Remember these?

These were the home made confetti petals that both mum’s made – aren’t they pretty? Simply collect fallen petals, place on baking tray and dry!

Well – couldn’t resist – here they are in action! Hurray! Photo by Sophie Laslett

Love and flowers

Emma xx

Only 5? I have allowed myself to pick only 5??
Yes, well, you would be utterly bored if I listed them all!!!

My Top 5.

1. The Dress
Naturally.

For most Brides to Be, its the most important feature to get right & something that should be the most fun… should be… after we have nearly killed ourselves to look as good as impossible….
I know many Brides who have run straight out to try on dresses immediately. I, as you know, am not one of those Brides, but I still want it to be utterly stunning, to match me.. ha ha ha! And I love how excited people get when they try dresses on! Even the big bad ones!
This amazing Claire Pettibone dress is actually for Sale! Click here to see more.

2. The Speeches
I just don’t know how they do it. The best man speeches are always great! Funny. Soooo funny. I know people get great tips on line- check out Wedding Speeches & Toasts by Maggie Mayfair for some great advice.
My hats of to you the Best man, its always a cracker!

3. Flowers
I love the flowers that are chosen for weddings!!! Peonies, Cala Lilies, Roses, sunflowers.. the list is endless.

They always look stunning & in my humble opinon, the simpler, the better.

4. Food & Drink
People always seem to remember the food! Sometimes because it was fantastic.. and sometime becasue it was awful.
I have sampled both, but like many, I remember the awful ones the most! So i am working hard for my food NOT to be a ‘bad food’ story.

I love food in general, but wedding food is so delicious becasue sooo much care & preperation goes into it all.

Don’t get me started on the cake!!

5. The Venue
The more magical & unusual the better for me! I showed you these tents from Papa Kata last week which I think are amazing!

You can also have a stunning manor house which often do a great deal on the whole day’s package.
I have also heard of tree house weddings, lake sided venues, Barns, beaches.. you name it I am sure someone has had a wedding there!

As the venue is where you spend the day, its so important to get one you like! I am still trying. I have found it but its a little out of my range right now….

So, there’s to Emma & her wedding next week!
I’m bursting with excitment!

Charlotte xx

What a scortching week its been!! I’m sooo happy its been like this since I came back from my hols!
BBQ today I think!!

All this week I’ve been thinking flowers.
I’m not getting married until next September but I have recently been advised to be considering the options! Really? With a year to go??
The reason is, that I have always fancied clay pots of flowers and love the ideas of hanging baskets & bright colours but in order to do this… I need to plant NOW!

Here’s some inspiration for you too!


Beautiful!

I have found some lovely white clay pots for some pink tiger lilies also some bright colour pots from Tesco of some bright flowers & lavendar!

Any ideas to share?? Get in touch!

Charlotte

Hello again wedding flowers!

A few weeks ago I wrote about Shropshire Petals, who do a fabulous range of confetti which I ordered for the big day.

After I wrote the post – my mum rang me up and said ‘Emma!’ you aren’t supposed to order your own confetti! We are!’ and I thought – ‘well I never knew that!’ – and my mum has ordered her own too! Yay.

Then last weekend when I was in Norwich Matt’s mum Jo said ‘Emma! You aren’t supposed to worry about confetti – and look what I have been doing!’

She has been collecting petals from the garden and drying them on a cake cooling tray – and collecting them up to use as confetti!

Now, Shropshire petals are fabulous there is no denying that, but I couldn’t not also post about this amazing home made effort either!

So now we have lots of confetti and have shown everyone here a handy alternative to buying your petals!
Hope you like the petal-ey inspiration!

Love
Emma xxxx

Lilies are my favourite flowers. They have been for as long as I can remember. I get so excited when Rob surprises me with Lilies… I have come home & found them innocently in vases around the lounge & bedroom.
Please don’t think this is a regular occurance!! I’m not that blessed… but there were lilies & tulips from Portabello Market around the house the night he proposed.

I know I would love them to be my wedding flowers, season permitting. As I find them so beautiful & inspiring, I wanted to share them with you today.

The orange lilies are a picture form my garden! I even grow them each year. The white ones haven’t opened yet…

Now these are a very popular wedding flower; and with good reason.
The Calla Lily.
They are perfect in bouquets. Very fresh, classic & chique.

Just need to find a reception venue for all these flowers… lucky I have the ceremony sorted.

Just popping out to buy some to go in the lounge right now!

Mmmmm.
Charlotte

When I started planning the wedding I went to a wedding show where I saw a fab little stand with loads of different kinds of confetti. I thought to myself ‘I will do the confetti nearer the time’. Its now nearer the time. ARGHHH!

So I found the fab company and had another look at what they do! Shropshire Petals is a farm in Shropshire who produce natural petal, poppy head, wheat sheave and dried flower confetti.

They have a wicked little feature called Pic n Mix Petals which has every colour petal under the sun for you to choose from. Have a look at the colours I have picked out…here is blush which is £9.95 a litre…

Here is Candy Floss which is £9.95 per litre…

Here is Cerise which is £14.50 a litre…

and here is Clementine which is also £14.50 a litre.

I have put the images in as big as possible so you can see the lovely colours! Aren’t they fab?!

I have bought mine as a set in the Shropshire box which is a package box for £34.99 with 25 white floral embossed cones filled with 2 different colours of confetti. As I have chosen four colours I have bought two boxes, which are on special offer at the moment – 2 for £60. And it all comes in a lovely box, I do so love a fabulous gift box!

It seems a shame to throw it all in the air really! Can I just keep it and stare at it instead? No?…

Love
Emma xxx

It’s amazing what you find when you aren’t looking for it!

I was wandering through Brixton Village this week taking pictures for my table plan (each table is named after a place in Brixton), when I came across this utterley lovely little shop called Field.

The thing that caught my eye was these….

The fabulous shop assistant was recycling the empty industrial tomato tins that the cafe next door used – taking the labels off them and washing them out, and using them as delightful flower pots.  They were all round the shop and looked lovely.

The compost they were using was made from coffee beans, again from the cafe next door, by using the left overs from the coffee machines after the coffee has been made.

The idea is the brain child of Lauren Craig, who has put together a little flower business with an environmental conscience, and who specialises in making ethical alternatives to flowers at weddings and other celebrations.  She uses sustainable sources and low impact transport and packaging, creating beautiful displays that respect the natural world.

Look at this amazing hanging decoration she had in her shop (I dont think my picturedoes it justice!)

It is made out of shells and pearls – amazing for anyone with an eco wedding in mind!

For more information on Lauren, visit Thinking Flowers or alternatively contact her at Lauren@thinkingflowers.org.uk

I’ll never stop being suprised by what Brixton has to offer – I love living here! I will leave you with this lovely image from Field

Love

Emma xx

The first thing I did when I got engaged was go out and buy a whole load of wedding magazines. I still buy them all – I love buying them!

I bought an issue of Cosmo Bride way back at Christmas time which has an amazing picture as its cover. This was it (image courtsey of the lovely peeps at Cosmo Bride)…

I loved the flowers, they looked like ice cream! All of those sherbet coloured roses – just lovely!

It was with this specific photo that I went to see my florist(s).

First stop was a friend of Matt’s family, Christine. Christine is doing all of our reception flowers and church flowers. She grows the most amazing selection of different coloured flowers in a big greenhouse in her garden, and her brief has been a big eclectic mix of multi coloured summer flowers.

On Christmas Day while at Matt’s families house, we went for a walk and came across an old rubbish tip which has hundreds of amazing old bottles. We collected loads of them and are going to use them to put flowers in. There are all sorts of shapes colours and sizes – some green, some brown, some clear, long short – some are really lovely apothecary bottles. And best of all they were free!

We have all been collecting jam jars since Christmas – my mum has got quite a collection! Again we intend to put a lot of flowers in these.

For my bouquet, the bridesmaids flowers and the button holes, we are using Libby Ferris.

Libby has got a lovely shop in Norwich (pic of the left), and we met up with her a few weeks ago to talk about my ‘candy roses’. She loved the idea and has got to work pulling together gorgeous ideas for sorbet coloured roses and candy coloured peonies.

Thanks to Cosmo Bride for that cover – I just loved it!

Love Emmaxxxx