Abundance of English Roses at Powderham Castle for Kate.
At the end of June I had the complete privelage of working on Kate's wedding at Powderham Castle in Devon for her wedding to David. Filled with incredible scent from an abundance of English Roses.. it was a beautiful and unique wedding.
Kate, knew what she wanted - after working for several years as an Event manager in New York, she wanted to be able to have strong essence of an English Garden with regards to her flowers. So we settled on choosing a beautiful mix of English Roses, David Austin Roses, Sweet Peas, Foxgloves, Peonies, Delphiniums and Nigella to name just a few.
June has to be one of the best months for flowers and surely her flowers illustrated that and so critical was scent to the whole concept of the wedding that I drove to Sussex to collect a car load of roses from The Real Flower Company..
Please note that week was literally the hottest heat wave we have had in a while.. with the air con on full blast trying to keep the roses happy.
With an early start on Saturday with a van filled to the brim - I was greeted by the lovely Sarah who is the wedding manager at the castle. My first task was to decorate 3.5 meter fireplace with a full garden arrangement.. complete joy to do.
Kate kept me company whilst I was creating it and we got to talk about the joys of working and living in the US. During our previous chats I had learnt that David proposed to her Camden, Maine - which is where I used to be based when I was working in America!
As well as the beautiful fireplace I created a handtied shower bouquet for Kate and her Bridesmaids Bouquets, my hard working team produced 12 beautiful arrangements for hurricane lamps to sit within, ceremony table display and several other arrangements for the fireplaces in the Library filled with Delphiniums.
It is always so lovely when you get such kind words from your brides - it just puts a big smile on your face that you could be part of such a special day.
"Loved, loved, loved my flowers! Thank you so much ... we had so many compliments on them saying how beautiful they were, and how lovely the scent was ... exactly what I wanted! They transformed the place."
and the most touching review from Kate too..
"I was lucky to find great suppliers for pretty much every aspect of my wedding, but Emma stands out as a real highlight. I knew right from the start that she would do an amazing job, and she did ... it is clear that she not only loves flowers and what she does, but she is also very good at listening to what a bride is dreaming of, and translating it into a beautiful reality.
She really knows her stuff and combines artistic flair with being very down to earth; she grasped what I was hoping to achieve very quickly, steered me gently but competently in the right direction, and completely nailed it on the day.
It was an absolute joy to watch her create a stunning arrangement over a large fireplace on the morning of the wedding - it seemed effortless, it grew out of nothing and it looked (and smelled!) fabulous. It was much photographed and commented on! All the flowers were exactly as we had discussed and absolutely beautiful - she is passionate about what she does and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her. Thank you Emma!"
Just a few pics from the day I was able to take.. before it was time to leave.. looking forward to seeing some from the photographer on the day..