Hi All, its great to be back writing for LoveLuxe blog and I am so excited to share this beautiful spring wedding with you. Natalie and Ed were married this May in the absolutely stunning location of Cripps Barn, in the Cotswolds. Natalie came to me asking for her wedding flowers to be centred around a natural, rustic style using seasonal flowers available in May. She was very clear on the type of look she wanted to achieve through her wedding flowers, decorating the already beautiful venue with splashes of ivory with the palest pink throughout.
Photograph by Neil Pollock Photography
In the initial consultation Natalie and I discussed in detail spring flowers that would be available in May and fit her natural, rustic ‘just picked’ look that we were working towards. By trawling through magazines and Pinterest we narrowed down some ideas and focused on a few key flowers that were to be used throughout the wedding day. Natalie was keen to keep the overall style of the wedding flowers quite simple, focusing on ivory flowers, yet adding just the palest pink hint. I suggested pale pink ranunculus, which are perfect in May and open up to be the prettiest, blousy flower perfect for a rustic looking wedding. Also astilbe, which is a soft, spire shaped flower and comes in the most pale pink which would sit well against all the other ivory flowers we chose to use. Other flowers we chose to use were stocks, larkspur, roses, scabiosa seed heads, chamomile daisy spray, cow parsley and maybe the most important flower of all, the ivory peonies!
Photograph by Neil Pollock Photography
Photograph by Neil Pollock Photgraphy
Natalie had a firm idea in mind for her bridal bouquet, a loose hand tied bouquet full of ivory peonies and various foliage with a ‘hand-picked’ look to it. I kept the stems of the bouquet longer which emphasised the natural, rustic feel of the bouquet and the peonies were in various stages of opening offering the most magnificent scent. It was important to use a selection on foliage which included various types of eucalyptus, myrtle, grasses and rosemary which provided a great deal of texture and interest to the bouquet. The bouquet was finished off tied with natural twine.
Photograph by Neil Pollock Photography
Natalie’s bridesmaids had wrist corsages of ivory ranunculus and foliage secured to the wrist with ivory, satin ribbon. Wrist corsages can be a great alternative to a hand held bouquet and these pretty, little spring corsages are very delicate and dainty on the wrist. The boys wore ranunculus, seed head and eucalyptus buttonholes tied with natural twine, in keeping with the whole rustic image of the wedding day. I tied loose, natural bunches of ranunculus, astilbe, stocks and eucalyptus to the ends of the chairs with raffia, which lined the aisle. These were then moved from the chairs to decorate other parts of the barn.
Photograph by Neil Pollock Photography
Cripps Barn is a fabulous stone barn with the facility to hang huge hanging floral displays from the roof. Via a pulley system I created a huge, hanging floral display which contained stocks, larkspur, roses, cow parsley, daisy, astilbe and foliage which was the centre masterpiece in the room, hanging above the couple when they wed and providing decoration throughout the day. It really did look great and provided a great focal point in the room. I always say to couples when planning wedding flowers and discussing budgets that it is sometimes best to spend money wisely on a few key floral arrangements that will provide impact rather than placing flowers everywhere which sometimes loses the impact.
Photograph by Rosie Parsons Photography
I hope this has given you an insight into Natalie and Ed’s spring wedding flowers and how they used a simple palette of ivory and pale pink to achieve really stunning natural, rustic touches to their wedding day. A few tips below will help you achieve this kind of look for your wedding day.
- Like Natalie, keep the stems of your bouquet, longer than a more traditional hand tied. This looks slightly more relaxed and natural, and offers that hand picked look that a lot of brides are opting for at the moment. Remember to focus on the use of foliage, never underestimate the green stuff! In my eyes it can make a bouquet and with so many different varieties available now it can really affect the look of your bouquet.
- Use informal vessels such as glass bottles or jars to decorate the tables. Natalie and her family started collecting jars a long time before the wedding and gave them to me in a big box for me to add pretty ribbon and fill with the lovely spring, seasonal flowers the couple had chosen. It is best to stick to seasonal flowers when opting for the natural, rustic style of flowers. Flowers tend to work better when they are in their natural season, fitting in with the environment around them!
- When working to a budget spend money on key items that can be used throughout the day. For example the table decorations were initially used to decorate the ceremony table, the chair ends moved to decorate the table plan and the large, floral hanging basket offered the wow factor throughout the day providing guests with decoration all day.
