Last Saturday,
we at Calypso Flowers decorated a garden for the spring wedding of Sam and
Sophie.When I first saw
the garden, it was towards the end of winter, and Margaret and I stood under an
umbrella in the rain, looking at the beautiful structure of the bare garden.
The only flowers on that day were green and white hellebores (Christmas roses). Hundreds of
them!
Early spring being early spring, we had to take into account the fact that the ceremony might have to take place under a marquee, and that everything might have to be moved around.
Their plan was
to have the ceremony and then
croquembouche and champagne in the garden, then go to a
restaurant for dinner later.
After thinking
about the wedding for a few days, I came up with a picture – no, some pictures
- in my head. Sophie was going to wear a pale apricot/orange – the colour of
rock melon or cantaloupe – and so we discussed orange, red, and hot pink as the
theme colours. Pockets of colour would be strategically place around the
garden, to inject a feeling of gaiety… of celebration … a party! Rather than
make the whole garden ablaze with colour, I imagined vignettes, as part of the
journey that the guests would take.
Guests were to
enter via a side gate bedecked with Tracey’s gorgeous wreaths, and walk down
the rose-petal strewn path, through the ‘spindle walk’ (bamboo poles with vine
wound around the top, and ribbons blowing in the breeze) to the seating area.
Here, the petals have still to be strewn, and flowers to be placed on the table
in the distance. This would lead the guests by colour.
The ceremony was
to take place in front of an old urn. We ‘planted’ dark orange tulips in the
urn, and defined the ‘stage’ with 2 bamboo tripods which held polyanthus plants
in the theme colours. You can see the signing table on the right (3rd picture), minus its
white cloth and orange and red roses.
The bar was to
be set up under an arbour covered in Boston ivy – all branches, not a leaf to
be seen. Paper lanterns added a party atmosphere, and bobbed around in the
breeze.
Another area
needing some colour was the veranda entrance to the house from the garden. I
had several wooden fruit boxes filled with polyanthus that could be easily
moved around the garden to add colour into ‘dead’ spots, and we positioned some
of these by the steps. A large, beautiful woven basket was placed against the
wall and filled with polyanthus plants. On the corner we hung glass test tubes
with ranunculus, tulips and roses.
I was really pleased
with the way the garden was transformed. I wanted it to be that no matter in which
direction the guests looked, there would be something interesting and colourful
at eye level...something that would invite closer inspection and intrigue. The
photos don’t do true justice because they were taken quite hurriedly as the
rain was falling…as you can see, they decided NOT to have the marquee…and
because the rose petals and some other flowers were to be put out at the last
minute.
It was an unconventional wedding in many ways. The bride and groom arrived together, and were the first to arrive ! I love it when Brides smile on their wedding day. She was blown away by the transformation of the garden, and her dress was sooo beautiful.
It had stopped raining when we left, 45
minutes before the ceremony.
Happy days, Sophie and Sam ! And thank you, Margaret, for inviting me to be part of the wedding.