Real Wedding: A Blooming British New Year’s Bash

For most, a spring or summer wedding is the ideal time – long days with lots of light for beautiful photographs, everything is easier when the weather is dry, a glass of fizz goes down exceptionally well, and the choice of British flowers is unlimited.
But with the right set up, a New Year’s wedding really is the ultimate end of year party that all of your friends and family are invited to! It’ll be a NYE your guests won’t forget in a hurry, they’ll be talking about it for years to come!

In September I received an email from Kate about their wedding flowers – they wanted local British blooms to adorn their venue, but they were also limiting themselves with this request because they were getting married on New Years Eve, in the middle of winter when we don’t have an awful lot of choice when it comes to fresh British flowers.

This wasn’t going to stop us putting together a fabulous array of arrangements though. We just had to get creative!

Kate and Will loved the look of dried flowers and were also really keen on my suggestion of mixing a few fresh blooms and foliage with the dried florals to elevate their arrangements, giving them a fresher feel and still lifting the wedding space with amazing fragrance. Yes, we may have terribly long wet winters in the UK, but we still have fresh flowers blooming from tulips, to narcissi, to alstroemeria.

We talked through various designs, including installations to frame them as they wed, and in their personalised quote I offered different options at a range of price points right through from buckets of DIY flowers to arches and milk churns.
Ultimately, with their budget in mind, they choose to have their personal flowers (bouquets, buttonholes and corsages) created by me, and then buckets of flowers to create their own tables, windows, and bar arrangements. They also asked for some advice with regards to foraging their own greenery in the days leading up to their wedding as a relaxing activity to do together before tying the knot – which I thought was so lovely!

Now, here’s the trick: Kate and Will had their wedding at The Gathering Barn in Wiltshire – a stunning venue set in the remote countryside surrounded by the most amazing views. This venue offers full weekend hire with a huge horseshoe shaped building encompassing separate spaces for dining (with mezzanine floor), your ceremony, bar area with sofas and a fire place, and a kitchen for your caterers; plus an extra farmhouse kitchen and spacious cottage accommodation for you and your party to get ready, AND another house for extra guests plus lawns to camp and play games. It gives you full free reign to create your wedding exactly the way you want it.
With this in mind Kate and Will knew they had the time to set up their flowers the day before their wedding as a fun activity with their closest friends and family.

I delivered their DIY flowers the day before their wedding, and then went back on the day to drop their personal flowers in and have a chat as they were having their hair done by Abi Blake Hair. I got to see their DIY handiwork and the whole venue just looked incredible!

I met with Kate again a few weeks after their wedding day to hear all about it (one of my favourite bits) and she told the she just loved that, with dried flowers, they were able to take everything home and place in vases, (vases that I supplied with their bouquets for them to keep, something I offer all my couples) go off on their minimoon and come home to a house filled with blooms that are already preserved and can be kept forever.

This was a dream wedding that I loved every minute of! No matter how big or small, I am here to create a plan with you, that works for you.

Get in touch today to start your floral journey with me:

P.S. Want to know my other favourite bit about weddings? (It’s not just about the flowers with me). Being privy to your wedding plans before anyone else – it is such a privilege to know what’s going on behind the scenes. Kate and Will actually had a small, private, and very relaxed ceremony with a celebrant the day before their main event. It was kept quiet even from their closest friends as a surprise on the day – and was it ever a surprise! Then, when all the guests had taken their seats for the real ceremony, their best friend, and his great sense of humour, took his place at the front of barn and led their ceremony to the surprise and amusement of their guests, and all round best celebration of their lives!

If you do let me in on these little touches, don’t worry – your secret is safe with me! x

Photos by David Scamell Photography
And I know I don’t have any pictures of the food but it was amazing and produced by Vaughan’s Kitchen. They were very highly spoken of.