Sam was absolutely clear about her vision from the moment we started chatting in the first consultation. She wanted just greenery – no flowers for their wedding at The Mill at Elstead in Surrey. A beautiful old water wheel still turns at this venue surrounded by water and gorgeous views. The venue has lots of original wooden beams which Sam and Josh wanted to make a feature, for their wedding.
Sam showed me a picture of her dress which absolutely wowed me. I love an alternative wedding dress – an unusual colour (or sometimes not a dress at all!) and her rose gold sequinned choice from Alice Temperley really was stunning.
Although, as a florist, flowers are usually my paints, bringing colour, texture and shape through my designs – foliage is often a big component of my overall creations. A greenery only design pushes this to the max though. A mono-colour design can be a challenge in that they can appear flat and dull if there isn’t enough variety within the arrangement. To combat this, we need to use a lot of different types of green – in fact, we used over 20 varieties for Sam and Josh’s wedding! From gorgoeus conifer for a yellowy green to eucalyptus for those blue tones and soft leaves (and let’s not forget that amazing scent) through to ferns for their jagged leaves and palms for a deep dark green. Not a single person who came into the room as I was setting up failed to mention how amazing it smelled. All the different greens had combined to create the freshest, most gorgeous scent which filled the room for the whole day.
I created over 50ft of greenery garland to decorate the ceremony room. We used most to create these gorgeous drapes wrapping around the wooden beams and bringing the outside into the venue. The rest lined the aisle, twisting and threading through candles giving Sam a beautiful aisle to walk down.
During photographs, after the ceremony I swept in to turn the rooms around. For the top table, I had created a design which ran along the front and cascaded down – this was repurposed and ran along the front of the top table for a very effective, flower-free design. We kept it simple for the rest of the tables with ruscus stems woven through the glasses and fairy-light gin bottles they had both created for decorations. The aisle decorations were woven through the banisters of the stairs in the dining room and bar for a luxurious feel for the rest of the evening.
Sam and Josh gave me such kind feedback on their wedding ‘flowers’ – they had kept the greenery from the cermeony/top table and put it on their mantlepiece where it had lasted a very long time! I was delighted they had so much more enjoyment from their wedding designs, even after the big day. I had included succulents in Sam’s bridal bouquet and top table design. I carefully removed them from their pot and kept the roots so that they could be repotted after the wedding as a lovely keepsake. Sam had already popped them back into soil so fingers crossed they thrive for years to come!
It was a delight to work with such a creative couple who really knew what they wanted from day 1. This is what they had to say about working with me:
“We want to say a big thank you for our wonderful wedding flowers – it went way beyond our expectations. From the beautiful scent of the greenery to the luscious beams and bouquets – it perfectly matched my vision of feeling earth and grounding. Thank you so so much” – Sam & Josh