Picture the scene. It's a scorching hot summer's day in Manchester. The sky is blue and the light is bouncing and reflecting off of every surface. It's humid. I can feel the warm air and I'm growing concerned about our special delivery.
I'm in an absolute panic because the heat is beginning to effect the fresh flowers ready for installation in the back of our van. As we drive through the gates and into the car park of Victoria Warehouse I breath a sigh of relief as I realise it's nice and shady and only a short walk into the building.
Wedding days are some of my most stressful as a florist. You never know what situation beyond your control will be thrown at you. Today's enemy is the intense heat.
Image: Wedding Ceremony in the Tiled Pool
As we walk into the building I immediately felt uplifted, the light was streaming through the glass roof, illuminating the beautiful tiles and features of the baths. Although a little concerned about the heat affecting the flowers, ultimately there wasn't much I could do about this. I made sure all the flowers had plenty of water to drink and began setting up.
Image: Reception Table Flowers
This wedding had been in the works for over a year and it meant a lot to me as these guys were one of the first couples who booked our wedding services and were super supportive of my work.
Sharean & Becky were very clear in their direction and explained that they wanted something really fun, different and creative. They gave me a basic colour scheme of reds, pinks and oranges and flowers they definitely wanted to be included such as sunflowers. They also sent me lots of different images to get a good idea of what they had in mind. Then they tasked me with designing something unique for them.
Image: Cake Table Polaroid
Being allowed to just go for it and use my own creativity on jobs like this is amazing and so appreciated. The trust they had in me to be able to fulfil their wedding vision was wonderful. I'm confident in my abilities after being a florist for so long but it's not often your clients are. As they say, trust the process and the results will speak for themselves.
Sharean & Becky wanted a bright, fun, vibrant wedding so we opted for a colour scheme of burgundy, orange and pink with a hint of other bright colours such as yellow, purple and blue. We combined a mixture of light and dark tones to create a floral scape with depth and used different types of flowers, seasonal and exotic, to create lots of texture, form and interest.
Image: Alter Installation
Flower Recipe
The flowers we chose for this cool, colourful wedding were;
- Delphiniums
- Roses
- Spray Roses
- Kniphofia
- Scabiosa
- Limonium
- Celosia
- Amaranthus
- Tagetes
- Hydrangea
- Anthurium
- Dahlia
- Sweet Peas
- Astilbe
- Asparagus Fern
- Gloriosa
- Cornflower
Image: Wedding Couple on the Stairs
The flowers actually lasted really well considering the heat. On the whole we chose stems that would be able to tolerate those kinds of temperatures. The stems that concerned me the most were the Hydrangeas but these were absolutely fine. The flowers that didn't do as well were the Astilbe, Amaranthus, Gloriosa and Sweet Peas. The Amaranthus and Astilbe are both what I describe as fluffy flowers and these reacted to the high temperature by slightly shrivelling. The Gloriosa darkened and the Sweet Peas drooped. But, not to a noticeable point! Unless you're a florist and are highly critical and super observant.
Sharean & Becky wrote me an outstanding review after the wedding, they didn't notice anything at all about wilting flowers so I'm sure it's just my nature of being a perfectionist. The morning after when collecting the vases from the venue, the majority of flowers still looked in great condition and the couple took them home to keep.
At least from now on I have it in my knowledge bank to be super wary of summer weddings in hot venues and plan flower suggestions accordingly. I'm still learning new tips about different flowers after all these years.
Image: Guests Welcomed after the Ceremony
As I looked around the baths on the day of the wedding, I was enamoured with all the little touches S&B had put together for their big day. It looked truly whimsical and joyful. There were bright pops of colour everywhere and every supplier they chose were impeccable. They even created a supplier list for their guests which I thought was such a lovely idea. It's really tough for small business wedding suppliers to compete with the big boys so we appreciated this very much.
Image: Supplier List
All independents, Sharean & Becky did an incredible job of finding these great suppliers.
Hair by Alex @HAIRBYALEXANDRAMOON
Sharean's Dress @JEANJACKSONCOUTURE
Pizza Truck @DOUGHDISCIPLES
Cakes @MEETCUTECAKES_
Ice Cream @GINGERSCOMFORT
Photography @JENNIFERDAVYDAYPHOTOGRAPHY
Videographer @RBROOKESFILM
Celebrant @ELEANORTHECELEBRANT
DJ & Band @THEUNTOLDORCHESTRA
Sharean's dress by Jean Jackson was absolutely gorgeous and would be something I'd wear on my wedding day. The cakes by Meet Cute looked so kitsch and complimented our flowers. Everything exuded colour and vibrance. Eleanor the Celebrant was a joy to speak to while setting up and Jen's photography was on point and caught the magic of the day so well. Every image in this post is by Jen.
Image: Cake Table
What We Made
Overall I'd consider this a medium sized wedding in terms of flowers.
We made a bridal bouquet, 4 best babes bouquets, 7 buttonholes, alter flowers and a backdrop plus around 40 table bud vases.
The Bridal Bouquet
For Sharean's Bridal Bouquet we used mostly dominant focal flowers with the odd fluffy flowers for texture. She didn't want anything too big and overpowering so we went for a medium sized bunch that still packed a punch!
Image: Just Married with Bridal Bouquet
We used some neutral coloured flowers to offset the vibrant tones as we didn't want to create a neon effect. The focal Anthuriums and Dahlias did the job for this while the Delphs and Cornflower injected that bright pop of blue. We bound the bouquet with a bright pink trailing satin ribbon to match the Sweet Peas and Celosia and tie everything together, literally.
The Buttonholes
You might notice some unusual looking roses throughout the wedding with strange petals. These have been inwards flexed! We did this for all the buttonholes to offer something unique and unusual.
Image: Becky Wearing her Buttonhole and Saying the Words
For Becky's bridal buttonhole we added a little extra flower content to make it more luscious and interesting than the others. The colour of these Roses were a perfect match for the colour scheme. The peach really popped against the hot pinks accents.
The Best Babes
They're not bridesmaids, they're best babes! I think I'm going to use this terminology from now on. It's more gender neutral and I'm here for it.
Image: Best Babe Walks to the Aisle with her Bridesmaid Bouquet
For the Best Babes we made smaller versions of Sharean's Bridal Bouquet using roughly a stem of each flower. Here the Sunflower was the star of the show, placed front and centre. The best babes looked beautiful and the flowers popped against the girls vibrant dresses.
Alter Backdrop and Arrangement
To create an alter at the venue we custom cut some MDF boards to act as a backdrop. We painted these in three shades of pink to match the pink accents throughout the wedding.
Image: Alter Arrangement and Custom MDF Backdrop
This was my favourite design to create on this wedding. It's so unique and eye catching and sums up our style of floristry perfectly.
The arrangements were made with no floral foam, instead using sustainable chicken wire mechanics.
After the ceremony this was then transferred into the other pool where the reception was being held.
Table Flowers
For their wedding reception, Sharean & Becky had 10 tables to decorate, situated in the other pool at Victoria Baths. The tables were to have red and pink accents so the flowers had to compliment and stand out against the different elements they chose such as table runners, table name signs, candles and sunglasses.
Image: Guests Sat Enjoying Food at the Reception
Because there was a lot of items going on the table and they still needed space for the food, we chose to make bud vases.
Image: Table Name Sign and Flower Bud Vases
These could then be arranged around the table and not get too much in the way of food and other items.
We used a selection of various stems which had been used in the alter installation and in the bouquets.
Image: Colourful Bud Vase Table Flowers
Roughly three or four stems were placed in each vase. The vases we used were ribbed glass in colours of purple, orange and pink to match the flower colour scheme.
In the end the day was a huge success. I needed not stress at all. Even though it was the hottest day of the year the flowers still looked amazing and got so many compliments. I received one of the best reviews I've ever had from Sharean & Becky and it meant the world to me and my little business. The feedback has been more than I could have asked for and next years bookings are coming in fast, including a spectacular colourful seasonal wedding at Victoria Baths.
Much love,
Liv
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