Jen’s Blog

Held at the end of September last year, Claire and Duncan’s wedding was a small and intimate affair, but certainly not lacking in style! 1940s Hollywood glam was the order of the day, with the celebrations beginning at Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum (now a superb new wedding ceremony location) and continuing at Hotel Miramar on the cliff-top in Bournemouth.

Claire had a very clear idea about the look she wanted for the flowers, but wasn’t sure how to achieve it. In her own words, they needed to be “not too structured, not too white, not too many compact roses, a bit of texture and some berries”. Luckily, that told me all I really needed to know and I knew we’d get on.

The bouquets included hydrageas, some (not too compact) roses, chrysanthemums, carnations (yes, they’re cool again folks!) and foliage including gorgeous furry silver senecio.

When Azar first got in touch and talked about her tastes and choices for her wedding, it was obvious it was going to be a very stylish day. The couple were planning everything from all the way over in Australia where they live (no easy task!), but I was impressed with everything they’d organised so far. And basically, I was sold as soon as antlers and a birch-pole arbour were mentioned…

The venue for the whole day, Axnoller, is a relatively new addition to the Dorset wedding scene, and was seriously wow-ing couples, guests and suppliers alike all season long. It’s beautifully renovated and a great place to take over for a entire weekend. And the marquee there is just the sort I love- Indian raj tent style!

The main event took place outside on the terrace, under a stunning arch that Azar and Dillan commissioned for the occasion. Azar’s mum trained as a celebrant in order to perform the ceremony, so it was incredibly personal; the setting and weather just put the icing on the (wedding) cake.

This was a special one for me, as Dan and Cat are lovely friends of ours. I get quite nervous making flowers for people I know (not sure why!), but Cat had a really clear idea of what she wanted style-wise and I loved it all. I’m gonna call it ‘nerd-styling’ and hope they don’t mind that label… I honestly mean it in the most positive way, since I’m a total nerd also 😉

So here’s the lowdown: The vows bit took place at Ringwood Meeting House… it was actually the first wedding ceremony to take place there for decades. The colour scheme for the whole day was inspired by the duck-egg blue interior woodwork of the building, so we went for blue hydrangeas mixed with vintage roses, dahlias and gypsophila. Everything else had a 1950s-ish, ditzy printed vibe, with some awesome comic-book/graphic novel stuff thrown in (see table names), and Dan arrived in a brilliant replica DeLorean from Back to the Future! In fact, the whole thing felt like it could have been in that film (which I LOVED since it’s my all-time fave), even the old-court-housey feel of the ceremony venue.

Here’s some of their stationery and stuff to give you an idea. Not my work, but it’s worth sharing since it’s so blimmin’ beaut:

When Maura emailed me to ask about flowers for their Christmas do, I was pretty excited. I love this time of year and the venue, Mortons House Hotel in Corfe Castle, is really cosy; great for a winter wedding.

The order of the day was red, with a touch of white, lots of texture and a sophisticated but rustic festive look. I was happy to oblige, with gorgeous velvety roses, mini gerberas, hypericum berries and seasonal garden foliages. Here’s a few pics of the bridal party flowers and registrar’s table arrangement…

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I met Bryony and Craig at a wedding exhibition, where they fell in love with my hand-blown glass tequila bottles full of flowers… as it happened, that very thing suited the style of their big day perfectly, as they were looking for a rustic yet elegant look, with flowers arranged in a casual, ‘just-picked’ fashion.

I was given free-rein with the flowers I could use, so I picked out a variety of english-style garden flowers in shades of ivory, pink and blue, with scented phlox, dried lavender and other blooms to complement.

The bridal bouquet was bound with hessian and lace, matching the other decorations for the whole wedding. The flowers were loose and informal, providing a nice contrast to her classic gown (sorry, didn’t manage to get a pic of that, but Bryony was a vision of Audrey Hepburn-esque sophistication).

The bridesmaids carried not-too-neat mounds of white gypsophila for a simple look, complementing their silver-grey lace dresses. I loved the mix of silver tones, lace and hessian- not a combo I’ve done before, but it worked really nicely.