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Flowers for a wedding

Almost a year ago, I was busy planning flowers for a very special wedding. My cousin’s daughter, Claire, was getting married and there were to be flowers. Lots of them. I was excited to catch her vision of what she wanted, but also anxious as this was only my second experience of planning and arranging wedding flowers.

I worked closely with one of my cousins who, like me, had handled flowers before as we planned out our strategy, which was thwarted once by the coronavirus-COVID19 restrictions (the wedding date had to be moved from July to September) and was shadowed by an increasing number of cases and the potential of further last-minute changes right up to the last few days before the big day. Thankfully everything worked out the day proceeded as planned and was beautiful – but back to the flowers…

First up there was the floral arch. Providing the backdrop to the ceremony, this was to be colourful and bright and was to use silk flowers as it had to be transported to the venue three days before the wedding day. Using flowers and foliage from Ikea, Dunelm and the Range, we were able to design and construct the arch using a framework expertly prepared by the bride’s father and the bride herself.

And here it is in action:

Photograph by Alba Turnbull (official wedding photographer - @albaturnbull)

A smaller silk arrangement was designed for the welcome sign:

The week before the wedding we developed a schedule for cutting and conditioning flowers and foliage from the beautiful garden at the bride’s family home (we had tested the longevity of the cut stems the previous week to get the timings right). We also set about purchasing fresh blooms from Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury and Tesco, having previously worked out how long it took for tight buds to burst open into bloom.

The day before the wedding, we sequestered ourselves in a large work shed at the family home and set to work on 12 candelabra rings and 12 posies for the tables in the reception area of the venue where the wedding was to be held.


We transported the well-watered arrangements very nervously in two cars on the morning of the wedding, surviving potholes, twisting country lanes and a major traffic diversion due to roadworks. Arriving early, we were able to put everything in place just in time for the ceremony.

Photograph by Alba Turnbull (official wedding photographer - @albaturnbull)

Photograph by Alba Turnbull (official wedding photographer - @albaturnbull)

The bride’s mother had planted many beautiful pots for the end of the rows in the ceremony room, with the floral arch and the table-centres and posies, the wedding manager for the day said in his years at the venue, he hadn’t seen a wedding with so many flowers!

The final task was to prepare and arrange some silk blooms on the wedding cake – one of the arrangements I think worked out really well in it’s simplicity.

I had also been asked to prepare table numbers, the welcome sign and table plan to the bride’s design using white ink on acrylic sheets. This was a first for me and I was glad I had a spare off-cut to practice writing on and removing mistakes from! In the end, I think they turned out OK – everyone was able to take their place at the right tables, so it must have been fine.

What a wonderful time we had, from being involved in the planning and preparation to being privileged to be part of such a special day with wonderful family and friends. Thank you, Claire and Karl.

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