The thought came to me, or should I say to my friend Daniella, when she was doing my makeup on the morning of my wedding. She said “you know what you need, you need to do a photoshoot. Do some gorgeous flowers, get a professional photographer, some beautiful models, I’ll do make up, that’ll really get your name out there as a wedding and event florist in Cheshire” and with that the seed was planted.
I put out the feelers and secured the location of Delamere Manor, a wedding and event venue known for its luxury with both modern aspects within the main house and some magical old stone out buildings. A perfect mix for my floristry style, allowing for homegrown classic ingredients, where possible, teamed with a modern twist on natural floristry.
Then I contacted my friend Sarah of Sarah Horton Photography who I had worked with before and who I knew was an incredible photographer. So I asked if she would be interested in photographing the shoot and my luck was in, she said yes! By this point I was starting to get excited. I was securing a team of talented passionate young women and they believed enough in the project to give their time free of charge.
By this point Daniella of Daniella Robinson LTD had been in touch with the incredible Vicky of Vicky M Hair and she was on board also. Then it was time for the all important wedding dress. I had known already that Sara from The Bridal Lounge in Cuddington had an incredible eye for modern, classy whilst still edgy wedding dresses so I asked if she would be interested in collaborating and not only was she interested but she also provided us with one of our beautiful models Lydia. Our second model was a strike of luck, an ex-lawyer colleague of mine who just happened to fit the brief……beautiful, confident, photogenic! Sold!!!
And there we had it. The dream team!
Now as a wedding and event florist I love prepping for weddings and getting everything ready for my bride but there was something different about this. The brief was entirely up to me, my style, my colour choice, my design……I was in heaven. I had free reign to properly exploit this Cheshire venue and to use any flowers and greenery of my choosing to truly test and prove my abilities.
As a firm believer in embracing the seasons and using home grown materials available to you in your surroundings, I decided to use red tones to mimic the changing leaves of an English autumn and some crisp pale roses which complimented the deep reds and burgundy beautifully but also because it is a very popular colour choice at the moment and I can certainly see why! My wedding floristry style is wild and natural with an emphasis of being as environmentally friendly as possible. I’m always looking for ways to achieve gorgeous wedding and event flowers with as little impact on the environment as possible. I’m passionate about using local products and greenery in order to lower my carbon footprint, to encourage sustainability and to support British growers. In fact I’m making it my goal to be able to prove and also demonstrate that lavish wedding floristry can be achieved in an environmentally friendly way which is workable to a client’s budget and can still look incredible and jaw dropping. I am fortunate enough to live in the Cheshire countryside and I’m surrounding by inspiration and forageable material which I feel gives me a great basis for my wedding floristry business and also acts as a constant source of inspiration.
So I spent the night before constructing my bouquets and filling my car with cuttings of various trees teamed with hydrangeas from the neighbours garden (I promise I asked first), a few bunches of eycalyptus and some roses. That teamed with a roll of chicken wire and a packed lunch I was ready for the morning.
The day passed by in a whirlwind of fragrant greenery, blush vintage roses, lace, diamontes and red lipstick giving at times a very vampish dramatic feel and at others a soft romantic feel. All that was left was to await the end result, the all important photographs, and did Sarah deliver! She truly is an incredible wedding photographer.
I am immensely proud of what this group of women was able to achieve when armed with their incredible talents, some imagination and each other! Each and everyone of these ladies gave it their all and the end result was phenomenal in my opinion.
And with that there’s talk of more photoshoots already. A dream team has well and truly been formed. So watch this space.
Thank you once more to all those involved. I couldn’t have done it without you xxx
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