An Autumn Wedding in Green and White

Usually, I am approached about wedding flowers two or three months before The Big Day. The dresses are chosen, the venues are booked, the theme has been selected, and now attention can turn to the type and colour of flowers.

The last couple of months has been unusual, in that 2 couples have come to discuss their flowers over a YEAR in advance ! Talk about organised ! I can't really be too much help, apart from giving them some hints about what they should take into consideration, showing them some flowers and colours, and giving them a ballpark figure for their budget.

At the other end of the spectrum, Brian and Brooke came to see me just 3 weeks in advance. Nearly all decisions had been made, and they had a pretty good idea of what they wanted - at least, an overall feel.

The flowers arrive !

The brief was:

• natural looking table arrangements and bouquets
• in green and white
• some texture.

The wedding ceremony was taking place at Siglo, on a sort of rooftop bar, half-covered to provide at least some shelter.

These were the little 'rustic' pots we had on the cocktail tables.

The reception was at Alto, which is the top floor of the GPO. Quite different in style and mood, we used similar flowers, but in a more elegant presentation. We had some long, white ceramic containers...

and between them, some arrangements on pewter-coloured cake stands, providing some height.

We were able to move the rustic pots to the reception, and placed a couple of them on the bar, next to some taller arrangements...

Brooke and her six bridesmaids had very similar posies, except that Brooke's had some dirty pink roses, called Inner Secret, which hinted at  the colour of the sash on her dress.



I can't wait to see some of Brian and Brooke's official photos. Thank you for allowing me to be part of your wedding celebrations !

Floral Handbags - IWD

I was asked to do some table centres for a favourite client who was celebrating International Women's Day, yesterday, with a cocktail party.

The IWD colours are green, white and purple: white for purity in public as well as private life; purple for justice, dignity, self-reverence and self-respect (and representing the women's vote) ; green for hope and new life. Apparently there is some debate about the use and meaning/concept of the word 'purity' - I would be interested in learning more, if you can help me here.

I wanted to do something a bit different, as the tables which they had to adorn were very large, and unfortunately the flower budget was not to scale. The theme was 'Planning', which in these modern e-times, does not give you much to play with as props ... no more diaries, desk calendars, or paper charts.

I decided to try using handbags as containers. I found a couple at the local Opportunity Shop, lined them and made then waterproof with plastic bags (recycled) and this is how they turned out...




The one on the left is actually made of tin, but was in the shape
of a shopping bag.

(The photos don't really do them justice. I didn't have time to take photos before I delivered them).

It was good fun doing them, and creating something totally different from my usual style.

I originally had the idea that they could be taken home afterwards, but I had to weight them considerably so that they wouldn't topple over.

Might work on the idea though !

My First Competition

Earlier this month, I decided that I would try my hand at competitions. Not quite sure why, as I'm not really a competitive type, but I thought I'd have a go.

I entered one where I had to use one of 3 products from a supplier called Apack, the sponsors of the competition, and selected a heart-shaped 'posy-holder' made out of sisal. Usually, the florist would icorporate a posy of flowers in the centre.


The one in the photo is pink, but I used a red one, because the theme of the competition was celebrating a 40th Wedding Anniversary, or vow renewal, and the traditional stone for 40 years is a ruby.

I decided to make a table arrangement, and to put either a candle or a bottle of champagne in the centre.


I covered the heart shape with flowers that included roses, ranunculas, bottlebrush, sedum, rose hips and buds, Singapore and oncidium orchids, and various little leaves.


It certainly looked very romantic. Imagine the delighted surprise of a woman being led to a table for two in a chic restaurant, to discover this thoughtful gift awaiting her ! Of course, you don't have to wait for a 40th anniversary: red+ heart+ candle + flowers= romance. What about Valentine's Day !

The competition closed on October 14, and will be judged from photos on-line. You can look at the other entries at /www.flowergoss.com/forum/thread/apack-flowergoss-online-cup-competition-2011-upload-photo-to-win-500-apack-voucher#2810

Once the winner has been announced, there will be a "People's Choice" award. I'll keep you posted !

Imbolc: ask for inspiration.

I can't believe that the last 'celebration' was autumn... and now we're nearly through winter ! Today in Melbourne, you could be forgiven for thinking that it is high summer . It's 22 deg. celsius outside !

This conveniently brings me to my thoughts of the week....

On August 1, here in the southern hemisphere, the celebration of Imbolc took place...Imbolc, the festival of early spring, when the earth begins to stir... when signs of life are apparent to those who care to take notice... when the goddess returns. (Note: when I first planned my flower shop, I wanted to call it 'Persephone', but I thought it would be too hard having to spell it all the time ! I must say 'Calypso' isn't that much easier. See website www.calypsoflowers.com.au for origin).

This is a time to choose what you really want to do this year, to think about this, and to make preparations whilst the pace of life is still winter-slow and you don't have to rush into things.

In the northern hemisphere, where the festival takes place on February 1, the special flower which symbolises the new almost-beginning is the snowdrop. I remember the joy of finding them as a child in England. I'm not sure what the Australian equivalent would be ?

In my garden, with the last few days which have been so mild, my sweet pea seedlings (grown from seed) have shot up 2 inches, my lettuce seedlings are almost ready to nibble, and the mint is re-establishing its dominance in the mint corner. The oranges are still growing - we try one every week to see if they are sweet enough to eat. (This week, they are sweeter than lemons, but still not yet ready).


At work, I am starting to talk to brides about their spring weddings, and I have started to collate ideas for table centres and bouquets, everything from peonies to forest glades !

This was an experiment for a table centre combining a silver birch log with a bowl of flowers. I just used the flowers that I had available, but it would be beautiful with ....well, with just about anything , really!

Back to my spring planning...

Rainy Day Wedding

Torrential rain had been forecast for the day of Rebecca's wedding. And torrential it was !

It was about a 45 minute drive into the country, to Yering Station winery, and on the freeway we were barely able to see the car in front of us. Poor things ! At least they had the option of having the ceremony totally undercover in a renovated barn.






The team were still setting the tables for the reception when we had finished our part, and so I don't have a photo of the finished tables, but I'm told they looked fantastic, with her hand- embroidered lavender bags, place names tied to linen serviettes with a sprig of lavender and raffia, and little vases of dried lavender too.

I do have photos of the rain (!), of the finished candles, and of her L..O..V..E.. mugs, filled with 'country bunches' in the theme colours of lavender and white, which were to grace the bar.

I'm told that once everyone had arrived and was inside, everyone had a great time. Can't wait to see her photos !

Rebecca's Candles

Earlier this year, I was approached by Rebecca to do the flowers for her wedding. I had done her sister's flowers a couple of years ago, and I was thrilled to be asked again. Rebecca's theme was lavender, and the wedding was to be held at a winery, so she wanted to incorporate those country elements in the design. Can you believe that she was hand embroidering 22 lavender bags - using no less than 3 shades of purple - to give to the female guests? It didn't take much to work out that she had a very keen eye for detail !!

I made a sample candle decoration. The candle was 20cm high, and had a woven structure around it, like a very small tray, upon which we could place the elements that she wanted: lavender, lichen-covered twigs, freesias (which would feature in her posy), grapes, and anything else that might take our fancy.

The sample one had Singapore orchids, grapes and lavender.

To make it I heated on the stove, short pieces of wire which I then embedded into the candle. Note: use pliers, the wire gets a bit hot. You need to have an odd number - there were 17 'spokes' in mine.

Then I wound long pieces of raffia under and over the spokes to the required radius of the base. I had found some purpley-grey cake stands onto which I was going to place the finished article, and they were about 20cm in diameter. I roughly joined the raffia pieces with a knot and left the ends loose, so that later I could tie the flowers and twigs to the base. I also didn't want it to look too sleek.

When it was wide enough, I tied the various bits and pieces on to the base, and then trimmed the ends. I finished the ends of the wire by slipping on a lavender bead, and then bending over the end of the wire to avoid any unfortunate finger piercings and subsequent tetanus shots at the reception.

The major change from Mark I candle was to use a taller cake stand, and make the raffia base at the bottom of the candle, rather than a couple of centimetres from the bottom.

I was really pleased with the result, and thought that it would make a great Christmas decoration, especially with some sparkly ribbon, or red raffia wound through. If you use the raffia base that is a bit higher, i.e Mark I, you could place the candle in a shallow bowl, and then poke real flowers through the base, so that they can drink water from the bowl.

Good idea ? I have to say that the original idea came from Master floral designer, Gregor Lersch, in his book "Floral Craftmanship", and I thank him for it.