Tag Archives: South London

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

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.

A grand affair at Addington Palace

Grand Prix, Amnesia and Piano rose bouquet for Addington Palace

Photo by Kirsten Mavric

Enormous congratulations to Hannah and Alwyn who got married at St Mary’s Church in Hayes and then moved on the the fabulous Addington Palace for the post-nuptial celebrations.  Hannah made really bold choices with the colours she went for and Stemgirl reckons the sumptuous combination of lilacy-grey Amnesia and velvety red Grand Prix and Piano roses are completely fabulous!

Amnesia, Grand Prix and Piano rose bouquet

Photo by Kirsten Mavric

 

 

 

 

Gypsophila pew end Addington Palace

Photo by Kirsten Mavric

Grand prix bridesmaids' bouquets

Photo by Kirsten Mavric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Addington Palace is one of those venues that really does take your breath away! When I first visited it, I think I uttered a selection of ooohs and aaaahs that made me sound a bit silly after a while.  But it is truly, spectacularly grand!  The tables were laid out under an enormous, ornate chandelier that looks like something out of Versailles so the table centres had to live up to their surroundings.  Stem nailed it with a mixture of tall and short martini glass vases overflowing with vintagey red and lilac roses with splashes of off-white lisianthus and silvery-grey eucalpytus.

Martini glass vase table centre

 

Abundant Top Table decoration featuring Amnesia and Grand Prix roses

Short martini glass vase with Grand Prix and Amnesia roses, white lisianthus, Granada alstromeria and eucalyptusTall and short martini glass vase table centres

 

Sumptous Top Table decoration

A massive thank you to Kirsten Mavric for the use of her fabulous photographs in this blog.

Photo by Kirsten Mavric

Photo by Kirsten Mavric

And thanks, too, to Serge for the ones he took.

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 in glorious colour

March/April 2014 Wedding Flowers Magazine

Stemgirl is very proud to have a double page spread in the March/April issue of Wedding Flowers and Accessories Magazine.  It’s a fabulous publication that is packed full of ideas for stunning flowers as well as all sorts of fun and interesting bits and pieces to beautify your wedding with.  Grab it while you can!

stem flowers londonI really enjoyed putting together this riotous collection of flowers.  And found an excuse to go mad with my glue gun on those cool chalk-board place settings (they have a tiny peg attached to the back) and my vintagey sequinned headband.  All a bit bohemian, jewel-inspired.  I was put a little in mind of Ellen Terry or Vita Sackville-West….

Belair House Wedding Fair 16 March 2014

Love heart for Belair House

Stemgirl is very excited to be involved in a very special wedding fair event at Belair House in beautiful Dulwich.  It’s on the Sunday 16 March and it’s a chance to see this gorgeous venue, sample cocktails, listen to live music and generally have a lovely time!  More details to follow but save the date and come and say hello…..

all change at beauberry house

As you will know, stemgirl really loves working at Beauberry House in Dulwich.  Many happy events there have been made even more gorgeous with Stem’s flowers!  So it was a bit of a shock to find out that the venue had been sold and the team we know so well were moving out.  I have to say that stemgirl was in a bit of a panic….

 Beauberry House

…..until I arrived and met Nick, the new General Manager, and found out that this is fabulous news for the venue itself and also for the community around it.  Firstly, they have returned the house to its proper name – Belair House.  Secondly, the building is being fully refurbished to breathe some life back into it’s bones.  The restaurant, serving good, seasonal British food, will open throughout the week for lunch and dinner as well as brunch over the weekend and roasts on Sundays.  And there’s going to be a rather lovely cocktail bar too.

And thirdly, fabulous weddings and parties will still be a really important part of life there. 

So, all is well and the panic is over!  And stemgirl is really looking forward to bringing some Stem Flowers magic to many more weddings and civil partnerships and parties there.  Oh, and did I mention the cocktails?