Just peachy

So maybe peach is the wrong word (in my head it conjures up images of an 80's bridesmaids) Nude is a better word and much more appropriate to the colour scheme of this weeks wedding. With the bride working in the design sector it was an extremely stylish affair from The Temperly Dress right down to the fabulously well dressed guests in their Louboutin's. To co-ordinate the colour palette ranged from mocha to sage through soft pinks, the aformentioned nude with highlights of magenta and coral pink.  

 

Diana's memory Dahlia

Juliet & Rosalind David Austin Roses

Buttonholes with succulents

Corsage

Wired flowers for hair

Table centres

bohemian like you

The day finally arrived to put together Bronagh and Xavier's flowers, nine months of careful planning was about to be put to the test - had I interpreted what they wanted? To minimise the risk I had put together a mood board of ideas which they had signed off a few weeks previously. The overall concept was fun bohemian brights based around their colourful invite

And here's the finished result, they may have all been arranged on Friday the 13th(!) but I think it all turned out 'nein a bad yin' as Eric would say

 

The buttonholes and corsages (17 in total, all different)

Pew ends for the back of the chairs (12 in total)

 The barn entrance

 The bouquets

 Arranagements for the Bar

Table centres

A massive thank you to all who helped out, especially my lovely, not remotely Alan Sugar-esque mentor Jenny who arrived just in time to provide some moral support and technical guidance and of course to Bronagh and Xavier for having the faith in me. 

And just as I thought it was all over one of our lovely brides who is getting married here later this year came to have a look around yesterday, one look at the flowers and she said 'thats exactly what I want' so its 'bohemian like you' all over again in September...

First cut

After a 1000 mile trip direct from Holland the flowers for the first wedding of the season rolled into Rigaud this morning. Just the logistics of it all baffles me- flowers ordered on a Monday can be counted, packed and shipped and arrive here 48hrs later. That's just one delivery in one country, these guys supply 4000 businesses in 12 countries!

With the temperature here hitting 30C it was neccessary to get the precious cargo unpacked, conditioned and into water as quickly as possible. As a result our wedding loo's are currently looking (and smelling!) fantastic.

The Rigaud flower shop!

Dahlia & Peony

Freesia

Sunflower

Peonies

Top of the Class

Back en France after a fantastic couple of days in London. First stop after the delights of flying Ryanair was the fabulous brand new boutique hotel the Zetter Townhouse - I took some pictures but have a look at their website photo gallery for much better ones Zetter Townhouse Gallery

This was my first experience of staying in a 'boutique' hotel and these guys have really set the standard high. So what rocked for me at the Zetter? I would say the in room George Cloony Nespresso machine and milk frother, the hand knitted hotwater bottle cover, the cross-stitch sampler room sign and having loose tea, a tea pot and tea strainer oh and the very original interiors. And what sucked? Not having anyone to share it with. Anyway enough about hotels, the whole purpose of the trip was to attend the intensive wedding flower course at McQueens. Having arrived at McQueens nice and early prepared to meet my classmates I discovered I was the only person on the course - so not only was I getting to attend the best flower school in the country but I had two days of one-on-one tuition. First off we covered flower conditioning then onto some wired work forming buttonholes and corsages.

 

After lunch we moved on to a hand tied bouquet and wired bouquet

  

Day two started with some more practice at wired work

Next on the agenda was different styles of table centres

With the final task of the day a hand tied white rose domed bouquet (very on trend)

Leaving just enough time to have a look at the online flower ordering system for Metz.  

A big thank you to my lovely course tutor Duncan for all his advice and enthusiam, and I guess I get to boast finishing the course top of the class! (somewhat by default)

If it's good enough for Vanity Fair...

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Wise words from Mr Luhrmann on the eve of yet another career deviation. From working on the roof of the Rosebowl cricket ground this time last year to a crazy 12 months at the fabulous Chateau Rigaud it's off to London tomorrow for an intensive wedding flower course. Tres excited about the prospect of McQueens, these guys do the flowers for the post Oscar's Vanity Fair party so their flower school is going to be good. Not only that but getting to check out the brand sparkly new Zetter Townhouse boutique hotel into the bargain!

In preparation for this week have been attempting to do some revision on flower names, got myself a fantastic book called Flowers A to Z by Cecelia Heffernan and have been off scouting around the Rigaud gardens with camera in hand to see what I could find

The perfect tulip?

Amazing colour

Iris

Viburnum