Silk Flowers for a Very Special Destination Wedding

Planning a wedding is a magical experience, but when it’s a wedding abroad, the logistics can be challenging. A couple of years ago one of my dearest friends got married in Spain. Obviously I wanted to do her flowers, as luck would have it she wanted silk so that she could treasure them forever. This was indeed lucky as we didn’t know at time of planning that I would be starting chemotherapy the week of the wedding and wasn’t able to fly out. In this blog I will share how I navigated the process and ensured the flowers were as stunning as the celebration itself.

So why choose silk flowers? Silk flowers are a convenient choice for destination weddings. They are durable, lightweight, and can be transported without the worry of wilting or damage. Unlike fresh flowers, silk flowers maintain their beauty regardless of the climate and travel conditions. They offer the flexibility to create the perfect floral arrangements well in advance, providing peace of mind to brides and florists alike, I made my friends months before the big day. 

The first step of designing was to understand my friend’s vision for her wedding. We spent hours discussing her favourite flowers, colours, and the overall theme of the wedding. She wanted an explosion of colour, cerise, orange, purples, blues and peach. We talked about which flowers would be in season and which varieties would naturally be these colours (I would never use unnatural colours that would be obviously out of season.) Quality is paramount when working with silk flowers. I sourced premium silk blooms that mimicked the look and feel of real flowers. We settled on Gerberas (the bride’s absolute favourite) hydrangea, poppies and snap dragons. 

Creating the bridal bouquet was a labour of love. My friend sat and watched me pull the bouquet together, oohing and ahhing in all the right places. To ensure the flowers arrived in perfect condition, I carefully packaged each arrangement in sturdy boxes with ample padding. The bride took them in her hand luggage guarding them with as much care as her weeding dress! 

Seeing my friend's reaction to her flowers was priceless, she said I had completely captured her vision and personality which I can confirm is totally bold and vibrant! I was so thrilled to be able to be a part of her special day, this was even more important as I wasn’t able to be there in person and seeing all the stunning pictures really helped me get through my first round of treatment! 

Creating silk flower arrangements for a destination wedding requires meticulous planning, but the results are incredibly rewarding. For any bride considering a wedding abroad, silk flowers offer beauty, durability, and the convenience of pre-arranged designs. As a florist, being part of my friend’s special day and contributing to her dream wedding was a heartfelt experience I’ll always cherish and every time I go to her home, the bouquet is proudly displayed and I am filled with love and pride all over again! 

You’re a florist! That must be such a relaxing job!

The response I get 99% of the time when someone finds out what I do. Let’s explore why being an events florist is not the most ‘relaxing’ career.

I love my job, but I love it because it’s creative and fun and believe it or not, adrenaline inducing. The feeling of completing a complex wedding set up is exhilarating but it’s certainly not relaxing. Weddings - we wouldn’t survive as florists without them but they are not without their challenges! Holding our breath and praying that the flowers open on time but don’t wilt in summer sun, that the arrangements hold up and a drunken groomsmen doesn’t knock over that enormous pedestal or this unseasonal gale force wind doesn’t completely destroy that delicate floral arch. 

Dressing venues requires speed, a steady hand and unflappable focus. Soaring ceilings crying out for floral chandeliers, sweeping staircases that NEED garlands and giant fireplaces requiring suitably grand mantle piece arrangements. To achieve these Pinterest worthy looks often requires lengthy negotiations between myself and the venue. The older the venue the stricter the restrictions. No tape, no wires, no hooks, ‘I just want to hang some ivy, pleeeeeease.’ I will always visit a venue before dressing but despite this surprises always occur, especially contending with our gloriously unpredictable British weather. The number of weddings I have dressed that were planned outside only to be thwarted by monsoon conditions. Moving weighted floral pillars in 2 minutes in horizontal rain, so relaxing. 

One wedding comes to mind when thinking about venue challenges. One of my first large solo events, the wedding was in a stunning 17th century castle in Surrey. The bride was not able to attend the site visit before the wedding day and unfortunately the wedding coordinator was off sick the day I went to view. The receptionist showed me round but took me to the wrong part of the castle. The bride had chosen elegant tall glass vases with large round arrangements sat on top for the tables and asked if she could utilise these in the ceremony too, we agreed they could sit in the alcoves, the room I saw had 6 beautiful alcoves on the floor and the arrangements would have worked perfectly. Next, the enormous fireplace, tall and gigantic, stunning to adorn. Looked simple enough with the help of a tall step ladder. The day comes, I am prepared, all arrangements made and everything just needed placing. When I arrive the co-ordinator takes me to a completely different room. The alcoves were waist height with sloping window sills. She assured me florists always placed vases on them and my arrangements would be fine with some florist putty to secure them. Against my better judgement I positioned my creations. I must have used a whole roll of putty - this stuff is industrial strength. All in position I could hear guests starting to arrive outside. The harpist was sat in front of one of the alcoves, I turned my back to add a final flourish of petals down the aisle and smash - a vase shattered on the tiled floor, glass and water everywhere. I have never moved so fast, thank goodness the harpist wasn’t sat under the fallen vase. I quickly dismantled the others. Swept up the glass, sacrificed my apron and jumper to mop up the water and placed the arrangements vaseless in the alcoves. I felt sure the bride would be disappointed the arrangements were not on the vases (she later told me that she hadn’t actually noticed). So crisis somewhat averted. During the ceremony I just had to place the mantle piece arrangement above the fireplace. I ascended the giant ladder to discover this mantle too was sloping down. My arrangement was enormous, and extremely heavy, how the heck was I going to secure it? I asked one of the very kind waiters if he knew of any door stops around the castle, he went hunting and returned with no less than 10. I wedged those bad boys under my flowers until I knew it couldn’t possibly move. Once everything was in place I snuck out dripping in sweat with valuable lessons learned, NEVER view a venue without the bride! 

So despite all the challenges as a florist, we deliver! Whatever your vision whatever the venue we WILL make it happen. You want a giant floral  chandelier hanging in the middle of your marquee? We will use the tents pulley system to suspend it! Yes we’ll have to pull it up and down a hundred times - adding more foliage to weight it in the right places because we know you’re going to love it. Florists - the unsung heroes of wedding decor. We battle the elements, contend with wobbly tables, sloping mantles, uneven floors and venue restrictions all in the name of floral fabulousness! We lose sleep worrying about scarring harpists or decapitating guests with giant arrangements. So the next time you see a stunning wedding set up, remember that behind every bloom is a florist who has fought a floral battle to make this happen - we come armed with scissors, string, putty and tape and we will create, all the while making it look relaxing! (BTW I never normally look quite this calm as in this picture delivering flowers the morning of a wedding, but when you are a guest as well as the florist you have to get yourself together! You can read all about this in my April 2024 blog, ‘Yes I’ll wear the puffy sleeves and ruffles but you better cry when you see your bouquet!)

Oh hello Peony season! We do love you but you are definitely responsible for a few grey hairs.

One of my favourite flowers, no question, peonies are so special! So many stunning varieties from classic Sarah Bernhardt with her delicate pink femininity, to the heavenly scent of white Duchesse to the bold and beautiful Coral Sunset. I get genuinely excited every May at the approaching peak of peony season and part of their appeal is their short season. Flowers are always more alluring when there’s only a short window to enjoy them. I’ve had many brides and grooms in the know choose May/June solely because they want peonies starring in their wedding florals and I am so here for it! 

However, and it’s a big one, getting peony timing right is an absolute nightmare. Like all great divas they are hellishly unpractical. Sometimes you order them and they arrive like bullets, so we indulge them in the unique peony spa experience, plunging them into hot water, massaging their petals and banging their heads on the table, desperately trying to seduce them open. Ideally if they arrive like this you want a good five days for them to reach their peak wedding condition. However… sometimes they arrive ready to pop within hours and they go straight into iced water wrapped in paper and you pray. Are you even a florist if you aren’t kept awake at night thinking about the stage of your Sarah Bernhardt’s, creeping into the workshop at 5am to check on your flower babies?

The trouble is they are just so gorgeous, how can you resist? I love a peony wedding but it’s never an easy one. Last month I dressed a stunning venue, an amazing chapel with the most incredible stained glass and tiled floors and of course the bride wanted peonies, sumptuous coral sunset were just too perfect for the vibrant glass and terracotta tiles. There were peonies throughout the designs so I needed a fair few! They arrived, the most perfect peonies you have ever seen, then, boom we were hit by a classic early British summer heatwave completely out of the blue! No matter what I did I couldn’t keep the workshop cool enough, those babies opened faster than I’ve ever seen. Luckily I had ordered more coming later in the week and was able to source some more absolute beauties from a flowery pal. It just goes to show even with twenty odd peony seasons under my belt those little divas can still catch me off guard. You can pretty much guarantee I will have peonies in my house for two months solid as I juggle hundreds of stems, trying to get them open at the precise moment.

Luckily I have learned to stagger my peony order in the hopes we cover all bases and reach peony perfection for the big day. On top of this rather stressful juggling act peonies are expensive! The best things always are, so brides and grooms - yes I love and appreciate you for wanting peonies for your wedding, but the truth is they are going to be pricey and you will also have to live with the fact you will have contributed to my greying locks, but it is most definitely worth it! 

Yes I’ll wear the puffy sleeves and ruffles but you better cry when you see your bouquet!

Weddings, I LOVE THEM, as a florist and as a guest.

As a florist you will inevitably end up making all the wedding flowers for every single person you know and I would be seriously offended if this wasn’t the case. However, it can be quite the juggling act. At any wedding I’m not attending as a guest I’ll set up pretty much all morning and it often goes right down to the wire. Just getting ready as a regular guest is a push but what if you’re a bridesmaid too? Luckily I have A LOT of experience in this area! 

The trick is to get as prepared as humanly possible the day before, you don’t want to be making bouquets in the morning or you’ll be setting your alarm for 3am. Of course, some things you just can’t do the night before so it’s always an early start regardless. Inevitably you end up missing out on some of the mornings festivities and feel like a bad bridesmaid for not being able to spend the morning being part of the hype team, but I know every time I’ve been a bridesmaid, the bride and groom have been immensely grateful for the hard work and have totally forgiven my dishevelled appearance! That’s what Photoshop is for! 

I try to get all the heavy lifting and installations done before I attempt any kind of beautifying - I do love a late wedding but if the ceremony kicks off at 11am this all needs to be complete by 9.30am at the latest. There will always be last minute touches that will have to be done dressed in full-on ballgown, like scattering petals down the aisle, lighting candles, adding any delicate florals that won’t be in water. I am eternally grateful to my sister for choosing December to get married, it was wonderfully cold so I was able to dress the church hours before the ceremony! Of course, I still did the church to venue change over in full length slinky dress, moving giant urns full of flowers, but I am committed to my roles both as bridesmaid and florist! 

Truth be told I wouldn’t have if any other way, I love being part of a happy couple’s big day, it’s why I became a florist. It sounds soppy but it is genuinely such a special feeling…plus I would also be mightily disappointed if I attended a wedding and didn’t get a mention in the speech! Event floristry is physically exhausting, you have to be here, there and everywhere in between. There is a lot of heavy lifting, running around and clearing up, things not usually associated with a relaxing, glamorous morning. There are moments when I have thought ‘today would have been a lot less stressful if I wasn’t a florist’ but I absolutely love it and it’s worth every single bead of sweat and sleepless night.

So yes I’ll wear the puffy sleeves and ruffles, make sure your glass is full all day, fluff your dress and be a human glitter ball, but you better cry big fat happy tears when you see your flowers!

Love is in the air

February - the month of romance. Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is big business for florists around the world. Whether you believe it originates from the Roman festival Lupercalia, the martyred priest named Valentine writing to his beloved or you think it’s a cynical creation by big greetings card companies, the fact is Valentine’s messages have appeared throughout history since the 1500’s and who doesn’t love love?!

Everybody deserves a little romance and what’s wrong with celebrating that? The last few years I have seen a rise in people buying flowers on the 13th for their friends, celebrating the new branch off ‘Galentine’s,’ just because you’re not in a relationship why should you miss out on all the fun?! Show your girl friends that you love them, celebrate sisterhood! I’m a fan of any reason to celebrate, especially occasions that centre around flowers and chocolate! When I was a child my mum always used to write Valentine’s cards for me and my sister and leave us little presents outside our bedroom door, Valentine’s should be a celebration of love in all it’s forms. In all honesty as I’ve been a florist since I met my husband, we’ve never really celebrated Valentine’s in a traditional sense, as one of the busiest days in the floral calendar by the time I’ve made a million bouquets I just want to collapse and sleep for a hundred years. However in true romantic style, he always makes me dinner the night after (spaghetti vongole followed by anything that involves chocolate, my favourite!) and I always bring him home a red rose, it’s our little tradition.

In the 17 years I have been a florist I have done a fair few Valentine’s weddings and it continues to be a popular choice and as long as you bare in mind the astronomical cost of flowers that week, what a lovely way to spend the most romantic day of the year celebrating in another couple’s happiness! The wedding pictured is a classic Valentine’s vibe, stunning red roses, burgundy ranunculus complimented by blush O’Hara roses and bridal protea, totally lush! I have always loved blush pink with burgundy, it’s much softer than ivory and somehow more romantic. The bride wore the most stunning classic ivory silk gown just perfect for the time of year. The bridesmaids were in slinky satin burgundy dresses. The flower list was wintery with glimmers of spring and totally luxurious.

Whilst we’re on the topic of expensive red roses, please remember it’s not down to the florists. We pay insane prices for our flowers during Valentine’s week and whilst the supermarkets can take a loss on this, we can’t, it’s our bread and butter. The price of everything goes up but if you’re happy to move away from tradition why not opt for a less expensive spring bouquet? Tulips, narcissus, fritllaria, anemone the list is pretty endless. Trust me they’ll be thrilled to receive flowers from a florist whatever variety, it hands down beats an unoriginal, no thought or effort supermarket bunch of second grade roses! 

February can be a bleak month so why not indulge a little and celebrate someone special, make their day, you won’t regret the fuzzy feeling it leaves! 

Order your Valentine’s flowers from Barnaby’s Blooms now.

A Wedding in Tuscany

Brides often say to me ‘you must have had so many flowers at your wedding’. The truth is when you spend your working life making beautiful wedding flowers for other people you don’t want to be a hot mess stressing and sweating on the morning of your own big day. However, not to blow my own trumpet, but my wedding flowers were perfect…because I kept it simple. We had a very small wedding, a party of twenty, we always knew we wanted to get married abroad and have spent many a lovely holiday in Italy. Before we were even engaged we had visited a beautiful spa town in the Tuscan hills and said ‘wouldn’t it be amazing to get married here’, little did we know years later we would be saying our vows in that very spot.

As I say, you don’t want to be stressed and rushing around like a maniac (as I do for every other wedding) so we kept it small and simple. I ordered the flowers from a local florist, a 5 minute walk from the venue and picked them up the day before. I distinctly remember talking to the florist about the varieties I wanted, we had a long conversation (she didn’t speak English and I can just about order a tiramisu in Italian, luckily the language of flowers is universal!) She ordered me all the blooms I needed, an array of pastel roses, wax flower and silver eucalyptus and olive. The hotel we had our wedding reception in were amazing and let me use their beautifully air conditioned events room to prepare everything. I made my bouquets the night before, one less job for the morning!

The ceremony wasn’t until 3pm so I had plenty of time to get all the flowers and myself ready. We had our ceremony in the town’s famous spa and said our vows next to the thermal bath under its intricately hand painted dome. I wanted to make sure everything I made could be reused for the reception. I spent the morning wiring long lush garlands of olive, eucalyptus and roses to adorn the steps at the spa and reused these along the centre of our long dining table, adding more roses and candles before everyone took their seats. Once everything was set up I still had time to drink a bottle of Prosecco in the jacuzzi with my bridesmaids!

I had always pictured myself wearing a floaty, (and of course) floral wedding gown, luckily I found my dream dress online and had it delivered to the florist I worked at the time. I couldn’t wait to open it so my colleagues were the first ones to see it, which I thought quite fitting, them being my flowery pals! We could not have wished for more from our wedding day, it really was the best day of our lives. I enjoyed every aspect from wiring those garlands to walking down the aisle, my dress blowing in the September breeze, sipping aperol spritz with our guests at the spa, sitting down to dinner on the rooftop surrounded by flowers, candles and our nearest and dearest. Not to mention marrying the love of my life (apologies for the vomit inducing slush here, but surely that’s what weddings are all about.)

My advice to brides to be, have the wedding you want and anything you can do to take any stress away - do it, particularly if that includes hiring Barnaby’s Blooms to create the wedding flowers of your dreams! Head over to our Instagram page to see my wedding reel for a bit of floral inspiration.

Stepping into Christmas….

I’d like to thank you for the year, so I’m sending you this Christmas card to say it’s nice to have you here! Oh Elton I do bloody love you. First off a big thank you to all my wonderful customers and brides for supporting me this year. What a rollercoaster it’s been but it’s ending blooming marvellously.

Christmas time is possibly my favourite in a flower shop, the intoxicating smells of pine, cinnamon sticks and dried oranges, just yum! A flower shop at Christmas is home to me. I love the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve, people rushing around picking up all their last minute goodies to hunker down for the holiday. The thought of collapsing in front of the fire, exhausted from getting all the orders done, mulled wine in hand and pooch on lap.

Christmas to me, as it is for many, is all about the family. That moment when they all arrive, Chris Rea blasting in the background the smell of delicious Christmas dinner wafting through the house. The children clutching their new toys as they head straight for the present pile! As a florist a huge part of my Christmas countdown and prep is all about getting the house festive ready. I always hang my wreath up on December 1st, marvelling each year at how much I love it and, yes, this year is my favourite…but every year is my favourite! I normally get our tree two weeks before and dedicate an entire day to adorning it. This year is all about colour for me, so I’m going for rich jewel tones which I will mirror in my garlands for the fireplace. I love the smell of pine and there’s something so comforting about coming downstairs on a cold December morning with the scent of a Nordic Spruce filling your living room.

It’s not just about these fuzzy sentimental moments though, Christmas is big business in the floral industry. It all starts back in November with wreath workshops, always such fun, friends and work colleagues coming to classes having a glass of bubbly and creating something utterly fabulous. I wonder how many door wreaths I’ve made over the years, thousands I should think. Then there are table centre pieces full of ivy and hellebores, garlands adorning grand staircases bursting with berries and baubles. Hotel dressing this time of year means florists across the globe are kept busy. Look at a florist’s hands in December and you may just recoil in horror at the ingrained dirt, scratches and broken nails. We florists just love Christmas and disgusting hands are a small price to pay for a fruitful festive season. In the words of Michael Buble ‘Chritmas Christmas yeeeah!’

The romance of winter weddings.

Everybody has their own ideas about the perfect wedding. Traditionally a florist’s busiest wedding season is the summer, but in recent years the winter wedding has become more and more popular, and why not?! The romance of the festive season is hard to resist; it’s cosy, luxurious and intimate. I have done many winter weddings in my time, each very different. The wedding pictured in the blog is one from the archives, more than 10 years ago, but it remains one of my faves and has not dated. The bride’s vision was ‘a snowball’ of flowers (which I just love!) and she looked incredible in a delicate blush ivory heavy silk gown and a full length lace veil - perfectly suited for the grand and beautiful church ceremony. The bridesmaids complemented her style in glamorous gold full length dresses and fur coats. The reception was in a Tudor Grade II listed venue in the Kentish countryside and on the morning of the wedding there was a dusting of light snow which left the ground and trees glistening with crunchy, silver frost. Perfect!

The flower list was pretty vast, with O’hara roses, ivory callas, ranunculus, hellebores, orchids, ammi visnaga, brassicas (yes that is a type of cabbage but don’t judge until you’ve seen it!) amaryllis and more. The church looked beautiful, a giant urn at the entrance bursting with roses and amaryllis , a font full of roses and tied bunches of ivy, eucalyptus and roses adorning every pew. There were candelabras at the end of the aisle, well, a winter wedding has to be bathed in candlelight doesn’t it? For the wedding breakfast they chose hurricane lamps surrounded by lush wreaths, ivy and asparagus fern everywhere and to top it off enormous Christmas trees covered with ivory and champagne baubles! It was truly magical!

Every season has its appeal, summer is bright and abundant, Autumn is rich and golden, Spring is fresh and blooming but Winter is luxurious and opulent, don’t overlook a winter wedding!

I’d say the first thing you need is…. a pumpkin

Autumn has to be my favourite time of year, I myself got married in September, I vividly remember the crunchy autumn leaves swirling around my ankles. I absolutely love Halloween even more than Christmas, I always decorate the house and throw a party for my nieces and nephews (it gives me an excuse to make my legendary ghost brownies and don my witches hat.) I just love a pumpkin and who doesn’t melt at the sight of a pooch dressed as a bat?! Stay tuned to the socials to be spammed with pictures of Barns in full Halloween garb. Now I adore all the colours of autumn and I always get so excited to do a wedding in true autumnal shades but when a beautiful bride came to me, her wedding date the 25th October and said her colour scheme was rose gold I was inspired, I mean the thought of rose gold pumpkins, hello! She had one request ‘include orchids’, now that is a brief I can run with.

I spent a day carving and spraying about 50 pumpkins and knobbly gourds of various shapes and sizes. The flower list was pure perfection, cymbidium orchids, snowberries, sweet avalanche roses, memory lane and dahlias (obviously dahlias, you can’t get married in October without them!) Stunning urns bursting with blooms at the entrance, pumpkins, lanterns and petals adorning the aisle. Rose gold pumpkins full of orchids and roses on the tables, a real Cinderella wedding! I couldn’t wait to see the pictures and they did not disappoint! The brides dress was simply stunning, possibly my favourite ever, a delicate champagne colour soft chiffon skirt and intricate lace bodice with a full length veil (of course). The bridesmaids were in a dusky rose perfectly complimented by the orchids, it all came together and was as lush as a perfectly spiced pumpkin pie! Visit my insta page to see the wedding reel for pure pumpkin inspo.

As I said autumn vibes are my fave but I love that each bride I work with has a vision, utterly unique and always something new. Over the years I have done lots of October weddings and on the whole they are rich oranges, burgundy peppered with peachy tones which are just stunning but always a treat when a brave bride lets you make rose gold pumpkins!

Em-BARK-ing on a new adventure…

I have been a florist my whole life, I can’t imagine not being surrounded by flowers everyday. I have worked in some incredible places with some unbelievably talented floral designers but after years of working for other people it was time for me to branch out on my own and create the business I’ve always dreamed of. Well not exactly alone, a life changing event followed by a cancer diagnosis led me to my four legged friend, Barnaby, he has been my motivation to keep pushing and my inspiration to follow my dreams, Barnaby’s relentless tail wagging and zest for life is absolute goals, we all need to be a little more Barns! Wherever you find me, he is not far behind (in fact he’s normally running along side), whether it’s at the flower market, in the workshop or in the flower mobile (also known as poppy).

Life has taught me to take a few risks and never put things off. I’m happy to say I am cancer free and loving life as a flowery entrepreneur. Starting a business is a scary prospect, there were so many thing to think about, luckily I am a huge list writer, I can’t perform a task unless I have written it down, I just love ticking them off (shout out to Mrs Hinch for making organisation and list writing cool!) I’ve always know exactly what I wanted my business to feel like, bespoke. I know every florist prides themselves on delivering a bespoke service but I truly believe flowers are an expression of your personality, it’s so important to get to know someone before creating a design for them, no two bouquets should ever be the same. I just love looking at something I’ve made and thinking ‘yes, that is so them,’ every creation is utterly unique.

In this blog I want to share not only the moments of joy and satisfaction but the challenges I’ve experienced along the way too, being the boss is hard but it’s soooooo worth it. If I had one piece of advice it would be to take a leap, do something that scares you, em-BARK on a new adventure, you won’t regret it!