Tag Archives: stem flowers

a riot of colour

Dendrobiums, delphiniums, roses and mint

“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….

Bridesmaid's bouquet of Grand Prix and Milano roses with mint and bupleurum

Flower girl's bucket of dendrobium orchids, Grand Prix roses and bupleurum

 

 

 

 

 

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!

Colour-filled tableAn abundance of flowers for tablesAbundant table vases

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!

Olive tree with candy stripe ribbons with red and pink kalanchoes

pretty ammi

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.