carmen rose bouquet – theflowerco.co.uk

Mixed wedding bouquet – anastasiaehlers.com, photography Anne Nunn

Red wedding dress – gothic4weddings.blogspot.co.uk by KMKdesings.org

Black baroque fabric – Robert Kaufman fabric

Black candlestick – clevelandaccessories.co.uk

Invitation – royalsteamline.com

Wedding cake – Cake Girls via realsimple.com

Wedding favour bottles – labouroflovepreserves.co.uk

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Flower of the week – Stock

16 May 2012 | Permalink

stock

Common name:  Stock, Gillyflowers

Botanical Names: Matthiola

Origin: Mediterranean and Egypt

Colours: white, pink, crimson, cream, purple and lilac

The botanical name for stock is Matthiola, it is named after Dr Matthioli a 16th century physician and botanist who identified it.  It was transported to England where it was later identified as a member of the Brassicaceae (mustard) family. Stocks have been popular in gardens since Elizabethan times, their name symbolises lasting beauty and bonds of affection.

Matthiola Incana is one of the species we commonly see as cut flowers, it can have single or double flowers with long grey green leaves, there are around 54 other species. It is a popular cut flower and is favoured for it’s amazing fragrance.  The flower spikes open from the bottom upwards and usually last 5-8 days as cut flowers.  They will last longer if their leaves are removed below the water line and the water is changed frequently.

pink stocks

As cut flowers stocks are used in many types of floristry from gift bouquets to weddings and funerals.  They look lovely on their own or mixed with other spring or summer flowers.  Just a few stocks in an arrangement will give a pleasing fragrance.  They are used a lot in weddings because of their elegant shape and perfume, and particularly suit the vintage theme popular for weddings at the moment.  You can often get gorgeous British grown stocks in the summer months, they’re lovely in simple mixed designs with summer flowers and herbs.

stocks in a summer bouquet

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