Natasha and Dan were married on 26 June 2017 at the beautiful Newland Hall in Chelmsford (my second wedding there in June) Tasha booked me to do her flowers almost exactly a year before the date of her wedding, and I remember the consultation well as she brought along her mum, sister and nan so we couldn't all fit in my workshop! It was also bucketing down with rain so walking down the garden didn't sound all that appealing anyway! As a side note, booking your florist a year before your big day is actually a great time to do so as you'll get a better idea of what kinds of flowers are around at that time of year.

​Tasha had an all white colour scheme for most of her flowers, except for her bouquet which she had in pinks. For the bridal bouquet I used a combination of 'Keira' David Austin roses, 'primaballerina' roses (one of my favourite varieties!) spray roses, carnations and bouvardia. I also used David Austin roses in the bridesmaid bouquets, this time using the classic 'Patience'. There was then A LOT of gyp everywhere else! I used close to 300 stems to create the table centrepieces, chair ends and heart for the gazebo, along with the bouquets and buttonholes. It was lovely getting to decorate the gazebo and ceremony area, a lot of brides don't go for decorations in this area as you don't really spend a lot of time here but if you can incorporate the flowers into the reception decor after then it's definitely worth it - in this case the chair ends were designed in little jam jars so they could then be lined up along the top table after the ceremony.

The lovely Alana from Petal and Wild came along to help with the designing, again to help her build her experience with weddings. She even snapped a cheeky photo of me hard at work which you can see below! Working with gyp is so time consuming so I was very grateful for her help.

​I've been asked by a few brides now for different ways to preserve their bouquets or to make their flowers into keepsakes. So I thought I'd bring a few different suggestions together into one place. I haven't personally used any of the companies listed here myself but I do know brides who have/other florists who have recommended them to me. If you have any other companies/preservation ideas to recommend then please let me know!

I've recently been sent this infographic, which is obviously American but it gives some good ideas. I'm intrigued by the microwave one so if anyone has tried it then I'd love to know how it went!

www.preciouspetals.co.uk

This company dries whole bouquets/buttonholes and puts them into a frame, and they have some gorgeous work on their Facebook page. 

www.3dflowerpreservation.com

This is another company that has some lovely dried and framed bouquets on their website.

www.flowerpreservationworkshop.co.uk

I've been following this company on Instagram for a while now, and last summer one of my brides used their services to make a Pandora style charm using her wedding flowers. They also make stunning paperweight mementos if you're looking for something that includes samples of your wedding flowers without taking up too much space in your home.

Tanya and Wayne were married on Thursday 1 June 2017 at the beautiful Newland Hall in Chelmsford. They chose a peach, coral and ivory theme for their flowers which included roses, peonies, hydrangea, hypericum, spray roses, astilbe and astrantia. 

I got to use some new tall conical vases for the table centrepieces, I think they looked fab and I now can't wait to use them again! We combined the tall vases with some lower sweet jar style vases, which meant that the tall arrangements didn't dominate the centre of the room. I also made the bouquets, corsages and buttonholes, and I'm still loving those wooden crates as a backdrop for the photos! 

Tanya looks gorgeous in her dress and her bridesmaid daughter is just lovely. And based on the below review I'd say she was happy! 

"I have just had the pleasure of having Hannah make my flowers for my wedding day and they were absolutely stunning. I just keep looking at them and don't want them to die 😢 The large centre pieces were amazing and my grooms button hole was beautiful I cannot fault them at all. Hannah just has a way of making them look fantastic, and I loved the rustic feel to them. I really was in love with my bouquet and will never forget it 😍 My venue told me that they were some of the best flowers they have ever seen there and it's been an established wedding venue for many years. Thank you Hannah Louise Curson for making my day xxx"

I now can't wait to see the professional photos from Goldlight Photography!