Tag Archives: New Covent Garden Market

A joyful day at Belair House

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

It is a lucky day when you are asked to do flowers for a couple who are absolutely lovely and full of joy and excitement about their upcoming nuptials.  Meeting with Denise and Fabian in advance of their wedding and then being a part of their day was a total honour!

Belair House radiator cover with random vases

They wanted simple, unfussy flowers in muted pinks, whites and corals so we used a gorgeous combination of pale pink garden roses, coral dahlias, freesias,  hydrangea, astilbe, veronica and daisy-like feverfew with little flashes of dark claret astrantia.  All arranged in what I call ‘random’ vases.  Although, of course, they’re not random at all!  A bit like ‘barely there makeup’, it’s all thought through carefully and takes more time than you’d think.

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

And we made good use of fragrant, abundant foliage to fill spaces without breaking any budgets!

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams photography

Elaine Williams photography

Thank you to Elaine Williams for sharing her absolutely beautiful photos with me. They capture everything about the day subtly and perfectly!

Elaine Williams Photography

Elaine Williams Photography

Venue – Belair House
Photographer – Elaine Williams Photography
Dress – Blush and Ivory

 

 

 

 

A magical wedding fair

Candelabras with ivy antique pink carnations memory lane roses silver leaf tealights

A glorious evening at Belair House’s wedding fair.  Stemgirl went a little bit mad dressing the opulent dining room with an eclectic mix of flowers and foliage to give visitors several stylish ideas for their upcoming weddings.

Springtime table with Tete-a-Tete narcissi, violas, hyacinths

Forsythia, kitsch birds, bouquets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was fabulous to be exhibiting alongside Belair’s other trusted suppliers including spectacular cakes by Blossom and CrumbBeverley Wilson floral design and styling and Craft Music who can organise a fantastic range of musicians for weddings and events. Details of other suppliers and a link to a short film about all of us to follow when Stemgirl gets organised…..

Hanging antique pink carnations

I had fun sewing these antique pink carnations onto fishing wire so that they appear to float in mid-air!

 

Style on the Thames

Anh and Tung's wedding at The Trafalgar Greenwich

It’s taken me a little while to write about Anh and Tung’s fabulous wedding at The Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich.  I blame this, in part, on having to choose just a few of the absolutely fantastic photographs taken by Ed Peers!  They capture something really striking about the vibe of the whole day – everything looked so stylish and effortless but this was underpinned by an enormous feeling of warmth and joy from all of the couple’s friends and families.

Akito rose bouquet at The Trafalgar Tavern Greenwich

Anh’s dress was exquisite, white and detailed with thousands of sparkles.  She was very clear from our first meeting that she wanted her flowers to be simply sophisticated and not in competition with the dress so we opted for a hand-tied domed bouquet of white roses.  A couple of months before the wedding, we did a trial run with ‘Avalanche’ roses but they were just too yellowy against her dress.  So, back to the drawing board and after lots of advice from lovely Terry at Zest Flowers, I ordered ‘Polar Star’ specifically for the bouquet……which didn’t come in to the market on the morning I went to buy everything!  So, trying not to panic, I bought some ‘Norma Jean’ roses…still too yellowy 24 hours before the wedding!  Thank goodness I’d bought extra Akito roses which had opened beautifully and were the perfect white to hold next to Anh’s glorious dress!  Disaster averted.  Blood pressure back to normal!

Akito rose bouquet at The Trafalgar Tavern GreenwichAkito rose at The Trafalgar Tavern

I’m not entirely sure what colour one would call Anh’s bridesmaids’ spectacular dresses but their posies of Akito roses and lisianthus looked perfect with them!

Akito rose bouquets

Foliage on the trafalgar tavern staris

The white and green theme was carried through at The Trafalgar. Both Anh and Tung wanted the staircase to be dressed with an abundance of foliage which made the entrance to the upstairs wedding venue really magical. The combination of wild ivy and soft ruscus looks really dramatic in the photos too.Ivy and ruscus foliage garland

Trafalgar Tavern staircase with foliage

Ivy and ruscus foliage garland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made good use of a sumptuous asymmetrical combination of white hydrangeas, ‘Avalanche’ roses, white lisianthus and trailing green amaranthus on the registrar’s table and then on the Top Table during the meal while the round tables for the guests had Stem’s cool glass urns as centrepieces crammed with hydrangeas, roses, lisianthus and foliage.

The Trafalgar Tavern registrars table

Top Table at The Trafalagar

Trafalgar Tavern wedding Greenwich

In other parts of The Trafalgar we had fun with single stems of flowers displayed in ‘random’ glass vases, the table plan adorned with foliage and blooms and what Anh described as ‘an upside-down vase with flowers inside’ which I now realise could be called a bell-jar!
The Trafalgar
Hydrangeas and roses at The trafalgar
the Trafalgar wedding flowers
Flowers and spanish moss at The Trafalgar tavern

I really love working at The Trafalgar Tavern and am really chuffed to be on the recommended suppliers list. The stunning views out over The Thames from the floor to ceiling windows are breath-taking and the rooms themselves transport you back in time with their grandeur! It’s also right at the heart of Greenwich which is such a magnificent part of South London and allows for some pretty special photo opportunities!
Married couple

Putting together the flowers for Anh and Tung was a massive pleasure for Stemgirl and Serge. Love and congratulations to you both!
Wedding at The Trafaglar Greenwich

Woop Woop!

South London wedding flowers

Stemgirl is super-proud and a bit over-excited to have been named a regional finalist in The 2015 Wedding Industry Awards.  Thank you very much to all Stem’s supporters for your votes and for all your support!

A sunny and joyful wedding for Melanie and Ruairidh

Dan Biggins Photography

When I first met Mel I was really struck by how joyful and relaxed she was in her approach to planning her wedding.  To describe the kind of day she was hoping for, she used words like ‘relaxed’ and ‘happy’ and talked about wanting a welcoming party feel.  She also wanted the rooms at Belair House to feel really summery and fresh with lots of whites and greens while “not looking too weddingish”.

 Dan Biggins Photography

I suggested many different white and pale green flowers so that there would be a real feeling of abundance.  We went with several varieties of hydrangeas, roses and spray roses, freesia, astrantia, alstromeria and eustoma with delicate, daisy-like feverfew and lacy ammi majus.  And then I went bonkers with all the lovely seasonal foliage on offer at GB Foliage at the market as well as fragrant mint and rosemary.

Dan Biggins Photography

Ammi

 

Hydrangeas

 

 

 

 

 

Mel’s bouquet was made up of David Austin “Patience” roses, freesias, hydrangea florets, astrantia, ammi and mint with the stems bound simply with garden twine.  The buttonholes, in honour of Ruairidh’s nationality (the men looked very dashing in their kilts), were made of white eryngium thistles.  And the little flower girls carried posies of ‘Akito’ roses and wore Alice-bands decorated with tiny spray roses and freesias.  All really pretty and delicate and sunny!

 Dan Biggins Photography

Dan Biggins PhotographyFlower girl at Belair House

 

Mel decided she wanted the flowers for the tables displayed in lots of different glass vessels rather than in anything too formal.  So each table had what I call “a random collection of vases and flowers” placed in the centre.  Of course, just like perfecting so called nude make-up, making things look random is actually quite hard work!

Random table centres

top table

The results were gorgeous and I think you can see from all the fabulous photographs by the lovely Dan Biggins, Mel and Ruairidh’s wedding was a really relaxed and happy day, just as they’d hoped for.

 

 

Belair House wedding

You can see many more of Dan’s photos and my flowers on the super-cool A Touch of Modern wedding blog.

Wedding Industry Awards 2015 – do you dig Stem?

So, if you love Stem and we made you gorgeous flowers for your wedding or celebration between 1 November 2013 and 24 October 2014 please say some nice things about us by clicking on this link…..

http://www.the-wedding-industry-awards.co.uk/2015/london-and-south-east/florist/stem-flowers-london

Thank you!

Gorgeous rose, ghastly name

This mouth-watering, sorbet coloured rose makes me think of a delicious combination of lemons, peaches and watermelons.  It’s summer in a rose.  And it smells gorgeous.

Miss Piggy rose bouquet

So who on Earth was the genius who thought calling it ‘Miss Piggy’ was a good idea?  I try not to use the name when describing it to clients as it conjures up images of tantrums and flouncing!  Perhaps they’ll come up with Rosa Bridezilla next….

stem flowers is feeling quite breathless…

Breathless ITV Jack Davenport

‘BREATHLESS’

10 October on ITV at 9pm

Stem’s flowers appear throughout this new drama set in 1960s London.  Stemgirl had great fun researching and producing designs that are quite different to the style of things I normally do.  I really appreciated the help from the lovely men at the market (thank you Terry, Eric, David and Dennis!) who gave me their memories of the flowers that were on sale in the early 60s.  And old Pathe newsreels were brilliant too.  I used almost exclusively British flowers and foliage although it was interesting to find out how many varieties were already being imported from abroad.   I was really challenged by, but really enjoyed, the speed at which I had to turn things around.  When I provide flowers for a wedding, I think long and hard about everything.  But on this job I sometimes had only a few hours notice before I had to put together and deliver arrangements.  It was a very buzzy experience and I hope there’ll be more of it!  

Breathless ITV all the ladies

This first series runs for 6 episodes and I know, from the flowers I did, includes a wedding dress shop, a buffet party, a beauty pageant, an affair, a wedding and a funeral!  Quite how all that fits together I’m waiting to see.  The drama revolves around life in a hospital so I am expecting handsome doctors and stylish frocks and, perhaps, some insight into an interesting time in medical politics.  Take a look if you can and let me know what you think……

Breathless ITV cast

And the sun shone too – finally!

Bright wedding flowers with gerberas,tulips and lisianthus

The fabulous bright colours of Hannah and Adrian’s wedding flowers were totally in keeping with the joyous feeling of the day.  They are a really cool couple and they carried off with style the beautiful clash of dark purples, pillar-box reds and acid greens.

Gerberas, lisianthus, tulips, bright colours

Red gerberas for bridesmaids

I used a combination of gerberas, tulips, lisianthus and bupleurum  to create contemporary, summery bouquet for Hannah with red gerberas for all her bridesmaids and the buttonholes and corsages.  Adrian was happy to go for it with his buttonhole so he got the sexy dark lisianthus too.

Red gerberas, purple lisianthus, bupleurum, bright buttonhole

The reception was held at St. Dunstan’s College in South London which has a large and very grand hall.  Hannah organised the arrangements for the tables but I sorted out the quantities and purchase of flowers from New Covent Garden Market to ensure that the quality was good and costs were kept down.  There are lots of ways of keeping to a budget (something Stemgirl is a bit fanatical about) and this is a nice example of florist and client collaborating to make things work.  Here’s what Hannah has to say about Stem:

“Ruth was a joy to work with, from the first meeting when she welcomed us into her home to her smiling face as she handed over the bouquet on the wedding morning. The flowers were gorgeous, she chose perfectly for a us as we had no idea of all the varities on offer, one of the best things was during the consultation being shown in a book what flowers she was thinking of. The final result was even better than we expected and looking back at the photos they match perfectly with our bright colourful day!”  Thank you, Hannah!

And very well done to you both!

 

Hannah and Adrian happy wedding bright flowers

Thank you to Rachael Emily Photography for letting me use her fantastic, vibrant photos.  They really capture the  joyous vibe of the day.

Stem’s in print again…

Take a look at the September/October issue of Wedding Flowers Magazine and you’ll see some of our gorgeous flowers.  Hooray!

As the photoshoot took place at the very beginning of the summer, I made full use of the fabulous English flowers and foliage – Sarah Bernhardt peonies and Sweet Williams from John Austins and sorbus from GB Foliage.  The rambling rose was foraged in West Norwood!