A local North Devon wedding full of 100% British Flowers
As a Devon wedding florist I am fortunate to work in some of the most beautiful private homes creating florals for couples on the most special days of their lives, this wedding is no exception. I have the most stunning summer wedding flowers to share with you today, and one wedding that is even more special than usual because it consisted of 100% British blooms. The happy couple were married locally at Combe Martin church, and held they wedding reception at the groom’s parents home… it was the perfect English country garden wedding full of June’s finest seasonal blooms.
Our brief was natural, elegant, pretty and 100% British. A first for me, I worked alongside Pat from The Forgotten Garden, a local flower grower who helped me coordinate the various number of local growers needed to fulfil such a big wedding and was a constant support throughout the planning process. Our final planning meeting was actually held at Pat’s flower gardens so we could see the beautiful selection of flowers that would be available in the chosen colours, to give just a tiny taster of what was to come! This is a really unique and special experience for any couple, and truly adds to the building of excitement for their big day! I strive my best to use British where I can, but tend to use Dutch to top up too, so this wedding really did involve a lot of behind the scenes admin, securing the perfect blooms from lots of great suppliers. I would love to credit all involved and give thanks for their helping making this day one of the best!
Our bride chose a delicate and elegant palette of ivory with soft blush, the bouquets were to be designed in a contained, refined yet textured way and the bridal bouquet to be all ivory tones consisting of garden roses, with dainty smaller blooms such as astrantia and mollis. The bride’s dress was a stunning, full skirted look and so we wanted the bouquet to be a dainty, yet perfectly sized accompaniment. The bridesmaids carried similar style bouquets, yet I added in blush and pale pink to their bouquets, this ensured that the bouquet was the piece de resistance and stood out of course from all the rest! The boys wore classic tails so we created beautifully simple buttonholes of white cornflowers and foliage sprigs to compliment. Cornflowers are a very seasonal flower, and typically one would think of them in a true blue tone, however I adore the simplicity of the white and these fitted in so well with the bridal party blooms.
Dressing the church was super important to the couple, and on the morning of the wedding I arrived to the ushers raising a Devon flag to the church pole, a sign of a great wedding to come and a groom who was very proud of his Devon roots. It is these very personal touches that contribute to making each wedding so unique and special, and these moments that really fill me with great privilege to witness. I designed two fabulous urns overflowing with British blooms and foliage to sit at the Altar, I always recommend having focal flowers here, whether it is large statement vases of floral archways, dressing the ceremony is a crucial element and one that should not be overlooked. The entrance to the church was dressed with baskets of flowers and meadow flowers to welcome guests and provide a hint go what is to come! We stayed onsite throughout the day to remove the church flowers and repurpose back at the marquee at the house. A service we provide that means the flowers are enjoyed throughout the whole day.
Combe Martin church has a beautiful lychgate and our bride wanted this to be dressed with a beautiful, statement installation. June is the most wonderful time of year for flowers so the arrangement was overflowing with British roses, peonies, stocks and the most incredible foliage. Throughout the summer we have great access to Cornish foliage, such as birch, beech and pittosporum. By using such in seasonal foliage, it encourages the most natural look to the installations, natural yet elegant branches really do ensure that your wedding flowers are completely in keeping with the season and local area.
I was lucky enough to be able to use mock orange, amongst other delights, from Pat at this wedding, mock orange is one of my absolute favourite foliages to use. It is a lush green foliage with beautiful with large blossom style flowers, and one that smells amazing! The scent is indicative of an English country garden. The branches naturally curve and sweep so offer the most stunning movement to a design. Mock Orange has the most fleeting season, which means it is even more special to sue in a wedding… forever more each year when yo see mock orange in season, you will know that you had that at your wedding day! Pat always goes out of her way to provide me with the super special ingredients you just cannot get from a wholesaler. Big branches of mock orange, expertly cut and conditioned, carefully transported to the studio for me to lovingly use. That is the beauty of using local florists and suppliers together who work together and really know their stuff.
In the marquee from Hatch Marquees, I created a natural hanging installation full of British foliage and clusters of blooms, this sat above the circular bar and provided real impact for the marquee. The family arranged their own table flowers in beautiful glass votives, they did the most exquisite job and alongside styling from Laura Louise Hall Weddings who co-ordinated everything on the day. The marquee really did look a dream!
I would love to talk a bit about all the various British flower suppliers that I used for this wedding, to show what it takes to really flower a 100% British wedding. It was a really big effort admin side of coordinating flower orders, delivery days, ensuring I had the right quantities from each supplier, Pat was a great help throughout this stage too. British flowers are beautiful and second to none in their looks, but quite often I am not able to fully source reliable quantities. This is not a problem, it just requires a lot more behind the scenes work and coordination.
Clowance Flowers provided me with some beautiful Scottish peonies, scented stocks and cornflowers. Flowervison provided me with all of my gorgeous Cornish foliage, and British blooms from their cooperative of local florists. Harriet Sweetpeas and Sunflowers provided me with buckets of Larkspur, The Peony Farmer supplied me with beautiful white and blush peonies. I also had a driver travel up to Sarah at Compton Garden Flowers, down to Toria at Wildly Beautiful Flowers through to Nicola at The Flower Tree. This was an exceptional amount of effort, and I appreciate that questions around whether the cons of having someone drive a fairly long way to collect all the flowers outweigh the benefits of using 100% locally grown, this is another blog post topic all together! However, in this instance, yes I think it does, because my brief was to fulfil a wedding completely of locally grown blooms. Not only did I have to make sure we had enough flowers to fulfil my requirements, we had to supply the a large number of buckets for the table flowers also. Pat has a huge array of contacts and we were lucky enough to be able to source some local stunning roses from the most beautiful garden, I find it so lovely that lots of these wedding flowers week grown so very close to the couples family home.. so special.
If you are looking for british flowers to feature in your wedding then getting married in the summer months is a must, the growing season tends to start around April through to September and of course is weather dependent. I cannot tell you how much I love my job, being able to provide couples with beautiful flowers on one of the most special days of their lives is a tremendous privilege and one that I will never take for granted. It is even more special to work with so many amazing growers who equally love their jobs too, they are all putting their heart and soul into growing their flowers, which in turn get moved onto me to be able to work my magic. The amount of love, attention, thought, and yes unfortunately occasional stress (which is inevitable when running your own business!!) that goes into growing flowers is unrivalled. The outcome though is just so worth it, and knowing how many people have contributed into making Sarah and Barney’s wedding flowers so special is such a satisfying feeling.
Sending all the love and congratulations to the hoppy couple and I am so grateful to them for allowing me to share a snippet of their big day. Thanks also to all the other super talented suppliers involved. Particularly the photographer Bizzy Arnott. If you are getting married in the South West and looking for wedding flowers I would love to hear about your plans in more detail! You can set up a consultation here and view more real life weddings over on my portfolio.