Pastel Peony Wedding Flowers

It's almost peony season again and as I'm writing a few quotes for pastel weddings I thought I'd blog about another great wedding from last year. 

The lovely Joanne and Ewan tied the knot at Sloans in Glasgow city centre. Joanne's bouquet was a romantic pastel beauty full of soft tones and blousey blooms. I used peonies, scented stocks, white nigella (also known as "love in a mist", white alliums, astilbe and atrantia to create a gorgeous whispy hand tied bouquet.

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Another favourite ingredient used was blushing bride protea which had a gorgeous colour and soft curve to it. When I was researching blushing bride proteas I discovered that apparently French Huguenots farmers would approach their girlfriends with this flower in their lapels when about to ask for their hand in marriage. The name "blushing bride" derives from the fact that the suitor's intention was apparent to all who met him, much to the embarrassment of his bride to be. The deeper the pink colour the more serious the intentions of the suitor.

For a luxurious and ethereal twist I used hand died heirloom silk to finish the bouquets which was so light it caught the wind beautifully in her photos. I love using this delicate trailing material to finish bouquets and it's perfect for this style of wedding.

In Joanne's hair I made a pastel comb and her bridesmaids and flower girls had matching posies and flower wands. Ewan is a little allergic to flowers so I made a succulent based buttonhole which toned in really well with their muted colour palette - and of course I had to add some blushing bride too!

Photos by Zoe Alexandra Photography

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Mother's Day Flower Workshop

It's March at last, which means it almost spring, and my wedding season starts back up again. I'll try to keep these blog posts going but they may get a little less frequent.

March and daffodils go hand in hand, and the gorgeous yellow flowers always make me think of spring and Mother's Day. When I was little I always used to pick a bunch of daffs for mum on Mother's day and bring her tea and toast in bed and now whenever I see daffodils I remember this.

Being a crafty kind of person I've always loved making things for people, whether it's cards, knitted bits and bobs or baking, and Mother's Day seems like the perfect time to make something for the person who made you.

This year I'll be running a workshop on Mother's Day (March 26th, 10am - 12 noon) at For Fika Sake in Partick. We'll be taking inspiration from one of my all time flower heros Constance Spry, and using Scottish grown blooms to create wild and wonderful arrangements to celebrate the arrival of spring and, more importantly, mums.

No experience is necessary and you can either bring your mum if she'd like to have a go herself or come by yourself and give your mum your finished masterpiece.

I try where possible to be environmentally friendly so this will be an oasis foam free arrangement and will teach you flower care and tips that you can use again whenever you get flowers in the future to make them look great in your home.

Pre-booking is essential as space is limited. For more information or to book get in touch via the contact us form.

Marsala wedding 101 - Rosalind and Charly's chic city centre wedding

In 2015 Pantone's colour of the year was Marsala - a sort of burgundy, wine, oxblood tone - and since then I've had a lot of couples look to incorporate this beautiful rich tone into their wedding day. People often like to team it with blush pinks, rose golds and creams, and it is great colour to use if you are thinking of getting married in late summer or autumn.

Often people think that working in a "wild" or "natural" style of floristry means you can't do chic, contemporary or city weddings but last year I had the pleasure of working on Rosalind and Charly's super stylish Edinburgh wedding at the Balmoral.

Rosalind is a stylist and has a fantastic eye for detail, her dress was simple, elegant and chic with a fabulous scalloped edge neckline. She asked me to work in a burgundy / Marsala colour palette with pops of fresh white and eucalyptus to represent her time in Australia.

I used a mixture of Scottish grown flowers from the lovely Paula at Millpond Flower Farm, and imported dutch flowers. As it was an October wedding burgundy was a brilliant colour choice and we used some gorgeous rich dahlias to get the really dark dark wine colour in her bouquet along with amaranthus (which I always love using for its texture), blackberry scoop scabious, astrantia, garden roses, wax flower, eustoma and grasses. I loved the deep tones and different textures of her bouquet and although it was an all round design I still worked in loose and natural style letting the flowers showcase their beauty.

Charly had a buttonhole of succulents, thistle, wax flower and sedum to match in with Rosalind's Marsala bouquet.

We dressed the ceremony and reception rooms at the Balmoral in beautiful garlands of eucalyptus and autumn hydrangea, working with the muted tones of the room furnishings.

Photos by Crofts and Kowalczyk