Here at Passion for Flowers we love seeing our work featured in wedding magazines, especially when we are not expecting it! We opened the latest issue of Wedding Magazine to see a few of our designs inside.
PASSION FOR FLOWERS FEATURED IN WEDDING MAGAZINE
These bright floral designs above are perfect for a summer wedding, we have a lot of couples this year who are keen to add more colour to their weddings. Mixing pinks, blues and greens can look stunning (if you like this idea you may like this wedding). Here we have used hydrangeas, astilbe, peonies, tulips, wax flower and eucalyptus. The bouquet has been tied with vintage lace and a brooch. The centrepiece is in a glass ribbed vase on a tree slice with a couple of apothecary bottles around it.
Are you thinking of having a go at doing your wedding flowers yourself? We have been working with Rock My Wedding to put together some easy to follow step by step guides (see our other step by step tutorials here). Today we show you how to make a floral wedding centrepiece for rustic style weddings using a wooden crate as your container.
STEP BY STEP GUIDE HOW TO MAKE FLORAL WEDDING CENTREPIECES – RUSTIC CRATE
Follow our step by step instructions as this is what you will end up with – perfect for a rustic centrepiece.
To create a relaxed rustic or country style look we have chosen a mix of flowers, including pittosporum, light blue hydrangeas, blue delphiniums, pink wax flower, Sweert Avalanche roses, dahlias, amni and blue veronica.
1. Line the wooden crate with cellophane or even a plastic bag if you don’t have cellophane.
2. Cut a piece of oasis to size and soak in a bucket of water.
3. Place the oasis inside the wooden crate on a plastic oasis tray.
4. Now it is time to starting adding the flowers, to begin with edge the box with your chosen foliage. Here we suggest edging it with the pittosporum and pink wax flower.
5. Once you have added foliage you should position the key flowers in the oasis. So, this is the hydrangeas, roses and dahlias.
6. Remember to cut your stems on a diagonal to increase the surface area which enables them to drink more water.
7. Fill in any gaps with your remaining flowers.
8. As this is going in the centre of you tables, or perhaps running down the centre of a long table make sure you look at it from different angles to make sure there are no gaps. If you find some gaps just fill them in with foliage or any remaining flowers.
This centrepiece is ideal for a relaxed rustic or country wedding. If blue and pinks aren’t your colours you can use different flowers. Have a look at our pinterest board ‘Flower Library – What’s That Flower Called’ to browse some of our favourite wedding flowers, it also tells you which season they are available in. Or if you are having long guest tables rather than round we suggest you make a few of these and line them up down the length of the table, this can also look good on the top table.
Leave us a comment if you have a go at making this, we’d love to hear how you get on and see pictures.
The awards ceremony took place on Thursday evening at Café de Paris in London, both Gemma and I went down to the awards ceremony and spent the evening celebrating with our wedding industry friends and the judges.
PASSION FOR FLOWERS VOTED BEST WEDDING FLORIST ENGLAND
We are absolutely over the moon with this award and want to thank each and every one of our couples who took the time to vote for us.
There is no doubt about it, Passion for Flowers made our wedding. Karen read my mind when I talked about what I wanted and I never expected the flowers and styling to look as amazing as it did on the day. Karen really did go above and beyond what I asked of her, she really is the best in her field.
From the moment I met Karen I knew our flowers and venue were going to look exquisite. Karen is such a wonderful lady and the flowers and our venue looked truly breath taking!
Karen was simply amazing, from helping to bring all our crazy ideas to life, to chats round at her workshop, even on the day she was a calming influence and acted like a true professional helping out in every way possible. The flowers were stunning and really brought our theme to life.
Stunning flowers!!! We were completely overwhelmed by the flower displays at our wedding. The tables looked amazing with the candelabras, the top table garland.My bouquet and bridesmaids were exquisite, I couldn’t have wished for anything more! Karen made our day so special!
Passion For Flowers were excellent. Karen somehow managed to interpret my very sketchy thoughts and ideas and turn them into the flowers of my dreams. She put me completely at ease throughout the whole process and I knew my flowers were in very safe hands. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.
As winter is on it’s way we thought we’d share with you one of our all time favourite winter wonderland weddings. This winter wonderland wedding had a black, white and silver colour palette with a hint of sparkle. We did this wedding back in the winter of 2012 and still love this classic timeless look.
FLOWERS USED AT THIS WINTER WONDERLAND WEDDING
We used white flowers with highlights of black, including frilly honeymoon tulips, white gypsophila, black and white anemones and white hydrangeas. To bring in the silver and sparkle elements to the décor we used mercury silver vases, white and silver branches / twigs as well as fir cones to bring a natural winter look to the tables.
Blue and cream flowers are a gorgeous choice for a wedding and perfectly suited Michelle and Jonathan’s style at their country house wedding at Coombe Abbey.
BLUE HYDRANGEAS AND CREAM ROSES – WEDDING BOUQUETS
The bride chose a blousy wedding bouquet with blue hydrangea and cream roses, I love how the colours were picked up in the porcelain plate.
CREAM ROSE FLOWER GIRL POSY
For the flower girls we created an easy to carry cream rose posy finished with cream ribbon. Small posy wands are just perfect for small hands.
CREAM HYDRANGEAS AND ROSE BRIDESMAIDS BOUQUETS
The older bridesmaids carried cream hydrangea and rose bouquets finished with satin ribbon. As you can see these were also admired by the young flower girls.
BLUE AND CREAM BUTTON HOLES
For the groom we created a soft blue and cream button hole with a snippet of hydrangea and a cream rose perfectly in keeping with his bride’s blue and cream bouquet.The rest of the boys sported cream button holes to match the bridesmaids’ bouquets.
DISPLAY BOUQUETS IN VASES AT YOUR RECEPTION
If you are looking for somewhere to display your bouquets at your reception then do ask your florist for vases, here we left a vase by the guest book so guests could see the bouquets more closely and most importantly on a hot summer day the bouquets stayed lovely and fresh.
Wow what a year it has been! We are now slowing down with only 2 weddings before the New Year so we thought it was time to sit back and reflect on an amazing 2014. We have loved every single wedding we have worked on this year, our brides, grooms and their families have been a pleasure to work with. We love seeing weddings come to life throughout the planning process, from the initial concept at the first consultation to the finished result on the wedding day, reliving again when we see the talented work of so many photographers, each of our weddings has been truly uniqiue.This year we have been privileged to work at some fabulous new venues with both new and established wedding suppliers and friends.
Being voted Best Wedding Florist in the West Midlands at the Wedding Industry Awards for the second year running was a real highlight for us, and we enjoyed celebrating with our team and other industry friends.
This post takes you back through a highlight of some of our favourite wedding moments of 2014.
WEDDING BOUQUETS
WEDDING BUTTONHOLES
CEREMONY FLOWERS
HAIR FLOWERS & FLOWER CROWNS
CENTREPIECES
EXTRA DECORATIONS
VOTED BEST WEDDING FLORIST IN THE WEST MIDLANDS
To see these weddings in more detail browse our blog, you will be able to see full details of the weddings and full credits.
The above photos are by the following photographers with our thanks:
We are delighted to feature one of our most romatic summer weddings. We love Shustoke Farm Barn weddings and were thrilled to meet up with Natalie and her mum earlier in the year to discuss flowers for Natalie and Tom’s late September wedding. When Natalie mentioned she had chosen the amazing Ross Harvey as her photographer we knew the wedding would be beautifully captured.
One of the delights after an early start creating bridal party flowers is delivering them on the day and sharing the excitment as the bride is preparing for her day. The sheer joy and excitment when we presented Natalie with her flowers and finally saw her wonderful dress is a great memory for us all.
The bridal bouquet was a mix of nude pink roses Quicksand, Sweet Avalanche and Bombastic with snippets of texture, the bridesmads carried bouquets with a mix of hydrangea, Quicksand roses and snippets of pittosporum and the bouquets perfectly set off their blush dresses.
BUTTONHOLES
The boys looked elegant in their navy suits and nude pink buttonholes of Quicksand rose with a snippet of pittosporum. We love the tradition of the groom selecting a flower from his brides bouquet.
CREAM JUGS FOR BRIDESMAIDS BOUQUETS
On a hot summers day it is good to have jugs ready for the bridesmaids bouquets to be placed in after the photos. They make a lovely gift for the girls to keep after the wedding day.
Here at Passion for Flowers we love seeing our work in print. A couple of months ago we took our floral designs down to London for a shoot with Wedding Flowers and Accessories Magazine. Here is the finished result – we created mixed blooms in pinks, blues and greens for a bright Summer look.
THE BOUQUET
For the bouquet we created a relaxed hand tied bouquet of pink, white, green and blue hydrangeas with touches of pink astilbe, veronica, wax flowers and seeded eucalyptus. Tied with vintage lace and a brooch.
WHITEWASHED WOODEN CRATE CENTREPIECE
For the centrepiece we used a wooden crate (available from The Wedding of my Dreams) and painted it white. We used similar flowers to the bouquet for a relaxed look. We included mixed colours of hydrangeas, blush pink roses, wax flower, astilbe and eucalyptus.
BUTTONHOLE
The buttonhole was an amnesia rose, snippet of blue hydrangea and eucalyptus tied with rustic twine.
PLACE SETTING
The place setting shown on the green napkin was a small bunch including a snippet of blue hydrangea, blush pink rose, eucalyptus and wax flower tied with twine. These make pretty place settings for the ladies.
This mix of flowers would suits a relaxed wedding, perhaps at a barn or in a marquee during the Spring or Summer. This mix of colours are also perfect if you have chosen a watercolour theme for your wedding.
FAIRYTALE BOUQUET – WHITE WEDDING BOUQUET
Another of our bouquets were also featured within the magazine, this white wedding bouquet is hand tied with lace. We used a mix of white winter flowers for this bouquet including white ranunculus, white hydrangeas and white roses.
As you may be aware we have recently changed to a new blog (when we relaunched our website) this means many of our older but still very popular blog posts are in our archives. If you haven’t had time to scroll through our archives don’t worry, from time to time we repost the most popular blog posts on here for you to see.
This post is filled with spring inspiration, with a blush pink wedding bouquet and flower arch. The delicate blush pink florals used in the garland and bouquet would look stunning and could be incorporated into your wedding if you are getting married in the spring.
BLUSH PINK WEDDING INSPIRATION
As part of the love inspired shoot for Rock My Wedding back in January we created a delicate archway garland to frame the bride, we kept the foliage and flowers whimsical wispy and delicate to complement the beautiful lace wedding dress. We used delicate foliage including pieris with spring catkins as a base for the garland and then wired in the softest pale pink tulips, lisianthus and scented narcissus.
BLUSH PINK WEDDING BOUQUET & FLOWER ARCH
The small delicate blush pink bridal bouquet posy was a spring mix of narcissi, ranunculus, palest blush pink lisianthus and snippets of delicate blush pink broom hand tied with textured ribbon with a blush pink satin overlay, finished with a bow. This mix is perfect for a blush pink spring wedding.
Another of our DIY tutorials was featured on Rock My Wedding this week. If you are thinking of making your own wedding centrepieces or maybe your Christmas dining table centrepieces then have a look at these easy to follow instructions. This step by step guide shows how to make a floral centrepiece using a ring of oasis, we have added a mercury silver hurricane vase to the centre for a rustic glamour look with ribbed silver tea light holders to finish. You can change the flowers and central lantern to create a floral centrepiece of a different style using the same guidelines.
For example you could use a clear glass hurricane vase or ribbed glass lantern in the centre, or for a more rustic look perhaps a bark lantern.
STEP BY STEP GUIDE HOW TO MAKE FLORAL WEDDING CENTREPIECES – RUSTIC GLAMOUR
To keep this example simple and stylish we have used four ingredients, you can use more if you wish. We used eucalyptus (a lovely grey / green tone for winter), brunia (grey balls to add textures and soft tones), thistles (these add more texture and bring in a subtle blue tone) and finally fluffy white hydrangeas.
The above example is perfect for a rustic winter or rustic glamour wedding. Alternatively you could use different flowers for different seasons.
Spring example: for a pink and white scented spring wedding we suggest white ranunculus, soft pink freesias (adding a lovely scent), blush pink Sweet Avalanches Roses and greenery of your choice, seeded eucalyptus would look stunning. You could lighten with sprigs of gypsophila.
Summer example: for a peach and green toned summer wedding we suggest peach Juliet David Austin roses, cream David Austin roses, Wizard Of Oz Dahlias, tanacetum daisies and vibrant green amni and alchemilla mollis.
Autumn example: for a nude, grey and bronze toned autumn wedding we would suggest dusty miller, large cafe au lait dahlias, Quicksand roses, brunia, olive foliage and scabious seed pods.
We love seeing our work in print, this wedding at South Farm was one of our favourite weddings of the year, Leanne runs Blooming Lovely Films, as she films beautiful weddings as her job we knew her wedding was going the be amazing – and it was, with incredible photography by Ross Harvey. We are thrilled to see this wedding featured in Wedding Magazine.
See our full write up on this rustic elegant wedding here. Leanne wore a delicate flower crown, they had a nude and dusky pink colour palette with flowers on the vespa, arches and garlands for the outdoor ceremony, and rustic florals in elegant vases on the tables.
LEANNE & DAVID’S RUSTIC ELEGANT WEDDING FEATURED IN WEDDING MAGAZINE
Wow!!! Here at Passion for Flowers we can’t believe it, we have been voted the BEST wedding florist in the West Midlands for a second year in a row in the 2015 Wedding Industry Awards. The awards ceremony took place at one of our favourite venues, Mythe Barn and we spent the evening celebrating with our team (unfortunately not Gemma, who is still out in New York but was keeping a close eye on the results on twitter). When they called out our name as the winner the whole room cheered, it was so amazing to share this moment with so many of our industry friends.
BEST WEDDING FLORIST IN WEST MIDLANDS 2015 WEDDING INDUSTRY AWARDS
We are absolutely over the moon with this award and want to thank each and every one of our couples who took the time to vote for us. We haven’t read your comments yet as have now made it through to the National Finals and will take samples of our work down to Fetcham Park for further judging.
THE RESULTS: THE WEDDING INDUSTRY AWARDS 2015 – WEST MIDLANDS WINNERS
I just love weddings with lots of details and personal touches. Steffi and Dan came down with their families to meet me and tell me about the Pride and Prejudice inspired wedding they were planning just perfect for the setting in The Cloisters at Coombe Abbey.
I loved the idea of incorporating The Second World War ideas and bringing in both their personalities to create a very personal and memorable wedding day truly reflecting them as a couple.
WHITE PEONY BOUQUET – WHITE WEDDING FLOWERS
A white peony bouquet was created to give Steffi the romantic look she was after.
WHITE HYDRANGEA BOUQUETS – WHITE WEDDING FLOWERS
For the bridesmaids we chose fluffy hdrangea bouquets and added ribbon to match their beautiful vintage dresses. I just love the stylish look finished with pearl bracelets.
WHITE ROSE BUTTON HOLES
Dan looked dashing in his Union Jack bow tie teamed with a white rose button hole and pocket square.
WEDDING CEREMONY – CANDELABRA LINING THE AISLE
The room was enhanced with silver candelabra draped with pearls lining the aisle for a romantic setting for the wedding ceremony.
CANDELABRA WEDDING CENTREPIECES – WHITE WEDDING FLOWERS
The magestic candelabra were set at the end of the top table and we added a floral ring of pure white flowers including hydrangeas, peonies, white garden roses, delphiniums and tulips perfect for a May wedding. The fireplace provides a great backdrop and needs opulent flowers on the top table. A large centre piece was created and we added vases of flowers, tea lights and stacks of books collected by the bride.
The guest tables had books for the guests, they had been asked their favourite book in the invitation and the bride had searched for the relevant books. Vases of flowers filled the space on the tables and the elegant candlelight completed the look.
Victoria and Richard had a beautiful wedding at Hampton In Arden Church followed by a wonderful reception at Hampton Manor. This summer wedding had a vintage country garden style to it, including highlights of pink, peach and white to complement the mint green bridesmaids dresses.
PEACH AND PINK WEDDING BOUQUETS
For the bridal and bridesmaids bouquets we added highlights of peach and pink flowers which look stunning during the summer months. We used dahlia Cafe au Lait, a mix of vintage roses in creams, soft and deeper pink and peach tones of Magic Avalanche, Pearl Avalanche, scented Kiera garden roses, astrantia, eucalyptus and olive foliage with rosemary for a relaxed look. Long trailing ribbons completed the look.
PEACH BUTTON HOLE
Richard wore a lovely peach rose button hole which looked perfect against his suit jacket and tied in perfectly to Victoria’s bouquet.
PEACH AND PINK BOUQUETS WITH TRAILING RIBBONS
The bridesmaids wore celadon mint green dresses, their bouquets were a smaller version of the bridal bouquet with trailing ribbons.
PEACH FLOWER CROWN
After the church service Victoria changed to wearing a flower crown of mixed summer flowers including peach garden roses which totally suited her relaxed day and vintage country garden style.
Thank you all for voting for us in the 2015 Wedding Industry Awards, we are thrilled to hear that Passion for Flowers has been short-listed as a finalist in the Wedding Florist category for the West Midlands. We will be going to the awards ceremony next month to hear how we do.
We will keep you updated, last year we were overwhelmed to have been awarded the title of the Best Florist in the West Midlands!
To see these weddings in more detail browse our blog, you will be able to see full details of the weddings and full credits.
Credits: Florists – 
THE BOUQUET
