Hemswell Court burgundy fish bowls

The reception of the wedding from yesterday's post (here) was held at the fabulous Hemswell Court. The bride wanted to continue the theme of the flowers through the designs but wanted to keep them compact on the table. Fish bowls (these are 10" bowls) were decided on and as it was a winter wedding candles added.

We used roses, calla lily, dahlia and thistles with eucalyptus foliage within the bowl on most of the guest tables.

Hemswell court nearly ready for the wedding breakfast.

The bridesmaid bouquets were also utilised for the top table, a round table, and for the main family table. These would be placed in the fish bowl as below for a larger, fuller display. Bear grass and crystal glass rocks were added to the bowl for extra interest.

Are you getting married at Hemswell court or do you love these fish bowls? Ask us how we can style your day to totally personalise it to you and your future husband.

A couple of weddings we have styled at Hemswell Court are Here and here for more go to labels on the right and scroll to Venue:Hemswell court.

Using your bridesmaid flowers on the tables can help with budgeting and they do have to go somewhere while the reception takes place so make the most of them. We have more options to double up on flower designs to save you money.

Take that first step and book a consultation today to start your wedding flower planning journey.

Sandra x

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Burgundy bridal party flowers

This was a fabulous wedding from last November, the bride met me at one off the wedding fayres I exhibited at earlier in the year. She was quite specific on all aspects of the day, from colour, flowers used and style and hopefully we got there with these lovely displays.

The bride's bouquet was an overarm hand tie design, quite heavy with the flowers used but looked lovely when held. The flat bouquet doesn't necessarily do it justice.

Included were cymbidium orchids, lilies, calla lily, roses, thistle, dahlia and gunnii eucalyptus.

The roses had diamante pins to add a little sparkle.

The bridesmaid bouquets were of roses, calla lily, thistles and dahlia with eucalyptus.

All bouquets were tied together with a large silver bow.

The two flower girls carried a single rose with a diamante pin and ribbon covering the whole stem and a bow with trails for decoration.

The buttonholes were kept really simple, with a dahlia flower and couple of sprigs of eucalyptus.

The brides flowers all ready for presentation at the venue.

We always present the flowers to the bride that way we know we have got the designs right for her vision.

If you love these colours or style and would like to discuss how we can recreate this to suit your day then get in touch to book a consultation with me either here at the studio, at your venue or somewhere else convenient to suit you.

Sandra x

Gerbera - Flower of the Month - April

Gerbera in the April Flower Agenda

In April, we mark Easter and the arrival of new life: the perfect occasion for a colourful flower. With its cheerful appearance, the gerbera is the ideal candidate to make celebrations extra special this month. Consumers can read all about this versatile flower at Funnyhowflowersdothat.co.uk. 
 

Origin of the gerbera
The gerbera is an unscented flower which is part of the Asteraceae family. It originates from South Africa, Asia, South America and Tasmania. Some 900 million gerberas a year are produced in the Netherlands with 600 different varieties of colour, shape and size. She’s a very popular lady!

The gerbera’s colours and shapes 
If you think of gerberas, you think of colour! The gerbera’s basic colours are white, red, yellow, pink, purple, orange and green. The flower is also available bicoloured, multi-coloured, and in various colours derived from basic primary colours. The flower’s beautiful heart can be black or green. In other words: there’s plenty of choice when it comes to colour! The shape is always cheerful: single and double flowered, pom-pom and spider shapes. Have you noticed that when a child draws a flower, it’s always in the shape of a gerbera?

Caring for gerberas 

• Trim the stem diagonally with a sharp knife.
• Use a clean (glass) vase and fill it with approx. 7 cm of tap water at room temperature. Use cut flower food for a mixed bouquet.
• Ensure the right ambient temperature (max. 20 °C).
• Do not place gerberas in a draught, in full sun or near central heating.
• Regularly top the vase up with tap water. 

Symbolism of the gerbera 
The gerbera has no symbolic meaning, but why should that matter? With its colourful and sunny appearance it instantly makes your home a cheerful and welcoming place. Its presence means: you make everything more beautiful!

A few questions we get asked a lot about these gorgeous flowers

Question 1: Gerberas come in all sorts of colours, but how many different colours are there actually?

Gosh, there are so many you can't even count them… Gerberas really do come in hundreds of different colours. They can be single-coloured, but also multi-coloured. The gerbera's heart is also colourful; it can be green or black. The most popular colours are orange, yellow, red, purple, salmon, white, pink and bi-coloured.

Question 2: Gerberas can get quite large. What makes a gerbera 'standard' or 'mini'?

First some background: gerberas are part of the plant family Asteraceae and come in three types. These are: large-flowered varieties (standard gerbera), small-flowered varieties (mini gerbera) and specialties. If a gerbera has a diameter of between 6 and 8 cm, it is classified as a mini gerbera. A standard gerbera ranges between 9.5 and 13cm. There are also gerberas with a diameter of some 15cm, incidentally!

Question 3: My gerberas’ heads are drooping a bit. What can I do?

Let us give you the golden tip for perking them up!

• Start by cleaning your vase thoroughly. Use bleach for this.
• Put fresh water in the vase, but be careful: too much water is not good, since the stems can then start to rot.
• Cut another piece off the bottom of the stems and then return the gerberas to the vase. They will be radiant again soon!

Question 4: Sometimes you see a box of gerberas stored upside down at the florist. Why is that?

Gerberas love light. If the light is coming from the right, they will grow to the right. If the light is coming from the left then… well, you can guess the rest. The end result is bent stems. Upside down in the box the gerberas are unable to grow towards the light. In this way your florist is preventing the gerbera stems from growing crooked. Gerberas with bent stems are difficult to use in bouquets or floral work.

Question 5: With which other flowers do gerberas combine well?

Gerberas like to flirt with Fritillaria meleagris (also known as snake's head fritillary), asparagus, lilacs and roses. Another good combination is gerberas with freesias, chrysanthemums and Chaenomeles japonica. Need more inspiration? Ask your florist for advice on which flowers to use to make your own bouquet, or ask them to create an arrangement for you.

Question 6: In the past you saw gerberas with a wire in the stem. Why do you hardly see that nowadays?

That answer is easy: there’s no need any more! The wire was used to strengthen the stem. Nowadays the quality of gerberas is so good that this is no longer necessary. The gerbera remains nice and straight on its own.

Question 7: Gerberas are often used in bouquets. But can I also use them on their own, and if so how?

It's no surprise that gerberas are often used in bouquets. Their colour and shape simply means that they work well in conjunction with other flowers. But the gerbera is also very beautiful on its own. Try putting together a number of bottles, each containing a single gerbera .... guaranteed to provide a colourful spectacle!

Question 8: Are there gerbera plants?

There certainly are! There are gerbera plants for use both indoors and outdoors. You can even enjoy gerberas in the winter, thanks to the hardy garden gerbera.

Question 9: Can they be used for wedding flowers?

Absolutely!! They are our second most popular flowers (after roses). Many florists won't use them, there is a little bit of snobbery when it comes to these flowers, but we will!! And more importantly we love them!!

If you are looking for a bright and bold flower for your bouquet then gerberas are definitely a great choice. Ask us for more details or book a consultation to go through your options.

With thanks to Flower Council of Holland and Funny How Flowers Do That for content.

Sandra x

BFA Conference and British Flower revival

On Sunday after dismantling a wedding from Saturday I set off to go to Crewe Hall for the annual BFA conference.

This is the only Floristry Association we have and I feel it is important to support them so that they in turn can fight our battles in the wider worlds of politics and economics.

We had some lovely speakers from Tim Huckabee on how to improve the workspace environment, Helen Goodwin on advice for visual displays for shop windows and exhibitions (I do it all wrong!!), John Young from The Bank of England on all matters of money and Brexit, Jonas Zwitserlood from Florint on all things social media, Tracy Tomlinson of the Florist Fight Back from The BFA (I wouldn't want to mess with her) and Brian Pope on creating a stronger future for all florists.

There were two others and these were all about the flowers;

Gerben Ravensbergen, a Dutch lily grower on how his farm has evolved from Grandparents setting it up to modern day technology. Who knew chickens would be at the forefront! (Some varieties are at the bottom of this post)

And the one whom I definitely wanted to hear, along with most of the other attendees, was Jonathan Moseley, who many will know from TV appearances. He was speaking on his passion of British Flowers. He is leading the British flower revival and is working closely with various grower organisations and wholesalers to form a network so us independent florists can source and buy these beautiful blooms more easily.

Jonathan and Gerben answering questions

Jonathan being passionate about British Flowers

A few varieties of British flowers available from growers, soon be available to buy from me!

These all smelt divine, so much stronger than their Dutch counterparts.

My favourites, Sweet peas and such strong stems and flowers

Not to be out done, the Dutch lily special varieties. I can source these now when in season, more lovely colour combinations than just white and pink.

These ones were tiny (for lilies) would work really well in bridal bouquets

It was a truly inspiring day. BUT we as an independent business cannot survive without the support of you, our clients. If we can sell flowers, we can support independent growers, who can support the network provided by our wholesalers to support us both. We need customers who want to buy to keep the chain going.

As Jonathan said, why buy those plug in scented oil/fragrance things when you can buy a bunch of British scented flowers and get the joy of the scent and the visual impact of the flowers too.

British Flowers will be available within the next few weeks, if all goes according to plan. If you are looking to buy homegrown flowers for your wedding please get in touch as I can now order and buy with confidence from my wholesalers.

If nothing else was learnt on Sunday (and oh boy, I have a list!!) then this in itself was worth the long trip to Crewe and sitting indoors on such a glorious day!

Keep an eye out on here and Facebook (Sandras Flower Studio) for the latest developments and varieties in stock.

Sandra x

Fish bowls at Hirst Priory

The reception of Monday's blogpost wedding bouquets (here) at the lovely Hirst Priory

The bride already had the fish bowls and mirrors (although you can hire these from us) and provided the sand for the bases.

We were asked to provide 3 ivory roses to float in water with bear grass swirls around the bowl.

Hirst Priory table settings, still a few more details to be added.

The ceremony table was provided by the venue through us as we were bringing the table flowers. Hazel, the wedding planner, knows this is the best way for all designs to match up style and colour wise.

Ivory roses, green carnations, stallion chyrsants and gyp with mixed foliage.

If you are getting married at Hirst Priory and are looking for a florist, whether for simple designs like these or for larger, fuller designs we will be happy to talk through your plans. Please book a consultation today and start your flower journey with us.

Sandra x

Tour of the Wolds cycle race

A few weeks ago I was approached to see if I would like to provide the winners bouquets for the mens and ladies cycle race The Tour of The Wolds and these are the results.

Very happy to have played a small role in this event, it looks like it was an amazing day and well supported locally.

Thanks to Phil Crow for the photos

https://philcrow.com

The winners are

Ladies event;

Elizabeth Banks

Anna Christian

Chanel Mason

Gentlemen event;

Brenton Jones

Steele Von Hoff

Russell Downing

Are you planning an event and require bouquets for winners? Please get in touch and we can discuss flowers, colour schemes and seasonality. Always happy to match corporate colours if necessary. 

We offer a no fuss service and can deliver on the day (with flowers in water) for any type of event.

Sandra x