The Old Palace, Lincoln

Susie's wedding reception was held in the stunning Old Palace. A favourite venue of mine, hidden away behind the Cathedral it is not very well known but getting more popular as time goes on.
Susie and her mum had thought about doing their own table centres and had already gathered the kilner jars and ceramic jugs for this purpose. They did decide though, after talking to me, that it would be much easier, and less stressful, if they handed them all to me to fill and set up. They did add the bows to all the designs in readiness of the flowers.

All the vases were to be filled with the same mix of flowers as the brides bouquet with delphiniums added to create some height.

The flower mix was Forget me nots, muscari, Hydrangea, Scillia (bluebells), spray roses with fountain grass.

On the top table we had two smaller ceramic jugs

and two larger ones.

The fabulous fire place was also given a couple of kilner jars and candles.

The cake was beautiful. Quite simple in design but with the blue ribbon and the mixed posy on top it really looked stunning.
The cake table was also decorated with muscari bunches to add extra colour.

The landing outside the room had a table full of family photos and the guest book and as we had a spare jar and forget me nots and muscari left these were added on to the table.

The Old Palace

The Old Palace, King's Room ready and waiting for the happy couple and their guests.

Thank you Hand ties.

Blue hydrangeas, bluebells, Forget me nots, Muscari and roses

This was a fabulous wedding from May last year. One of my favourites to design and create with a lovely mix of seasonal flowers. Susie (bride) wanted a seasonal bouquet of mainly blue flowers and we narrowed the choice down to Forget me nots, Muscari, Hydrangeas and Scillia (bluebells) with spray roses and eucalyptus. All these flowers work really well together in a hand tie design. The stems were bound with ivory ribbon and a lace overlay held in place with pearl headed pins.

Brides Bouquet

The three adult bridesmaids carried a similar bouquet with added larger roses to replace the hydrangers and to add in some ivory to stand out against their blue dresses.

Bridesmaid Bouquet

Flower girl bouquet

The two flower girls carried a small hand tie of spray roses, muscari, forget me nots and scillia. All the stems were bound as per the brides with ivory satin ribbon and lace.

Grooms Buttonhole

Rose and Muscari buttonhole

Susie requested lots of varying buttonholes for the groom, best man and ushers. The grooms was a single ivory rose with hydrangea florets, a scillia head, a couple of muscari and sprig of eucalyptus and fountain grass.
The ushers wore a single ivory rose with muscari, ruscus and fountain grass.

Also different designs for the ladies. All were labelled up on the day with the persons name and relationship to the couple. This saved any worry for the bride and ensured all wore the correct flower.

Wrist corsge

Brides bouquet

All boxed up and ready for delivery to the lovely bride.

Lincolnshire Pride and Lincolnshire Echo articles

 I am very happy to have my Small Business Sunday win from Theo Paphitis in two publications, both out on the same day!!
Above is the article in The Lincolnshire Pride magazine under County news (page 6). You can see a copy of the magazine by clicking here.
Below is from The Lincolnshire Echo in the Business section. To see the latest news click here

Mumblings and planning

Everyone needs a holiday!! I write this while waiting for tea to be cooked on our last night away, it may be posted at a later date. Why the exclamation marks? Well, sometimes you get so focused on being there to answer the phone and emails that you forget and so do those that are trying to get in touch. It has been a good week with a small amount of work done whenever I can fit it in, but I have come to realize that things need to change. Indeed this morning I was ready to give up entirely!!!! A comment from someone quite innocent brought matters to a head and I was ready to call it a day.
I now know I need to focus my time on those things that matter and not spend hours on social media, for example. I am here if you need me, I will answer any questions you have on flowers and am more than happy to do so. BUT certain aspects of 24hr a day contact need to be stood down. I will answer at any reasonable hour but not at 11pm on a Saturday night and I will be un following certain groups as most clients on there are looking for cheap, again I have no problem with people on tight budgets but please compare like for like and not just the cheapest. We all have a living to make and with more brides being let down with companies providing shoddy work or simply not turning up I ask you all to research companies properly. Speak to them and I would advise meeting them in person and looking through portfolios and not taking a basic web listing or photos on social media as examples of their work. Again I know of groups who time and again are banning companies who steal photos from others.

But enough of that:
To focus on Sandra's Flower Studio.
I will be, hopefully, posting 5 posts a week. I'm setting a target of a mix of wedding flowers I have created, wedding inspiration and not just flowers, and a round up of what's on

For now I am leaving you with a couple of photos of the view I have and it is stunning.

Take care
Sandra x

Thrumpton Hall wedding open day

 Yesterday I was exhibiting at Thrumpton Hall wedding open day. This was my stand in the large marquee.

 I based my designs on spring and kept the colours fairly neutral. The first bouquet was a hand-tie of ivory roses with bouvardia and amaryllis with ginesta and pitto. The stems were bound fully with ivory satin ribbon with a lace overlay.

 The second bouquet was another hand-tie of white tulips, yellow sol d'or and ginesta with eucalyptus. The stems were bound with yellow ribbon. This is a gorgeous scented bouquet.

 One of the table centres was my new candelabras. This time I thought I would create a ring of flowers around the base. This had ivory roses, spray roses, freesia, stallion chrysants and ginesta. A mix of eucalyptus and pitto foliage.

 I also decided to create a flower crown of orchids, roses, mimosa and ginesta with eucalyptus and ivy. These are getting very popular in fashion shoots and with brides.

 Another table centre was one of my new black urns. This was designed to match in with the spring bouquet with tulips and sol d'or mixed foliage and birch twigs. This was sat on a large mirror with my star tea light holders.

My view yesterday, this was fairly late on when most people had gone from the marquee.

 A couple of views from around the hall. The lake at the front of the hall

 and the view of some of the gardens. It must look stunning on a beautiful summers day, rather than a cold, wet wintry one.

To see Thrumpton Halls own blog post on the event click here

Booking a wedding flower consultation

Consultations are now being booked for weddings both in 2014 and 2015. Some dates are full for this year so if you are thinking of asking me to be involved in your special day, don't leave it too long to get in touch. Interest is also high for 2015, it's never to early to start looking for your suppliers.

I come and see you either at home or at your venue, if appropriate, or we can meet in a cafe or a quiet bar to discuss your requirements. I ask for a few details to help know what books and photos to bring, such as:

Colours

Style, modern, traditional, glitzy, glamour, vintage, minimal, country etc

Venue for both service and reception

Budget

Items required, brides bouquet, bridesmaids, buttonholes, corsages, church displays, venue displays

You don't need to know the answers to all these or indeed know exactly what you require but an idea helps. (If you are having your ceremony at a hotel, say, I needn't bring my church portfolio)

I am happy to talk to you whether you know what you want or not. I am here to help you decide.

Please remember I am exhibiting at several wedding fayres this year, starting with Thrumpton Hall tomorrow. So if you would like to see examples of my work first, please come along and have a chat.

Thrumpton Hall Wedding Open day

Don't forget, I shall be exhibiting at Thrumpton Hall wedding open day this Sunday 11am - 3pm. Come along and see some gorgeous flowers. I will be in the marquee but the Hall is open for a look around too!

Woodland Waters

 Jenny's reception was at Woodland Waters. This is a holiday and fishing park with a large function room and has lovely views across the lake.
To give the aisle some focus Jenny asked for an archway with a foliage garland and germinis. The sides and back are covered in ivory organza.

 The registrars table had a similar garland of ruscus foliage and germinis as did the officials table below. These were later, along with a third piece, set along the top table.

 The guest tables each had a small hanging birdcage, provided by the bride, with a single germini in the centre.

 I also provided thank you bouquets and a special one (below) for a guests anniversary.