flowers, camera, action!

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Beauberry House filming

I spent this morning dressing Beauberry House with flowers in preparation for a Wedding TV filming session.  Guess what – I love doing things like that!  The house is going to be featured in a guide to fabulous wedding venues.  I think there’s some kind of competitive edge to it in that one venue will ultimately be crowned as the best place to get married in any particular region.  My gorgeous ‘Ruby Red’ and ‘Tyler’ gerberas looked suitably lush in the restaurant where I had a bit of fun with funky pink wire too.  Just as I was leaving, wonderful Oleia (she who runs that place so brilliantly) told me that the BBC were also pitching up this afternoon to film a programme for BBC3!  Could stem flowers have a future on the box….?

Gerbera and wire garlandGerberas and wire close-up

some things really make me feel happy

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It’s lovely to get letters or phonecalls from people who are over the moon with our flowers.  It’s even lovelier when it’s from someone you wouldn’t necessarily expect to make contact.  One call came from a guest at Vanessa and Will’s gorgeous ceremony at Templeton House in Richmond.  She simply phoned to say how wonderful she thought the flowers were (and how lovely we were too!).  She wasn’t interested in passing on new work or anything like that.  She wasn’t a possible client.  She just wanted to say that she’d been there and the flowers were wonderful.  That made me feel rather good, I have to say.

Glass urns at Templeton House

And then the colour-fest that was Rebecca and Mark’s wedding at Beauberry House on Easter Saturday resulted in the most lovely card from Bec’s mum.  I was so touched that she had taken the time to write independently of her lovely girl and that she felt that “the colours were amazing”, that “everyone commented on how lovely the rooms at Beauberry looked” and that it had all helped make the day “happy and memorable”.  One quite chuffed stemgirl.

Spring-time anemone, bupleurum and ruscus hand-tied bouquet

pretty ammi

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I absolutely love the filigree, lacy white flower head of ammi majus. It’s in season in the from late spring to the end of the summer although we can buy it from the market all year round. Its feathery leaves look a bit like dill but I’ve just found out that it’s related to the carrot! Ammi is normally used as a ‘filler’ flower to bring, perhaps, a delicate touch to a bridal bouquet. The texture of a bouquet is definitely softened by its addition. And, as an extension of this, it works gorgeously when added to buttonholes or corsages.
But I’d like to make more of this fabulous flower. It looks stunning when used abundantly on its own. A vase overflowing with ammi stems conjures up an image of wispy, summery clouds. Or vintage lace curtains fluttering in a warm breeze.

Liadan's bouquet

Liadan included ammi in her hand-tied bouquet which also contained a beautiful combination of very pale peach ‘Juliet’ roses, white ‘Avalanche’ roses, ivory ‘Viviane’ spray roses, florets of white ‘Schneeball’ hydrangeas, ivory ‘Echo Geel’ lisianthus, white ‘Versailles’ freesias, lime green bupleurum and touches of berried ivy. I used tiny pearl detailing to give a vintage feel to the bouquet. Gorgeous.

lovely flowers and lovely people

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When Heidi and Trevor got married at Beauberry House in Dulwich, they wanted flowers to reflect their relaxed but stylish approach to the day.  You can see from the photos that everyone looked absolutely gorgeous and the sexy bubblegum pink ‘Aqua’ and pale pink ‘Sweet Avalanche’ roses just added to it all!

Heidi and Trevor's wedding

I think Heidi chose a very cool combination for her bouquet – those ‘Aqua’ roses with dark brown ‘Chocolate Cosmos’.  They really do smell of chocolate so it was an all round sensory experience.

aqua-and-cosmos-bouquet

Beauberry House is a beautiful venue.  The upstairs ‘White Room’ (where the weddings take place) is a perfect blank canvas for any number of floral colour combinations.  We used the fabulous cerise pink ‘Serena’ gerberas, delicate pale pink ‘Princess Caroline’ delphiniums and pink ‘Cinderella Antique Pink’ stocks with wonderful acid green Bells of Ireland and bupleurum.  I love the detailing of snake grass and dark brown organza on the vases which, again, picked up on the sophisticated colours that the wedding party were wearing.

Pinks and acid green mantelpiece vase

What I really enjoyed about this wedding was Heidi’s infectious warmth and excitement about her flowers and her wedding in general.  I can’t help feeling that my job becomes even more lovely when I’ve engaged with a client on an emotional level and not just on a business one.  Somehow, the flowers come together more beautifully, if that makes any sense at all!

Heidi's bridesmaids