by M8dd4 | Oct 14, 2019 | Devon Wedding Flowers, Wedding Flower Ideas, Wedding Flowers Advice
If you’ve chosen a winter wedding, your big day could be one of the most magical of all. Imagine waking to a gentle frost – just enough to make the surroundings sparkle, without any impact on your travel plans. Imagine the gorgeous crisp light that adds so much romance to your photos. And imagine the roaring fires that add that irresistible, crackling warmth to the room.
Picturing your winter wedding flowers, on the other hand, may feel like more of a challenge. The shorter days and cooler temperatures mean fewer flowers are in season. But that doesn’t mean dreamy winter wedding flowers are off the cards. I mix and match English garden florals with some flown-in to give you a bountiful selection in the depths of winter too. Discover my top picks as a Devon wedding florist to inspire you.
Very berry
If you’re not afraid of a festive feel, then holly berries are a classic choice for your winter wedding flowers. The spherical shapes and burst of colour punctuate bouquets and arrangements with drama – perfect for a glamorous celebration.
But one size does not fit all when it comes to these natural jewels. You can find berries in a range of tones from inky navy to rich purple, which complement more rustic or bohemian themes.
By Toby Lowe Photography
By Verity Wescott Photography
Take seed
For a quirky approach to your winter wedding flowers, look to the seed heads that spill over from summer. Poppy seed heads in particular have an amazing sculptural shape and look excellent sprayed a metallic silver or gold. Then there are the wilder additions, like teasels, which bring shape, texture and height to your bouquet.
Romantic rose
Because I mix and match locally grown blooms with flowers gathered from the markets as a Devon wedding florist, I can deliver you roses year-round. The most popular tones for winter wedding flowers are fairy-tale whites, dusty blush pinks and the more opulent burgundy hues.
Snow white
Known botanically as Galanthus, the pure white petals of snowdrops are incredibly dainty. With shorter stems, they’re a less traditional choice for winter wedding flowers, but fan them around the base of your bouquet and they’ll dance above your hands.
Foraged finds
Long, arching, richly coloured feathers. Bare branches sprayed gold or entwined with fairy lights. Pine cones gathered and dipped for a two-tone effect. Look to the landscapes around you to add another dimension to your winter wedding flowers.
You can enhance your colour scheme or theme while adding a natural touch that won’t look out of place incorporated with your more traditional flowers. As a Devon wedding florist, I work with each couple on a one-to-one basis to create the perfect floral design in tune with your style and ideas.
Muted muse
The pared-back colours of the season often find their way into the flowers that are in bloom. Hellebores are the perfect example of this. Most often flowering with papery white, soft rose or even subtly green, the flowers add whimsy and charm to any romantic theme. And for the boldest of winter wedding flowers, your Devon wedding florist will be able to source the more unusual varieties in wine red and even almost black.
Discover more hand-picked ideas for your wedding flowers in my gallery. From your budding ideas, I’ll tease out heart-stopping flowers that will forever make you smile.
By Lucy Turnbull Photography
by M8dd4 | Sep 13, 2019 | Cornwall Wedding Flowers, Devon Wedding Flowers, London Wedding Flowers, Wedding Flower Ideas, Wedding Flowers Advice
As summer’s floral abundance froths over into October, autumn wedding flowers come into their own. Coppery tones add a touch of romance and glamour, and showy, large blooms really stand out. Discover 10 of my prettiest picks for your autumn wedding flowers.
Chrysanthemums
Whether the soft muted tones of Cafe au Lait dahlias have you swooning, or you love punchier palettes, there’s a dahlia for you. Cactus varieties will add an edge for boho bouquets, sitting prettily beside tropical succulents, while blousy dinner plate blooms add whimsy to any bouquet.
Dahlias
Beautiful rosette-like flowers, chrysanthemums add buttons of beauty to any bouquet or wedding arrangements. They also bring bucket loads of colour, especially in jewel-like shades of amber and ruby.
Fountain Grass
Dancing fronds of flowering grasses will add an extra dimension to your autumn wedding flowers. Ask your London or Devon wedding florist for tips on which to choose, you’ll be surprised how many colours you’ll find!
Rudbeckia
You may hear these golden beauties called Black Eyed Susan, but rudbeckia have a whole lot more in store. Discover simple petalled blooms in tones from canary yellow to warm caramel.
Love Lies Bleeding
You’ll often find a London or Devon wedding florist like me whittling down a list of fillers and spillers. These are the flowers and foliage that add structure and form to a bouquet. Add an opulent twist with Love Lies Bleeding, where a profusion of burgundy spires will trail from your arrangement.
Chocolate Cosmos
Autumn wedding flowers won’t smell better than this! Chocolate cosmos has rich, darkly hued petals that instantly add drama, but it’s that irresistible scent that really makes them stand out.
Cineraria
Remember that colour can come from the foliage too for your autumn wedding flowers. The soft texture and silvery hues of cineraria are an excellent choice for the season. Add bright red or orange berries for a beautifully wild contrast.
Hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are even more exciting for autumn wedding flowers, as the varieties that change colour with the season reach their peak. That means creamy panicles of flowers give way to rosy pink hues, or lime developing red edges. English hydrangeas makes a very welcome appearance. Utterly beautiful with blends of rust red, pale blues, greens. As the autumn season moves on, English hydrangea develop a richer and richer red.
And then there are the dried flower heads from earlier in the summer – perfect for creating a vintage feel. Poppies, delphinium and lavender.
Garden Roses
The beauty of working with English garden blooms for your autumn wedding flowers is that many hallmarks of summer last long into autumn too. With regular cutting, roses send out flower after flower, meaning these beauties are available for you too! Throw in some glossy orange hips for a unique, bohemian look.
Salvias
Add delicate detail to your seasonal flowers with salvias. These slender beauties come in a palette from pink through burgundy to deep purple and blue. Another brilliant way to add shape and movement to your bouquet.
I hope you’ve picked some ideas out for your own autumn wedding flowers. See the blooms in action in my London wedding florist gallery and discover more about how I can help you.
by M8dd4 | Aug 7, 2019 | Cornwall Wedding Flowers, Devon Wedding Flowers, London Wedding Flowers, Wedding Flower Ideas, Wedding Flowers Advice
The scent of an English-grown David Austin rose. The rustle of poppies as they brush stems with foliage. The delicacy of peonies adorning an archway… Plan an event that enchants every sense with these floral design ideas.
Somersaulting stems
A luscious and abundant floral arrangement will add instant impact to a space, but so too will a hundred single stems.
One of my favourite wedding floral design tips is to choose a bloom you want to celebrate and feature it many times over, in many different ways.
Think single stems in clusters of bud vases or trailing flower heads hanging from a chandelier.
Photo: Rik Pennington Photography
Garland greetings
What better way to welcome guests to an event than with a floral feature? This could be an arch that unfurls around a doorway or a structure that frames the aisle.
Add a modern twist by attaching blooms in an asymmetric design or pack them in abundantly for traditionally romantic wedding floral design ideas.
Ways with wildflowers
Embrace the trend for wildflower-inspired wedding floral design ideas with a green table runner.
Swap simple eucalyptus for an enchanting blend of foliage and wildflowers. The result is a pretty pastel swathe that decorates the length of the table.
Wild wreaths
Gone are the days when wreaths were floral designs of winter alone. Now, all manner of hoops, chandeliers and wreaths are garnished with garden-inspired blooms before being suspended from the ceiling, hung in groups of three from the wall or positioned as the perfect backdrop.
Towers of flowers
Once upon a time, martini glass wedding floral design ideas were all the rage. But while fashions and flowers change, the same perks still apply.
Tall arrangements to top tables that billow with ivy, peonies and roses add fragrance, romance and drama.
By raising the height of arrangements, they add even more impact as you enter the room. But when you’re ready to take your seats, your eye line remains clear, making for happy guests who can easily socialise without any compromise on floral style.
Photo: Venetia Norrington Photography
Discover more elegant and natural ways with blooms in my floral design gallery. Overflowing with the dreamiest designs and whimsical styles, prepare to be instantly transported into a blossoming country garden.
by M8dd4 | Jun 17, 2019 | Wedding Flowers Advice
Make choosing your wedding flowers a breeze with beautiful results. Whether you’re planning abundant arrangements flowing with roses or meadow-style freshly picked posies, these floral design secrets will help you choose.
Feature flowers
Many couples have difficulties in deciding which flowers to choose. The absolute array available they may’ve seen in magazines, gardens or in flower markets. A great place to start is to think of your favourite plant or bloom. It may be one with fond memories, a delicious scent or simply sheer beauty. Consider all the senses if you can for wedding flowers that evoke the strongest memories from the past and will for years to come.
Once you’ve worked out which blooms you want to be the stars of the show, weave them throughout your arrangements. Standard roses can be echoed using co-ordinating small spray roses which look so delicate in for example, buttonholes and corsages. This will create a romantic connection to the blooms you carry.
Fillers and spillers
Bouquets bursting at the ribbons with blooms aren’t the only way to create a breath-taking effect. Sometimes, the filler flowers – things like frothy white ammi and colourful achillea – are the accents your blooms need to really stand out.
Spillers come into play to give your arrangements movement and a more relaxed look. Trailing ivy, love lies bleeding and even panicle hydrangeas will create this romantic, floriferous, informal aesthetic.
Size matters
Wedding flowers come in all shapes and sizes, and there’s no one rule that works for everyone. Traditionally, the bridesmaid posies are smaller forms of the bouquet. But, more recently, these have been growing larger and more abundant, adding that whimsical finish.
Likewise, buttonholes were once simple affairs with one flower head, often a rose, and seasonal foliage. Now, blousy blooms prevail, with berries and even feathers featuring.
This is your chance to write the rules. Work with your florist to craft floral designs that are tailored to your vision, whether an oversized bouquet to contrast a sleek, A-line gown or a lighter posy with a fine art feel.
Go green
Just as foliage is the perfect foil for flowers in the garden, if also really sets off the blooms in your bouquet.
Grey/silvery leaves of foliages such as those in a variety of eucalyptuses, are always very popular. When choosing a wild, garden style, take your florist’s advice. Beautiful fronds can be sourced from surprising places, including raspberry and currant leaves. Don’t overlook grasses either. They may not seem as special at first glance, but many add the movement and subtle flowers your bouquet could be missing.
Less can be more
Did you know it’s possible to create an abundant look without using armfuls of flowers?
The trick is in the presentation. Single sprigs of blossom or tulip stems arranged in clusters or rows can create a beautiful effect. The added benefit of lots of little arrangements is that they’ll spread fragrance more evenly round the room too.
The same is true of using a more intimate palette of blooms. Sprigs of lavender tied to pew ends will create a sea of colour and scent with one single variety.
Shape up
One of the most important but often overlooked elements of floral design is shape. This will have an enormous effect on the overall style of your wedding flowers.
Take peonies, for example. Abundant clusters of fragrant blooms arranged with greenery and ivy will add fairy-tale romance to a ceremony arch. But add them to urns with unfurling branches of foliage in asymmetric designs, and your wedding flowers instantly feel more bohemian and relaxed.
Double the fun
If you’ve got big dreams for your blooms, you’ll want to add a floral touch to every part of your celebrations. Make your wedding flowers work hard for you for maximum impact on the day.
Careful floral design planning means an arch created from birch branches and woven with blooms could frame your ceremony. Then with stronger members of the wedding party or with the venue coordinator’s help, it could be moved and become a top table backdrop.
Choosing your perfect wedding flowers will be one of the most exciting elements of your wedding plans. It’s the perfect excuse to pore over Pinterest, visit English gardens for inspiration and discover a whole new world of floral beauty. Be inspired by the garden-style arrangements showcased in my portfolio and get in touch – I’d love to talk flowers with you.
