Jo and Nuzrul tied the knot at The Elephant Hotel in Pangbourne back in late October. I have to admit, its one of my favourite times of year for wedding flowers. All the gorgeous early autumn berries are still around and the winter foliage is just making its first appearance. Arrange all the gorgeous greens with dusky roses, deeper red dahlias, berried and for me, you have the perfect late autumn bouquet.
Jo's bouquet may well be one of my favourites of the year, I love the little splattering of rosehips!
Adding more depth and tying in Nuzrul's burgundy tie, the table centres had punchy red dahlias entwined within the Amnesia roses and foliage. The thing that sums up autumn flowers for me is all the beautiful textures from the foliage. In the table centres we used dusty millar which has the most splendid leaf formation, texture and colour. Its already big news in the wedding flower world and combined beautifully with every tone.
Simple hand-tied bouquets were placed within vases for the table centres. Although I love elaborate table centres from a creative stance, I have to say these practical arrangements are gorgeous, and your guests can take home a beautiful bouquet to enjoy whilst your on honeymoon.
Trend alert! If your planning your wedding over the next few months you'd be mad not to consider peach and gold as your colour theme. It is going to be 2014's biggest wedding trend, with glitzy cakes, lots of sequins and beautiful blown English grown roses.
For me gold and peach is a more grown up version of the vintage vibe thats been growing in popularity and shows no signs of stopping. Golds bring a touch of classic 1940's Hollywood glamour to the occasion and peach has had a refresh too, forget 1980's blancmange tones, were taking soft nudes, deeper oranges and cerise pink tones.
You don't have to go all out and wear a gold sequinned wedding dress (although this is a look I'm totally thinking about for my wedding!) you can achieve the look subtly. Add some gold to your cake, or one of my favourite ways to achieve subtle colour is by tying your flowers with beautiful ribbons. This is expertly demonstrated in images 3 and 4 above by Calie Rose. Such a simple idea, and with gorgeous trailing gold ribbons your flowers have beautiful movement. In my experience men try to avoid the glitz and glam, but I love the buttonhole detailing in image 4, its subtle enough so you don't have to worry about the Christmas cracker look.
Have you fallen for peach and gold as much as we have?
Wedding invitations have to be one of my favourite things to look at on Pinterest. I'm literally addicted to it, there are so many gorgeous ideas! So how do you go about choosing the right stationary for your big day? I always think the invite sets the tone for your guests, as well as all the important information(day, date, venue etc!), it gives them little clues to the vibe of your day.
We're thinking long and hard about the scene that we want to set with our invites, relaxed garden setting with a few unexpected surprises ... and ... NOTHING FORMAL! I adore letterpress stationary and I'm big into lino printing at the moment (think posh potato stamps) and some sort of kraft paper is an absolute must.
Here are my current top 3 inspirational pictures
So I'm pretty head over heels with this invitation bundle. Gorgeous kraft paper envelope with the collection of coloured cards making it easy for your guests to take in each bit of information. I didn't think I was a fan of black paper, but in this context it works wonderfully.
I think you'll agree, this stunningly simple invitation packs some punches on the design front. The elongated design really caught my eye and I love the bold monochrome print and a cute monogram. Combine all of that with a custom designed by Lauren font for the couple and its a winner! How awesome!
Peach ... blue ... rounded corners. Need I say more!
Like I said there is heaps of inspiration out there so get looking, and pinning.
Follow us on Pinterest to see more stationary ideas and general craft/wedding loveliness!
Thank you for all of your support during 2013, we've had an absolute ball! Happy New Year to you all, we hope you have a good one! We're all ready looking forward to what 2014 has in store.
TTFN xx
The change in each season is possibly my favourite time of the year. I love snuggling up when the weather changes from summer to autumn, the longing for the sunshine when spring changes to summer. Whats not to love.
Autumn is all about texture and deep jewel colourways.
Seeded grasses, mixed with berries, ivy mixed with rose hips, lovely cotton buds nuzzling along side soft sage green dusty millar. The combinations are endless and, for me, foliage forms the basis of any autumnal arrangement.
I also love the colour combinations, there is still a hangover from the soft pastle tones of summer but combined with deep purples, cerise pinks and clusters of oranges these take on a new, moody look. Can flowers be described as moody?
Knitted pots are our new beau! fill them with frilly cyclamen or ferns for a shot of rich autumn colour.
We're getting our festive sparkle on! Come and join us for one of our Christmas flower schools in December.
Christmas Wreath Course £55.00 per person
Friday 13th December 2013 19:30 - 21:30
Monday 16th December 2013 19:30 - 21:30
Tuesday 17th December 2013 19:30 - 21:30
The perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit. Our Christmas door wreath class provides you with all the know-how and materials to make your own stunning festive fresh floral decoration for your door. Suitable for all abilities, this course is limited to 6 places. The price includes all flowers and sundries, a glass of mulled wine and minced pies. Please book in advance as places are limited.
Book online www.greenparlour.com
Call today 0118 984 4000
I can't wait to share some of the gorgeous images from Becky and Jo's big day at Ufton Court. With my favourite colour scheme of the moment ... peach, white, sage green and hints of soft grey. The arrangements are filled with some of my favourite flowers including Bombastic spray roses, dahlias and ... dare I say it ... peach carnations!
Becky's bouquet was filled to the brim with berried eucalyptus, white dahlias, scented sweet peas, blush Bombastic spray roses, succulents, Majolika spray roses, Apple Tea carnations and softly scented wax flower. I have to admit its one of my favourite bouquets of the season, the soft peach tones are subtle enough to provide a slightly warm blush to the whites. More carnations please!
Wearing nude dresses, the bridesmaids bouquets were a smaller version of Becky's bouquet, with those utterly wonderful dahlias taking centre stage.
I've preached and preached about how much I love adventurous buttonholes and Jo's buttonhole completely sums my rants. Gorgeous soft silver tones from the succulents are complimented with the sweetly scented waxflower and dusty millar.
Becky and Jo's big day took place at Ufton Court, I know I shouldn't have favourites but its an amazing venue, with amazing staff where nothing is too much trouble. You can completely personalise the space and we've seen it transformed from seas of rustic sunflowers to elegant silver flute vases.
Becky chose these wonderful silver flute vases filled with flowers to compliment the bridal party but still keeping the wild country garden feel that works so well at Ufton Court. We also opted to team these tall arrangements with some little flower displays around the base with silver tea light pumpkin vases completing the look.
The cake was amazing, with gorgeous iced bee's and delicate lace flowers adorning all 3 layers. The simple rustic circlet around the base of the cake is a great way to add floral decoration to a cake with such intricate detail.
Men, weddings and flowers.
There may be a few sweeping statements in this little blog post, and I know there are always a few occasions where people buck the trend, but generally men have little say in wedding flowers. I also know for most men its not always the most exciting topic when it comes to planning a wedding - food, yup I get that, drinks, suits, games, ties, table plans ... generally flowers come some way down their list. I'm not complaining, but I do like it when a groom wants to step away from the traditional rose buttonhole. I also love it when a groom says to hell with the bridal flowers, I want something unique thats going to match my suit ... so there!
Buttonhole inspiration is something we get asked about a lot, so we thought we'd take a few snaps of some more manly buttonholes to give you that lightbulb moment. I love all of the below for their texture, the fact that they are not too floral, and most importantly they are not massive!
Remember boys ... buttonholes don't have to be boring, they don't have to be floral and they certainly don't have to match everything else.
Our top 10 summer flowers - the floral equivalent to our summer soundtrack at Green Parlour.
We are completely spoilt at this time of year, so many gorgeous blooms available and so many delicious varieties. Although my heart lies in Spring, I have to admit my heart flutters slightly when I start to think about vases filled with delphiniums, the scent of flowering mint!
Each of the above flowers has a special place in my heart. I know there are a few marmite flowers on there, dahlias in particular seem to have a bad rep, but I cant understand how people don't fall for them in all there multicoloured glory. I'll have them over sunflowers any day of the week.
Scabious and later on in the season their gorgeous seed pod heads, are perfect for a summer wedding with a country vibe. Fill a jug with seeded grass and scabiosa for a lovely addition to your table.
Hydrangeas with their brash bold heads work perfectly in a vase on their own. I may even go as far to say that they are my favourite flower of all time. A bold statement from a florist!
I love the simplicity of the glass cylinder vase, perfect for a pretty hand tied arrangement of flowers. Everyone gets worried about arranging in vases, we can arrange a bouquet in any vase you have lying about the house. Pop one into the shop for some expert advise on what would bring your vase to life.
Whats your favourite summer flower?
xx
