What is your most memorable wedding?
The Gothic wedding where the Groomsmen all wore more eye make up in the style of the band KISS. The cake looked like Draculas castle and the flowers were all deep purple and black!
Describe your style in 5 adjectives.
Sumptuous, generous, English, classical,
What about your business are you most proud of?
Setting it up from scratch and having so many loyal customers, many of whom I am now privileged to count as friends.
What is your No. 1 wedding planning tip for couples?
Don't get obsessive about the details, it's most important to have a good time and relax. After all people will remember the fun and laughter more than the colour of the chair covers!
What is your favourite personal touch you have seen at a wedding?
A wedding newspaper with "articles" written about the couple. It included details of where and how they met, photos, stories by the parents and best wishes from friends. It was great as the guests could read it whilst waiting for the bride to arrive or whilst the photos were being taken. It was a useful ice breaker for the guests too.
Describe your typical process with a couple.
Firstly I like to check if we have the date of the wedding available, then I usually encourage the bride to email me a list of what she wants with a few pictures, including her dress if possible. Then I send her a rough guide to the price of what she's asked about. Once the bridesmaids and groomsmens outfits are finalised we can arrange a meeting.
In my experience Grooms are rarely at ease discussing flowers so its important to keep it lighthearted and straightforward, I like to hear their opinions as they usually know what they don't want! We may have another meeting to look at sample flower varieties and discuss substitution options, which is especially important with certain seasonal flower varieties.
Once we've got the basics sorted we usually do most of the fine details by email which acts as a better record than phone calls. A week or two before hand we generally like to check the timings, liaise with the venues and place the final flower orders.
Our intention is to make the couple feel that they can leave it to us to get the flowers right without the need to constantly check up. We are quite happy to answer queries from other members of the family (with the couples agreement) and have navigated through the potentially stormy waters of many a family difficulty.
What is the most interesting thing you have put in a bouquet?
Photographs of departed members of the brides family. We laminated the photos and put them on false stems and incorporated them into the brides bouquet, so she could see them and feel as if they were with her throughout the day.
Is there a flower that has specific symbolism that you would recommend for couples?
One that has been included in previous family bouquets
What is the most romantic flower and why?
Probably the Rose because it has such a history and the colours all have different meanings
What should you do with the flowers after the wedding?
Exactly what you want!
We've had Brides who have put their bouquets on a family grave, thrown them or sent them to a family member in hospital. Lots of Brides mums like to have their daughters bouquet preserved for them and we can recommend a service for this, alternatively they press one or two key flowers and turn them into a bookmark.