Bridal bouquets

I hate to waste blooms and had a few spares left over from this weekend's wedding, so I put together a couple of bouquets. The roses were quite blown but its a shame not to do something with them.  As I've said before I love a bit of rustic and have been keen to use berries in bouquets for a while so thought I would experiment by combining them with Avalanche, and ivory spray roses. I also used a few Ornithogalum which I love for their tiny little black centred blooms. With whites and creams its a classic combination with a country feel.  A collar of ivy would look lovely too.

Then I remembered I had a vase of Craspedia, that have been cheering up my kitchen window sill for the last month (the colour and shape hold for for ages, even if the stems go a bit manky!) Their sunny yellow  hues added a fresh zestyness to the bouquet and brought out the cream in the Roses.  They'd work really well with the yellow and grey colour themes seen all over the net lately.

Which do you prefer?

Village Fete - Wedding Flowers

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending a Village Fete themed wedding in the beautiful village of Duncton in West Sussex.

I was honoured to be asked to arrange the flowers and in keeping with the informal theme I filled jam jars with sweet peas, cornflowers, love in the mist, astrantia, stocks and ranunculus.

To complement the hand made bunting strung around the venue, I used the same fabric as a centrepiece, wrapped some around jars, and ever resourceful, used scraps to make mini bunting for others.

The bouquets were a mixture of Sweet Avalanche and a new rose to me, Miss Piggy which is a vibrant pink with an orange hue that perfectly matched the Bridesmaids dresses. These were all set off with Hydrangea, Ranunculus and Astrantia, and wrapped in bowed Aspidistra leaves.

The happy couple, with the groom rather taken with a Bridesmaids bouquet! (For some reason this brings to mind Blackadder's Baldrick in a dress - think it could be the beard!!)

After a beautiful ceremony set against the backdrop of the South Downs, the wedding party were treated to maypole dancing, croquet on the lawn, a cocount shy, and a tombola before feasting on cup cakes and french fancies. A perfect afternoon and a perfect couple.

Vintage - A rose by any other name

Another contender for my favourite flower, or my favourite rose at least, is this beautiful rose called Amnesia. Its dusky antique pink is such a perfect colour for vintage style weddings. It works really well with the antique laces, and bridesmaid dresses in mocha and chocolate that have been popular with some of our brides at Ashley Blooms.

Sweet Avalanche, above, is also a personal favourite. Its a beautiful large headed rose, with a lovely shape and delicate blush pink hue. This shot doesn't really capture just how lovely they are so will try to get a better snap on here sometime soon.

And lastly Blue Curiosa. This large headed rose has blue tones that would work really well with purples. It opens quite quickly, with centres reminiscent of garden roses and not dissimilar to the David Austin roses that have been so popular over the last few years.

Before becoming a florist I wasn't really struck on roses, but nowadays I love them more and more, with waxflower, eucalyptus, hydrangea or just on their own.