Proper Weddings: Rob & Ffi

Remember the lovely Rob and Ffi's wedding at Farnham Castle in August last year?

Well, we thought it was high time we shared with you some of their official photos, rather than the classic rushed phone-tos taken by us!

These pro images are courtesy of Neale James, who captured all the love and fun on this beautiful day, as well as the green, white and creams of the wedding flowers.

Rob and Ffiona were married at St. Mary's Shackleford, a super picturesque church in the Surrey countryside.  Ffi chose a loose and unstructured seasonal bouquet, with draped eucalyptus, avalanche roses, stocks and lisianthus, all tied up with reams of white ribbon.  Her bridesmaids carried clouds of gypsophila. 

Back at Farnham Castle for the reception, groupings of white hydrangea and gypsophila and mixed arrangements in huge white and blue Ming-style vases were placed on stone staircases and windowsills.  Mixed posies of whites and greens were arranged in smaller white and blue vases for the table centrepieces. 
(NB these are not Neale's images - back to our iphones!)

And the bride wore...blue and white Ming-style shoes!

One Flew Over A Most Curious Wedding Fair 2015

Last Weekend we exhibited for the second year at A Most Curious Wedding Fair.  

The fair invites some of the most creative small-businesses to exhibit their wares for the newly betrothed (and their pals, mums, dads, kids etc.)

This year, it was held at The Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, a huge, airy space which looked like the funnest (and maddest) wedding ever by opening time.
 

It was ace to get a chance to speak to so many couples planning their big day.  

And the one thing we heard from them over and over?  A Most Curious Wedding Fair is the best wedding fair by far.  There is nothing to make anyone panic or think they need to get things organised immediately; just a collection of designers with big smiles and even bigger ideas.  Even the grooms seemed to be enjoying themselves.

For our stand, we offered up our florals on a 'done-it-ourselves' wooden archway, garlanding away with ivy and moss.  We went heavy on the florals for the corners of the arch and sprinkled floral highlights throughout. 

We also had some seasonal bridal and bridesmaid style bouquets on display, modeled some headdresses ourselves and made buttonholes to giveaway. 

We opted for some smashing anemones, wonderfully named 'Mistral Black Jack' ranunculus, our favourite freesias, astrantia, rice flower, clematis, and a few roses for good measure. 



We also had potted succulents in enamel ware for sale, which work really well on tables at weddings too, or tiny ones look great potted up as favours or name-places.

For us (lone floral rangers that we are), there is something very joyful and comforting about meeting other florists, illustrators, stationers, decorators, designers, dress-makers, prop-providers and gift-deliverers in the wedding industry.  

We chat about early mornings, the need for frequent coffee, what we used to do with our Saturdays before we got into weddings...

We've popped a list of some of our favourite suppliers below, so you can shop around.

Many thanks to Tessa for the photos, and the table numbers!

Tessa and Zoe head up the wonderful Pea Green Boat which sells bazillions of wondrous goodies if you want your wedding to look ace. We love the glitter tassels best. 

Check them out, you can get your pinterest on at their website, big-time.

Also, many thanks to all who made it a cheery weekend of wedding chatter. 

Top of the Pops:

Pea Green Boat

Hey Style Hire

Patchwork Present 

Friend of Faux 

The Portrait Machine

Lemon Tree Cakes
Curious Me 
Doris Loves

Houseplant of the Month: March

Houseplants: like the perfect man... long lasting, great looking and low maintenance.  

What is not to love?  

Which is why the Flower Council of Holland have launched their Houseplant of the Month Campaign throughout 2015.  Each month they have chosen their favourite Houseplant and given a ton of information on the history and uses of the plant, how to choose a nice healthy one, and how to take proper good care of it.

We thought we'd do you all a favour and follow their lead, condensing the info in our own monthly feature.  

In the third part of our series...

March: the Royal Pelargonium



The Pelargonium is a very popular potted houseplant, but this month the focus is on its much fancier brother, the Royal Pelargonium.  The Royal version has much larger, trumpet shaped flowers and velvety leaves and colours range from white to deep purple, orangey-pink to dark red. 

South African in origin,  the RP needs regular watering and to be topped up with plant food every couple of weeks (yes, a bit more high maintenance than expected, but that's the Royals for you...).  

The plant likes light and four hours of direct sunlight a day so it can continue flowering.  
Owners like '80s theatre school' inspired neons:



The Royal Pelargonium certainly requires a bit of love and attention to get the most out of it (plants are like humans).  

If your focus generally ends up anywhere other than your houseplants, the Yucca may be more for you...  




Remember, it's Mothering Sunday this weekend. 
BUY YO MAMA A GIFT.  
But think carefully about your choice if you go potted...she spent years looking after you; she may not want any responsibility now. 
 In which case, we suggest decent wine and fancy olives.

One Flew Over Windows

Last week we told you all about Patchwork Present, who had recently asked us to join their window display alumni.

Patchwork's regularly changing shop-front installations are all based on the idea of  

building something 'piece by piece', reflecting the way their present lists are built online.

Tasked with this brief and the knowledge that sun pours though Patchwork's window for much of the day, warming it up like a green house, we got to work on how we could incorporate our flowers into this concept and environment.

Choosing woody stems (such as wax and eucalyptus) and hardy blooms (roses, thistles), which can happily be dried out, we hung groupings of bouquet ingredients in grid-like boxes to make our patchwork. These pieces came together to make the central hanging bouquet, enclosed in a heart! 

SO, here you have it...

 

 Thank you to Patchwork Present for having us, and special thanks to Ismay for the tea, biscuits and chats.