Stress Free Planning - A Florists Tips

Planning a wedding can be one of the most stressful experiences. Although, it doesn’t have to be!

Being organised is one of the key elements – yes I know, that sounds too simple, however, with a good team of experts working with you, helping you have the day you dream of, it really can be easy as A ,B, C!

Start by making a list of all the big things you need to organise and book – venue, photographer, dress, florist, cake, music, bridesmaid’s dresses and of course not forgetting suits. With all these things in place you can have the most wonderful day – then you can start adding in all your personalised touches like favours etc.

As organisation is a key part to a stress free wedding here are a few tips to help you achieve as much as possible with your florist from your first appointment.

Your first appointment:

As your first appointment could be the first time you’ve met your florist, it is paramount that you get on well with them. You are trusting them with a huge part of your day so you must like them, their work and trust that they can pull off anything that you throw at them.  

A few things you can take with you that will help you and your florist are:

•          Pictures of your dress (or ideas of what dresses you like)
•          Pictures of bridesmaids dresses
•          Colour ideas
•         Theme ideas
•          Any pictures of existing arrangements you are seen that you like (Pinterest is great for this!)
•         Pictures of your venue – inside and out

Not everyone has existing ideas of what they would like; which is fine! A good florist will have loads of ideas up their sleeve, with pictures of previous work they have done. They will be able to offer you advice on what they think will work best for your venue, you and budget.

Once a style and colours are agreed then flowers can be confirmed and a price can be discussed. Everyone has to work with a budget but there are ways to help this, one example is; if you are using extremely costly flowers there may be a similar flower that can be used to pull of the same look which can be slightly cheaper.

Types of arrangements that people usually ask for are:

•          Brides bouquet/handtied
•          Bridesmaids bouquets
•          Button holes
•          Flower girl bouquets or wands for the little ones
•          Centrepieces on the guest tables
•          Top table arrangement
•          Arrangements for the church
•          Arrangements for the aisle

Again, try and have a look at existing examples of the above to help you learn what you do and do not like. There are so many amazing styles out there you can chose from, it is important you love what you are having and that throughout the day the style of flowers continue through and complement you and your venue.

Once your arrangements, flowers and price has been arranged you leave your florist to it, usually paying a deposit to secure the date. I usually like to see my brides one month before their wedding and then again a week or so before if they would like to go over everything one last time. This is the time to bring any additional touches in; for example a recent bride brought her grandmothers ring with her to have on her bouquet so she was close to her on the day. Another bride is having lots of tea cups hanging from trees all over the reception so she has been collecting them – they are now safe in my workshop ready for her wedding next weekend.

Communication is also key – make sure you keep in touch with all suppliers. Just drop a little message to make sure everything is going well and on track for your big day. Yes, all suppliers know what they are doing but it does help keep your mind at ease.

Most importantly – enjoy the process! Remember that the most important thing is that you are organising the most important day with the one you love and the day itself goes past in a flash so planning is all part of the fun!

Anne x

“As a florist and stylist my role and part in your day can be as much or as little as you need. I can do anything from a simple elegant hand-tied to helping you transform your venue into a masterpiece.”

www.bettyandbearflowers.co.uk

Welligogs

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. David Frost

At the beginning of last year I was asked the style the Welligogs stand at Chelsea Flower Show in May. It was an honour to be asked by such a wonderful English brand to work with them at the world's most prestigious flower show. It was a great success and I was asked to return again in 2016.

This year, I wanted to do bigger, and better! I now had the measure of the stands, the competition for awards and what the judges were looking for.

With the great English brand in mind, I got to work planning and styling the new 2016 Welligogs stand.

When the time came to setting up, I called upon my sister, who is also a great florist to help me achieve the fantastic flower displays I was planning. 

We arrived at the crack of dawn and started setting up - I had had bespoke shabby chic metal shields made based on the logo and branding of Welligogs and we also used the fantastic boot stand that we had last year (we just loved it too much to use anything else!).

Below are a few pictures of the what we created and I am delighted to tell you we won a 4 gold star trade stand award! 

Such an honour and wonderful achievement.

Anne x

www.bettyandbearflowers.co.uk

www.welligogs.com

A princess and her prince

I met the gorgeous Jo at St Albans Fashion Weeks, wedding fair at Hatfield House back in 2014. It was a miserable day but the room was packed with fabulous wedding suppliers and brides to be with their families. We had all just been to see the great wedding fashion show and were now sipping champagne and nibbling delicious canapés – I remember the evening well!

Jo came over to one of my tables where we had some example arrangements and she fell in love with my style and work. Jo’s excitement and passion filled the room and she was and always has been an absolute delight to work with.

We met up a few weeks later to start planning her flowers for the big day. Jo filled me in on all her ideas and about her Fiancé Scott. Jo and Scott met at work – Jo said it was love at first sight for her. Never being able to look at him and blushing bright red if he ever spoke to her. But love definitely struck as she knew that one day he would be her husband. They started talking properly at an event which is when Scott asked Jo out on a date, “my heart could have burst” Jo told me. They have since spent nearly every day together at each other sides, making each other laugh and smile and creating a beautiful home for them and Scott’s two children.

I always love to know how my brides got engaged and this has to be one of my favourite tales of all “I got home after a stressful day at work, to a room filled with candles and Scott cooking my favourite dinner. He then sat me down and we had a lovely meal with wine and chatted through our days. Looking back it was more of me talking and Scott listening as I can imagine he was nervous. He then went to his briefcase and said I have something to show you…. In Scott’s industry he is given gadgets and the latest technology to test so I was thinking, “oh no, he’s going to show me another phone” I wasn’t really in the mood to be playing with new toys. However, to my surprise as he turned around he started telling me how much he loved me and that I make him the happiest man alive, and kneeled in front of me. I said to him “oh-my-gosh this is it”… He then asked me to marry him and popped open the Champagne, I couldn’t stop the tears of happiness and joy streaming down my face, it is such a magical thing to happen to anyone, you can’t even imagine the emotion until it happens to you and you are both in that moment together. We then called our parents and siblings to share the news. Scott posted on Facebook “I asked and she said yes” which had a quick fire response from our friends at the Farriers Arms in St. Albans so we went and celebrated until the early hours of the morning.”

Jo and Scott got married at the amazing Hatfield House, in the Old Palace – very fitting for such a romantic couple. Jo wanted her wedding to reflect the magical, regal feel of the Old Palace, using the history behind the old walls and in the tall ceilings to inspire their beautiful day.

Jo’s wedding dress was stunning by designer Mori Lee, with a fitted bodice flowing into an elegant tulle ball gown bought from Belissima Weddings in South Woodham.

The bridesmaids were a mixture of Nude dresses from Monsoon with the beautiful flower girl dresses from John Lewis with matching shoes.

The handsome groom and his grooms-men wore dark grey morning suits with grey double breasted waist coat. Ice blue ties for the groomsmen and Ivory for the groom all hired from Waterers in St. Albans.

The lovely Mother of the bride wore a stunning mint embellished lace layer dress from Jacques Vert with matching fascinator, shoes and bag in contrasting navy and mint colour.

Jo added some stunning accessories to her wedding day outfit which really brought the elegant bridal look together. Her tiara was something borrowed from her sister, her veil was a Cathedral length Swarovski crystal veil. Her Neck lace was from Links of London and her engagement ring was  from Wartons Jewellers in St Albans with a bespoke made diamond and platinum ring and her wedding band is bespoke made with 11 stone diamonds set on a platinum band made by private jewellers and Scott’s is a bespoke make platinum ring from the same private Jeweller.

On the day Jo and Scott did an amazing job with the wedding décor – they added so many extras to their day ensuring it was captured from every angle and everyone had a great time and enjoyed themselves on their special day.

For the flowers Jo chose very elegant pinks and creams throughout the day, from huge urns filled with twigs and foliage at the ceremony, to amazing cream candelabras as centre pieces with pink gerberas, cream roses. Jo's bouquet was a mixture of soft roses and peonies. An elegant bouquet for a beautiful bride.

Their wedding cake was made by the extremely talented ‘The pretty Gorgeous cake Company’ – They chose a naked Cake with fruit and flowers for decoration, they had different layers of cake for each including lemon drizzle, red velvet, chocolate and a layer of carrot cake it was delicious! They also had a two story white chocolate iced cake for Jo’s mum’s birthday cake as it was on the same day. 

The Wave Forms were their evening band, they played the first dance which was Ed Sheeran Thinking out loud, doing the song justice and no one could not fault their performance, absolutely awesome. Everyone loved them and they played a huge variety to fit all tastes and the saxophone really made the dance floor pump.

The Whitehall String Quartet was booked for the whole day and they played music at the venue from when the guests arrived at 11.30 until dinner was served at 3pm. Jo and Scott chose Pachelbel's Canon in D for Jo to walk down the aisle to. Following that when they signed the register and walked back up the aisle as husband and wife the Quartet learnt Clean Bandit no place I’d rather be. They entertained the guests whilst Jo and Scott were off having their photos taken and all the feedback Jo and Scott had was that everyone said that they were amazing and really added to the lawn games an champagne reception/ canapés.  

To add a little something extra for their guests Jo and Scott organised croquet, jenga, hoopla and giant pickup sticks on the lawn. They also decorated with old fashioned tennis and badminton rackets in old fashioned suitcases to stage the area. The weather was perfect on the big day and all the guest got stuck in to a game or two at the outside reception.

A good friend of Jo and Scott’s and part of the wedding party owns an amazing routemaster bus company and they organised of a double decker routemaster for the guests to be taken from the hotel to the venue.

Jo made all of the stationary by hand and got supplies from online craft shops. Everything had lace and broach details on to carry the theme of the invites through to the day itself. The table plan was in a beautiful white ornate frame with the table names suspended in ribbon which added drama to the plan. The invites and table cards/ name plaques was hand sown with lace, which took Jo a long time but looked beautiful once it was finished. They also placed selfie sticks on each table and an eye-spy game for people to use and help introductions, for example ‘take the shots we might have missed and a photo of everyone on your table’.

The favours were little spice jars with heart shaped jelly beans in there, they tied a little note around each of the jars to thank everyone for sharing in their special day. Jo’s dad also hand crafted an old fashioned sweet cart with Jo’s mum upholstering it. They filled all of the sweet jars and placed sweet bags with our name on and the date of the venue as a little keepsake. The cart is now in the café of Hatfield house.

For the guest ‘book’ they wanted to be a little different, the idea was for people to write a little note on wooden hearts and drop it in a wooden frame (a bit like how the 10p slot machines you used to get at the fairground work). They wanted to be able to hang this on the wall in their home so that we can always see it.

To finish the evening off they had sparklers for all the guests which again Jo made lovely sleeves for allowing her to continue the theme even further throughout the wedding.

Finally we will mention the amazing photographer Rob Purbrick who did an outstanding job. Jo said “honestly one of the most talented people I have ever met. His assistant was also lovely and they staying with us capturing our day from 8am to 9pm a pretty full on day for them.” Thank you also Rob for allowing us to use these images here.

Jo and Scott are a wonderful couple who are so in love and have the most amazing future ahead of them. Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of your day.

Anne x

Thank you to all the suppliers of the day:

Flowers: Betty and Bear Flowers

Photographer: Purpix

Cake: The pretty Gorgeous cake Company

Entertainment: The Whitehall String Quartet

                         The Wave Forms

Rings: Wartons Jewellers 

Venue: Hatfeild House

Suits: Waterers

Wedding dress: Belissima Weddings

Mother of the bride: Jacques Vert

Bridesmaids dresses: Monsoon & John Lewis