Modern mid century wedding flowers with pampas grass cloud

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When Laura came to me with her original concept of a modern twist on 1970’s style, I was very excited to be part of the collaboration. Since I was very little and staying with my wonderful grandparents, I loved the bold wallpapers and unique carpets they had in their home. My Nan, who is the namesake of my business, had a penchant for large floral wallpaper including browns and turquoises which I remember very well growing up!

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This vintage wallpaper was a more ‘tasteful’ version of my Grandparents bedroom choices

Laura worked tirelessly to deliver her idea. She created a wooden backdrop and sourced a variety of very cool vintage wallpapers. Using eBay she found the teak tables and sideboards which were just perfect for the theme. She also found the gabion baskets and mesh which flanked either side of the reception and the ceremony area. After seeing lots of inspiration images of these on Pinterest, I was excited to create my own version.

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Gorgeous deep colours and soft peaks of pampas

As the mood-board and colour scheme developed, I began researching in-season flowers which fitted in with the designs. I was luck as this shoot took place in the autumn, my favourite time for flowers of the year. There are so many burnt oranges, plums and burgundy flowers available at the market so I had a lot to choose from. I opted for dahlias, spider chrysanthemums, amaranthus, anthuriums, calla lilies, toffee roses and lots of pampas grass – a 70’s favourite!

The bridal bouquet was probably my favourite bouquet to date. I create most of my bouquets the evening before as I’m normally up very early on the day of the wedding or shoot to get started! Sometimes it can be a struggle to create bouquets exactly as they are in my mind and I can often end up starting again with them to ensure I’m totally happy. This bouquet came together like a dream, even though I had worried about it for a while! I wanted to use a king protea and a monstera (cheese plant) leaf in a bouquet for a long time but as they’re such large flowers, it needs to be a big bouquet.

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Beautiful deep florals and rich textures in the bridal bouquet

For the grooms buttonhole, I chose to use an anthurium. Anthuriums were a very popular house plant in the 70’s and are coming back into fashion available in bright reds through to pastel pinks. With a little sprig of greenery it made the perfect, unique boutonnière.

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An anthurium buttonhole finished the grooms look perfectly

The venue was The Barn at Avington, a really unique venue which offers an amazing blank canvas for creative couples. I love this venue as it has such a big space to work in and lots of beams for me to be able to hang things from! I have previously worked there on a shoot where we hung a floral chandelier over a long table with a rich greenery runner. [link to Coco Lane]. After I arrived, I began unpacking and starting to put together the pampas grass cloud which was to hang over the ceremony area. To create the cloud we used a chicken wire base filled with feathery pampas, Livingstone ferns and palm leaves. I had dried all of these elements at home just by hanging them upside down in a warm area with good circulation. I’m experimenting with dried flowers and this first attempt went quite well!

When the gabion baskets (the black cages and mesh) arrived, I began bunching the florals together and attaching them to the flanking sides of the reception area. I also added some of the dried flowers I had been drying for added texture and interest. To attach to the mesh I used re-usable cable ties. They are one of my favourite eco-friendly finds and I use them again and again. Cable ties are used a lot in floral installations but often just cut and discarded at the end so I was delighted to find a reusable version. Although not pre-planned once we saw the baskets, we realised that it would look amazing if we added some florals inside, with fronds ad greenery poking through the cage. This formed a brilliant stand for the gorgeous cake.

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Pampas grass cloud hanging over caged florals. Just a dream.

The cake was created by Holly Clarke Cake Design and was really unique and beautiful. The white icing had a ‘ripped’ texture and one of the tiers was a little glass house for some flowers. Together we chose some of the flowers which best reflected the colours and tones from the shoot and Holly placed them on the cake, carefully covered by the glass and with another tier on top. It was very effective and gave another unusual dimension to the cake which matched the theme perfectly.

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Holly’s beautiful cake has an ‘invisible’ tier which we filled with fresh florals

Another unique element to the shoot was the camper van! When Laura mentioned there was a camper van coming into the barn I was quite shocked! But the space in the Barn is so flexible, it worked perfectly. When Caitlin turned up, we all formed a line, moving hessian in front of the wheels to try and protect the floor as the vintage camper made its way in. The back of the van is adapted to be a photo booth area where our bride and groom tried on props and hats for some super fun photos – such a great idea for guests and totally worked with the theme of the day.

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The Camper Booth was an awesome addition, lots of selfie fun!

One of the highlights of the shoot was Meg the dog, owned by [name] Venue Manager of the Barn and was definitely a model in a former life. She knew exactly where to sit and stand to look fabulous and when she came and sat with our bride at the reception table, everyone’s hearts melted.

Meg the lab being totally fabulous

We also created a sideboard which I decorated with vintage glass vases and gorgeous flowers to go alongside the food styled by Laura. As an awesome extra, [name] from [company] created the most perfect gingerbread clock for the top of the sideboard, it looked so real and the colour was so perfect with the flowers! A couple of my favourite possessions also made it in to the shoot! I have an old camera which unfortunately doesn’t work but still looks fabulous and an old Robert Radio my aunt gave me from the 1960’s which still works and I listen to every day! It requires special batteries and I can only get 2 stations (one in French and Radio 4) but it’s just one of my favourite things.

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Beautiful gingerbread clock with cameo of my vintage camera and radio

Thanks to Laura’s exceptionally unique idea, brilliant execution and capturing of the day, this shoot was picked up by Wonderful Whimsical Weddings, a fabulous blog which features unique and unusual weddings.