So many gorgeous events and weddings were designed for and fabulous people were worked with in 2011 including the talented teams at Party Ingredients, Just Seventy Ltd, Payne and Gunter, Leiths, Party Planners, Suzanne James Ltd and Hall of Cakes

A wonderful and very busy end to a great year which saw us expanding into a new meeting and studio space to showcase all of the wonderful designs and props that we have to clients new and existing…..and watch this space…because that space is going to be well used for another purpose this year..I shall release those details soon!

Many new things are on the horizon for us here, along with the little taster above, plans are afoot to expand the service that we provide to you on an even greater scale.  I am so excited about this project, and am finding it hard keeping Mum at the moment, but rest assured, later in the year all will be revealed.

We already have a number of gorgeous weddings booked in for this year and many proposals being written.  Royal and Navy blue as well as purple is proving to be a very popular colour amongst the Bridal clients this year with accents of pink and apricot being added as complimenting colours.

We have already completed our first wedding of the year and upcoming next week are some wonderful Burns Night supper events.

Onwards and upwards for an exciting year ahead….

After the madness of June and July I was hoping for a slightly quieter time to get my head stuck into our Christmas Designs (I know..sorry..!)

We have been known now for quite some time for our wonderful Wedding, Party and Corporate event work.  This work keeps me and the team very busy and occupied most of the time.

However, we also supply weekly floral designs to contracts all over London, and although we may be a little quieter on the event side of things this month, the contracts never stop.  Each Sunday and very, very early (4am early!) Monday sees us in the van mostly through the City of London, bleary eyed, delivering vases of flowers to offices and restaurants. 

I believe that first impressions of a business are one of the most important things you can do for your client, we make our mind up about a person we meet for the first time within 3 seconds of meeting them and I believe that the same goes for the first time any of us walk into a reception area of a corporate environment.

Yes, the economy and the doom and gloom mongers are telling us all how bad things are, and I don’t deny for a second that they aren’t as bright and breezy as times were a few years ago, but, being in business myself, I know exactly how first impressions count.  I visit many clients both existing and potentially new throughout the week, it may be my trade, but I notice the reception areas most as this is where I tend to hang around awaiting to see my client, as do all visitors to a reception! …I have lost count of the number of premises I have visited who have either stopped their reception flowers in their entirety to save money, or have swopped from fresh flowers to an orchid plant.  Don’t get me wrong, saving money is no bad thing, but if I see one more dead and sad looking orchid plant I may just scream!! 

Fresh flowers and plants may not be top priority to a business looking to cut costs in the current economic climate however, apart from the great impression that they give to visitors, the benefits to staff are numerous.  And these benefits are scientifically proven as well.  There are many studies into the wellbeing of people exposed in a corporate environment to fresh flowers and plants which are well documented. 

The benefits to a business on a weekly basis far outweigh the cost of a simple vase of flowers or some fresh plants strategically placed…..with a starting cost of £35, it is a small price to pay for an increase is staff output, lower sickness, better morale and the important first impression that a new client that you may wish to impress gets!

Back onto our weddings and this month we had a lovely wedding for clients who I have been seeing for over a year now, a lovely couple who celebrated their marriage in wonderful style at Queen’s House, Greenwich in a blaze of sunshine and then hot footed it over to The Gun in the Docklands for a fantastic party….followed closely by us to get the flowers transferred from Greenwich to The Docklands before the guests arrived! Battling with the Blackwall Tunnel is never fun but that day we must have been good as we sailed through in record time to install the arrangements before the guests arrived…..always fun trying to make this look seamless! 

The same weekend we shot down to The George in Rye in East Sussex, again one of my favourite venues (they all seem to be my favourite for many different reasons!).  A beautiful and elegant wedding was installed in their ballroom with white roses featuring alongside candlelight..always a favourite look to create as it stands the test of time in terms of style longevity.

The weekend of the 13^th and 14^th of August was again spent mostly in Greenwich (don’t know why I just don’t move there!!)  Queen’s House was again the venue of choice for an elegant civil partnership ceremony on the Saturday with the quirky and original Davy’s Wine Bar featuring as the venue of choice on Sunday, again for another civil partnership ceremony.  Lastly we created some glorious floral garlands for a colourful Indian wedding also on the Sunday.

Weekday weddings are becoming more popular and this month we had a small but beautiful wedding that was held on a Tuesday.  Queen’s House, Greenwich was chosen by the stylish couple to tie the knot in elegant surroundings before taking a stroll through Greenwich Park to celebrate at a restaurant in Blackheath Village.  Antique, vintage shades of cream and cafe crème roses were mingled with soft duck egg blue hydrangea and herbs for a scented and naturally inspired look.

Another wedding that week, this time at the imposing Sundridge Park Manor in Bromley, this is literally just a stones throw from our studio and workroom so this venue is always brilliant for us to get to..just 10 minutes after loading the van we are unloading it again, it’s that close.

As ever the staff here are wonderfully welcoming and helpful, the client requested lots of herbs on this job as her table names were named after some lovely scented varieties and we complied entirely with no arm twisting needed (as you have gathered we love using herbs as foliage here) and rosemary, sage, thyme and lavender were mixed with roses in cream, ivory and lilac.

Shooting over  to The Mayfair hotel in the afternoon we delivered a bouquet of gorgeous English roses in shades of raspberry pink and burnt orange, mixed with blackberries for a very special guest who was staying there….I loved the bouquet so much I nearly didn’t want to deliver it…I could see it looking lovely in my office…!!

We still have another wedding to complete this month…..a medley of cream, ivory and buttermilk shades mixed with soft dusky rose….I am sure this will look as lovely as all the others..

So…..we roll ever nearer to September, one of my favourite months, the seasons change, the nights get darker and the mornings get a little nippier and I start thinking of swopping my ballet pumps for boots…but maybe, just maybe we may get an Indian Summer – here’s hoping!

Not only were we been packed to the rafters with wonderful wedding couples all getting/got married in the last few weeks, but we have been inundated with enquiries for forthcoming weddings, not only this year but next.

Our enquiries for next year have shot up and I personally have been all over London, Kent and Surrey meeting with couples and planning their flowers.

June and July are traditionally a very busy and action packed 2 months for us and this year has been no exception – even busier than ever I would say.

We started the month with a wonderfully elegant wedding which was held at Stationers’ Hall in the City of London.  Stationers’ Hall is a beautiful Livery Hall, just a stones throw from St Paul’s Cathedral.  It truly is a gem of a venue and is wonderful to hire this time of year as it has its own garden in which clients can have pre-dinner champagne and canapés all surrounded by a beautiful walled garden towered over by a fabulous tree which is 100s of years old! The hall itself is stunning with a magnificent stained glass window in the main hall.  The wedding of Charlotte and Tom here was simple and elegant with an abundance of white flowers all offset by seasonal foliages.  Roses were mixed with scented sweet peas, freesia and the cottage garden favourite, astrantia for a beautiful look.  Charlotte carried a gorgeous shower bouquet.

Shower bouquets have become a popular choice for brides over the last year and we have seen a definite increase in the number of our clients requesting them.  One little note I would like to make, with regards to a shower bouquet, is that they truly showcase the skills and professionalism of the florist chosen to make it.  Here, we employ the traditional technique only of wiring every single element of the bouquet to make a perfectly formed bouquet to suit every client individually.  I choose not to use a standard “bouquet holder”.  Whilst these cut down the time to make a bouquet considerably, they do not I believe, assist in creating a gorgeous and bespoke design which is befitting of any bride on their wedding day.  So we may be up and in the studio at 5am on the morning of the wedding making a bouquet but it is so very worth it once you have the finished design.  Accept no imitations!

Midway through the month saw the entire team and our wonderful, handpicked freelance staff at the magnificent Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for a stunning wedding.  The largest amount of white roses I have ever ordered (7000!!) were expertly made into glorious spheres that sat atop tall slender vases, each of which was 1.2 mtrs in height.  The interior of each vase was decorated with pearl chandeliers, hand made here by the team. 

A stunning aisle was created for the bride to walk down which was flanked either side by 4ft tall clear pedestals each of which housed large glass hurricane shades with 3 wick candles nestling in mounds of white roses.  Each design seemed to float effortlessly for a beautiful and elegant look.

The hours and effort were long and hard work but the end result was beautiful and elegant and I am so proud of what was achieved that day.  The event was organised by the creative and efficient management team at Pink Fish Productions who are always a joy to work for.

As ever in July, the last of the seasons corporate events were being held before everyone leaves the City to go on holiday!

Floral designs for some wonderful events were delivered to Inner Temple, Temple Church, Admirals House Greenwich, King William Restaurant Greenwich, The Tower of London, Ironmonger’s Hall, Stationers’ Hall, Queen’s House Greenwich, QE II Centre Westminster and Museum of London.

And to finish off the month, an elegant and simple design for a christening party, for a lovely little boy.

Phew….and August doesn’t get much quieter….

We do of course all work hard to produce designs that are a talking point at every event but luckily we don’t have to work hard at loving what we do! – that comes naturally.

The 19^th of May saw us all down in Southampton Docks as we were commissioned to produce the floral designs for the naming of the newest ship to be added to the P and O fleet, “Adonia”.

Abundant cream and lemon shaded flowers filled a huge urn in the Terminal Entrance to greet the invited guests to the ceremony.  It was greatly admired by all and we were being asked constantly how it had been made! (I never give away too many secrets of a professional florist!)

The Lido deck looked really lovely for the naming ceremony and I was so pleased with the result, black urns on glossy black pedestals were filled with delphinium, roses and hydrangea in classic blue and white that really fitted the nautical theme.

VIP cabins were decorated with beautiful vases of peonies, roses, stocks and snapdragons in pinks and creams that drew many a comment from the invited guests that we met on board.  100 tables on board were adorned with vases of blue thistle, blue hydrangea and white roses for the gala dinner at which the God Mother, Dame Shirley Bassey, was a guest of honour.  A really successful event,  and one which we are always privileged to be involved in.

Beginning of June we were at the beautiful Chiddingstone Castle in Kent for a very elegant wedding in summery shades of pink, ivory and mauve.  Sweet peas, peonies, roses and lilies were combined in classic glass cubes.  The following week we were at the wonderful Queens House, Greenwich – on both the Friday and the Saturday for 2 weddings.  Both were wonderfully simple and elegant with personal touches.  We really enjoy working at Queens House and the fabulous top London catering company, Party Ingredients, ensured that the guests on Saturday were very well fed and watered!

A flurry of corporate parties were in full swing during June and our vans were whizzing around London delivering designs for parties and some very late nights for us, collecting all the vases back!

The end of June saw us popping up to Windsor Castle, to install flowers for a very elegant private party.  Beautiful soft lemon roses were combined with vibrant purple lisianthus and seasonal foliages to create abundant designs that were very fitting and looked gorgeous in situ at the Castle.  I really need to pinch myself sometimes to make sure I am not dreaming.  It is always exciting to work in such grand and historic properties and you don’t get much grander than Windsor Castle.  Being watched by hundreds of tourists as well when they are touring the castle is great fun and we are always happy to answer their questions (as long as they don’t get too personal!)

Flowers for corporate events were flying out the door on an almost daily basis and wedding consultations were coming in thick and fast, and many of the requests were for next year already!

Our foray into Wiltshire was a wonderful weekend and upon our return we had to create and install 11 events in one week – the vans were only at the studio long enough to be unloaded and reloaded and off they would go again.  That particular week was a long and tiring one for all, but all the events looked wonderful and great comments were given by all the clients.  It really is true that you are only as fab as your last job and I remember that on each and every event that we install no matter how large or small.

Of course, unless you have been living under a rock for the last year you can’t have failed to notice that the country was gripped with Royal Wedding fever for the last week of April.  I am privileged to know, and have worked for, the florist who was commissioned to create the wonderful floral displays that were admired world wide at Westminster Abbey as well as the long awaited wedding bouquet which would be seen by millions of people, and I knew that he wouldn’t disappoint!

Our company was commissioned to create some stunning floral designs for a very, very special party which was held at The Mandarin Oriental hotel, Hyde Park,  the night before the fabulous wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took place.  It was a very long couple of days for us and I made sure that every single flower and stem of foliage that we were to use was perfect.  A gorgeous and elegant pallet of white and green had been chosen for the event.  We sourced branches of English Sorbus, Beech and Birch to act as a beautiful backdrop to the flowers which included English Roses, trailing sweet peas, abundant scented peonies, Solomons Seal, lime green guelder rose and masses of English grown scented narcissus.  We had a lot of fun creating the designs, one of which was 15ft tall! and were proud and felt very privileged to be included in such a wonderful and one off event.

Even though we didn’t finish clearing up from that event until 2am I still managed to drag myself out of bed on that Friday morning at 7am to make sure I was infront of the TV to watch the brilliant wedding specatacle unfold.

It was back to business as usual on the Saturday as I had signed us up to exhibit at the Wedding Show which was to be held at Detling, Kent.  We spent late Saturday afternoon installing the floral designs that were created onto the stand all ready for the Sunday.  The marquee at Detling which was to host the wedding fair was huge – I only wish I had the marquee to decorate! a 12ft stand is never enough for me!  As you can imagine, with Royal Wedding fever still fresh in the minds of many brides our stand was decorated with masses of white and green flowers with lots of silver vases and candleabra and candlesticks acting as a backdrop.  The scent was gorgeous and it is testamont to our fabulous quality as practically everybody who stopped at our stand to admire the work all thought that the flowers were silk – they were that perfect!

The day was a huge success and we look forward to working with all our new clients that have taken the time to book their wedding flowers with us.

The weekend before last saw the team head up the M4 to the wonderful village of Castle Combe, on the edge of the Cotswolds and Wiltshire.

The client couldn’t have picked a more perfect weekend to celebrate their 70^th Birthday Party. From the minute we left London in a blaze of sunshine to packing the van and leaving glorious Wiltshire, the sun kept shining all weekend.

Coming off of the M4 we passed through the village of “Tiddleywink”!! So small, I think the van was longer than the village! We eventually arrived in Castle Combe and found our venue for the weekend, the elegant and stunning, Manor House Hotel, a wonderful 14^th century manor. The grounds are beautiful and it is a fabulous venue for any special event.

An elegant dinner on the Friday night was served in the drawing room. The beautiful butter coloured walls were complimented by pale blue linen table cloths and sparkling white china. Each table was then centrally adorned with large mirrored plates upon which we placed large, silver mirrored bowls. The floral design in each of these bowls was an absolute joy to make and every single stem of every flower used was carefully placed to ensure maximum impact for the guests to enjoy. Each bowl contained stunning white rununculas which were so perfect and unmarked even I had trouble believing they were real!!, alongside softly scented white lilac, white English garden roses, white genista, green/white variegated tulips and the most beautiful white hellebores.  To compliment the fresh white flowers and the blue table linen, delph blue hyacinths were added into the design along with delicate blue anemones. As if all that wasn’t enough, the flowers were offset against stunning seasonal foliages such as skimmia, rosemary and soft, lime green, alchimilla mollis. As a finishing touch, clusters of nightlights in frosted glass votives surrounded each design.

After a very welcome Full English breakfast (this is not an every weekend occurrence!!)  we headed back to the Manor House Hotel on the Saturday morning to complete the table design for the party to be held in the Dunstanville room, a beautiful vaulted ceiling room, hung with lovely wrought iron chandeliers and lovely views of the surrounding countryside. As with the Friday night dinner, the floral design for this room was just as fab to make! Only this table was 30ft long. A series of 8 silver candelabra were placed down the centre of the table, but not until the arms of each one had been filled with flowers in rich shades of red, pink and apricot. Running down the entire length of the table was a fabulous floral garland using the same flowers as were in each of the candelabra. Glorious English garden roses were mixed with lilac, runuculas and anemones to create a floral extravaganza. Single ornate, silver candlesticks were placed down the length of the garland and to finish the entire length was adorned with silver mirrored votives.

This was a lovely weekend event for us and one we were very privileged to be involved in, the weather, the venue, our hotel – everything was perfect, and our client agreed too!

Our first real spring wedding of the season was last Saturday at the beautiful and stately Trinity House in the City of London. It’s a lovely venue, full of character and history which overlooks the historic Tower of London.

The client seated all their guests at long tables which formed sprigs off of the Top Table, with elegant place settings in place by the caterer Payne and Gunter, it was our pleasurable job to transform the long stretches of tables into an abundance of spring.

Elegant glass cube vases were filled with massed cream shaded narcissi and alternated with smaller glass cubes filled with cream and white tulips.  These were positioned at even intervals along the entire stretches of table, including the top table….but I didn’t stop there! We added further interest to the design be placing mirrored cube vases and mirrored miniature gold fish bowls in between the narcissi and tulip vases each containing a different spring flowering plant.  Beautiful white hellebores and scented jasmine nestled alongside white cyclamen and early miniature white hydrangea for a stunning and glorious finish.  And of course, we had to finish the look with nightlights and candles for that romantic twinkle.

I can’t wait for the season to really get going, when we start seeing huge branches of cherry blossom in that gorgeous sugar pink…and then of course the delights of summer are only a small step away.

So, the last bauble should have been put away for now and all those pine needles vacuumed up. Here at the studio we have been taking down all the decorations from our corporate client’s offices and premises, neatly labelling them and putting them all to bed. It can take a while, the good part of 2 weeks! But it is certainly good practice so that when Christmas rolls around again later in the year we are well prepared and organised!

Thankfully for me, as a confirmed ‘sparkle queen’, all is not so dull and dismal with a lovely event happening next week where the designs are all created to reflect a silver glitter and black theme with silver stars thrown in for good measure, this event is taking place at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich so a very fitting venue. A little later in the month we have just been commissioned to produce some fantastic table designs for a gala awards ceremony at One Marylebone, a lovely venue which is a converted church with all the original features still in place.

Saturday 29th of January will see us taking a stand at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich to showcase our wonderful work to prospective Brides and Grooms who have chosen or considering the fabulous buildings and grounds as a venue for their wedding day.  We are very privileged to be the recommended florist for such a wonderful and prestigious venue and our work has been seen there on many an event, from weddings to award ceremonies, gala dinners and summer balls.

Looking a little further forward, February will be upon us in no time at all, and as we all know that means Valentine’s Day is knocking at the door. Check out our special offers page on the website to have a nose at the lovely designs, red roses are of course the most well loved and obvious gift for your loved one, but think a little differently, maybe your girl or guy prefers tulips to roses (I know I would!) or give us a ring to have a chat over what we can happily do for you.

It may feel a little too soon to be looking ahead to the New Year and what 2011 may bring, but with less than 3 weeks to go before we see in the New Year our thoughts here are turning to all things Spring. We are already seeing the first wraps of tulips, anemones and rununculas at market which come in wonderful vivid colours as well as more softer shades, although we are a little reluctant to use them unless absolutely necessary as nothing beats those winter blues in the new year better than using the Spring flowers from January onwards.

With the new year comes more positive changes for us. Our new brochures to advise Companies on their Corporate flowers are already hitting desks all over the City and the uptake has been fabulous with many companies seeing the positive benefits of using flowers and plants in their workplace to enhance their spaces and boost the morale of staff and have been contacting us to enlist our services to provide them.

And of course, who hasn’t heard the wonderful news that HRH Prince William is to marry Kate Middleton in the Spring. Our diary is already healthy with gorgeous weddings throughout next year and with lots of wedding enquiries coming in we are looking at a great year packed with all types of beautiful weddings. We love working on weddings and always feel privileged that we are part of many couples special day. Each of our weddings is unique, just like the couple getting married, and we pull out all the stops to ensure that the wedding day is magical.

We wish all our customers and clients a very happy and prosperous New Year!

I personally love using seasonal flowers and foliages for maximum impact and because the flowers are seasonal you get a much longer vase life with them to keep your home bright and cheerful.

As we are now only a few weeks from Christmas I am championing the fabulous Amaryllis or “Hiipeastrum” to give it its correct Latin name. These are so easy to grow from a bulb, plant one in a  pot and watch the lime green shoot turn into a wonderful hollow stem which will seem to grow before your eyes! At some stage you will need to stake the stem as the flower head develops so that the stem doesn’t snap. And a boring old green stick doesn’t have to be the only option, consider using lovely branches out of your garden or from a local florist that have been covered with lichen moss for an elegant natural look or for full on glamour use birch twigs that have been glittered in a myriad of colours. Any good local florist will supply these at this time of year.

Of course, for those that prefer an instant option, amaryllis can be easily bought from your local florist as ready cut stems which you can take home and arrange in vases. When buying look for flowers with bright green stems and large, well formed buds that are showing a hint of colour. When you get them home cut an inch off the bottom of each stem with sharp scissors or a knife and then insert a green stick or a slim bamboo stick into the hollow stem. This ensures that the stem won’t snap as the flower heads develop. Amaryllis look fantastic arranged simply with minimal foliage and should last you a good 7 – 10 days depending upon where you place them at home.