I don’t think I have to say anything, really. How absolutely perfect are these nerines? They’re in season now and are completely magical! The bright pink ones above were used for all the bridesmaids (and buttonholes too) and the fantastic combination of white cymbidium orchids and nerines below was for Emma’s gorgeous bridal bouquet.
Well, I think there’s no denying it. Pink flowers are completely and utterly gorgeous. And pink peonies and roses are just about as good as it gets. For this summery wedding, Stem used an abundance of marshmallow pink ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ and lipstick pink ‘Dr. Fleming’ peonies throughout Beauberry House. Then there were the armfuls of delicate pink and fragrant ‘Sweet Avalanche’ roses and romantic, lacy ammi. Ooh, and tiny-leaved variegated ivy just to finish things off.
I love the simple groupings of flowers on the tables which were made a little more fancy with Stem’s posh silver-leaf votives! And the newly painted pink wall in the Entrance Hall was zingingly complemented with loads of peonies, roses and acid green molucella (that’s Bells of Ireland to you and me) in a grown-up not grannyish pedestal display. Little details, like the floating peony heads up the stairs with sparkling wire, make everything feel just a little more thought out and special. A stunning, beautiful, romantic, sexy collection of blooms!
February has been a busy and romantic month for Stem Flowers. Hooray for brides who choose the most gorgeous, most sexy red flowers for their weddings during this month! Although the cost of red flowers (in particular) are really a bit silly around the 14th, my brides just went for it and chose rich colours, lots of candles and plenty of seasonal foliage.
We used fabulous ‘Royal Velvet’ and ‘Red Lion’ amaryllis and stunning ‘Majestic Red’ calla lilies. And then, of course, there were the jewel-like ‘Grand Prix’ and ‘Black Baccara’ roses….. Completely spectacular!
“Apart from the vows, the flowers are the most important part of my day” said my bride when I first met her. No pressure, then! This wedding was a real challenge for me because I knew how vital it was to get things right. Not because Emily had outrageous demands but because getting the colours and textures spot-on were fundamental to making a massive, creative impact. Oh, and the flowers needed to be individual, distinctive and un-weddingy….
I have to say that I absolutely adore the combination of flowers and foliage we decided upon. Magenta dendrobium orchids, intensly blue ‘Volkerfrieden’ delphiniums, deep cerise ‘Milano’ and garnet red ‘Grand Prix’ roses literally popped out of lush green flowering mint and zinging green bupleurum. And the little details of red and pink satin ribbons on the bouquets, or the red pail for the flower girl, just added to the slightly quirky impact of the flowers. Completely gorgeous!
Beauberry House is a very beautiful venue and a fabulous backdrop for gorgeous flowers so the absolute abundance we had really did the job of bringing colour and excitement to every room. A wonderfully riotous and (not so) random selection of vessels and flowers adorned every availabe windowsill, table, mantelpiece and loo with everything coming together in an enormous expolsion of foliage and blooms in a contemporary Entrance Hall pedestal. The two olive trees at the main doors didn’t get away with staying as they were – red and pink ribbons were candy-striped down the trunks and complementary kalanchoe plants were crammed around the bottom of each. A rather exhausting day for stem flowers, I have to say, but there’s nothing so good as knowing that a venue looks fantastic and that the bride and groom love what you’ve done!
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.
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.
