It has been a most beautiful Summer, with the most gorgeous weather and I have provided some really beautiful flowers for some rather stunning brides.  The above photo being one of my favourites of the year - thank you Fairweather Photography.  Do visit their web site as there are some most amazing photos to be found..

As we are fast approaching the end of October, and thinking of Christmas, but in the meantime there has been another Royal bride on view who, I have to say, had the most beautiful bouquet, which I think in the floristry business we would term as "all wired". This means that all the stems in that bouquet were wired and then formed into a beautiful small tear drop bouquet and the handle made from the wires which were then covered in ribbon and moulded to fit the user..  Charming, light and easy to carry.  Rob Van Helden and his team created some stunning arrangements for the day.  Beautiful autumnal colours.  

I was invited to attend an open evening at Smeetham Hall Barns last Wednesday.  It is a beautiful venue and always a joy to provide Bridget and her team with flowers for the event.  I decided to use some autumnal tones in my arrangements. 

Some rather lovely deep pink hydrangea, astilbe, and succulent velvet black baccarat roses, sitting on top of a very tall vase.  

I met some lovely couples that evening - some only weeks away from their special day, and some looking to 2020.

Hoping to meet more brides and grooms at the beginning of 2019 at the next wedding fayre.  In the meantime enjoy the last of what is turning out to be an Indian Summer.  

Finally if you are interested in attending a workshop for making a traditional Christmas Wreath - get in touch!

What a start to the Summer - such fantastic weather.  It is always good to take some time to refresh ideas and gain inspiration from other.  Chelsea Flower Show was rather fabulous.  The floral tent was truly amazing.  A florists heaven.

There have also been lots of Open Gardens.  Everyone works so hard to get their gardens in order and speak to their visitors with such passion about their designs and planting schemes.  There are some real treasures to be seen.

Visiting Helmingham Hall for the first time on what must have been one of the warmest days so far.  What a beautiful place that is.  Worth a visit.  If you are looking for Wedding Flowers that will be in season for your day then this would be one of the places to go.  Beautiful flowers and luscious foliage.

And of course, The Wedding!  Keenly anticipating what flowers and foliage were going to be used and in all honesty was not disappointed.  Fresh, zingy, clean palette.  Perfectly sized bouquets.  Elegant.  The veil moment!!  Very romantic.

If you are planning flowers for your wedding - last minute this year or in the future this is a great time to visit your local garden centre to see what is in bloom.  Buy a good quality Bridal Magazine.  Choose your dress first.  Bridesmaids second then think about colour of flowers.  However if flowers are your thing - work round them.  Be sure to keep your florist informed of colour choices - a year down the line the original bridesmaid dress choice might have changed.

Wedding Flowers magazine is always good for palette choices.  

​Enjoy the journey.  

Easter will be here this weekend - Good Friday is on the 30th March.  In the scheme of things, quite early
this year.
 
Having had such a mixed bag of weather recently it would be lovely to hope that we will see the temperatures rising
with the arrival of the longer days.

It is always so lovely to see the countryside and gardens springing to life.  As a florist the choices of flowers
and foliage start to expand as the wedding season starts..

With Easter in mind and present giving, then chocolate is always high on the list.  Eggs, chocolate box assortments,
and for the children Peter Rabbit will be high on the agenda this year.  I like to make chocolate Malteser Ice Cream
as it always feels like you are enjoying mini eggs with an ice cream treat!

For flowers, narcissi are still beautiful to see on their own in a vase or jug.  Or how about some lovely foliage with tulips
mixed in.  Gorgeous. 

Have a fabulous Easter Weekend whatever your plans.  

​

Mother's Day is this Sunday 11th March.  If you have booked a rather delicious lunch somewhere, or afternoon tea, or
even a visit to the seaside (let's hope the weather stays calm now!) to celebrate the day - enjoy..

Flowers, are always lovely to receive on Mother's Day.  This year I have decided to produce three arrangements:
a lovely chunky basket filled with flowers and foliage, the rather gorgeous and every popular Spring Delight
bouquet with a florists choice of spring flowers and gorgeous scented foliage, and finally a sweet smelling posy.

So where did Mother's Day come from.  A quote from a BBC website reads as follows:

The first Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the ancient Greek Festival dedicated to Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. In England, it was in the 1600s when the phrase "Mothering Sunday" was first coined. In Christianity, Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent.

Today we just celebrate the fact that we have lovely Mum's to spoil for a day.. 

​Whatever you choose to do for your Mum - have a wonderful day.

I just love this photo.  Not one of mine I have to say.  Love the puppy and love the red tulips.  Love is in the air.

With Valentine's Day only a few weeks away, now might be time to start thinking about what you
would like to buy your loved one on this special day.   

I must admit I loved to receive red roses or even just a single red rose.  Chocolates were also a good one.
Hotel Chocolat in Bury St Edmunds has some lovely ideas for presents.  Their blushing hearts look rather
​sweet, but there are plenty more to choose from.

Perfume or some lovely scented body cream is another favourite.  I have to go with Jo Malone here, or indeed
her own brand now Jo Loves.  On the Jo Malone front their Lime and Basil body cream is utterly indulgent.
They also have some rather wonderful fragrances for men too.  Jo Loves has a rather fab product out at the moment which is a Fragrance Paintbrush.  Rather nifty idea and with some gorgeous choices too., White Rose and Lemon leaves sounding beautiful. 

With both Jo Malone and Jo Loves their packaging is superb.
Another company that has some lovely products and and another go to for me is Biscuiteers.
They provide bespoke biscuits that can be personalised - and again arrive in a rather gorgeous box or
​tin - depending how many biscuits you feel like buying.   

Going back to flowers though - I have some lovely bouquets this year - lots to choose from - ranging from traditional
red roses - spring flowers - white roses - lovely scented foliage - all wrapped and packaged with a rather gorgeous
ribbon and card for your personal message..  Go to my Valentine's Day page to see the full range.  

To place an order you can either phone me on: 07779 017923 or 01787 248082 or e-mail me on
enquiry@wendybfloraldesigns..co.uk.  

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

A very Happy New Year to you.

At the beginning of a New Year there is a lot to think about and looking at the calendar it will not be too long before Valentine's Day is here, then very quickly followed by Mother's Day and then Easter all in the first three months of the year.  

For florists it is time to look at different trends in the floristry world, browse the flower markets for inspiration and organise the work shop - throw out the old and bring in the new.

For those of you who over Christmas and New Year got engaged, and are planning a wedding for maybe this year or next, then it is an exciting time, planning and speaking with all those wedding suppliers including florists.

Whatever your plans are for 2018 - enjoy the journey - enjoy your day - enjoy the moments.

Busy times over the past month or two with weddings of all shapes and sizes and brides arriving to discuss their weddings next year.

The flower markets can be interesting to navigate - trying to get the right flowers with the colours., tones and textures to create the perfect palette.

Some flowers have diva qualities: peonies for example.  Tricky, and can perform perfectly but sometimes they just decide to have a blousy moment just at the wrong time, which for a florist means starting again!

Garden roses are the prima donnas of the flower world and again they can decide to outshine everything else, without being held in check.  Gorgeous though, and usually with the most amazing perfume.

Then there are the fabulous and what we do without them lisianthus.  So many varieties, so many colours.  Beautiful.  Avalanche roses, soft white, pink and peach.  Then stocks, when fresh, smelling divine and muscling in with their full flower heads.  Dahlias whilst in season are beautiful.  Lovely pom pom varieties.  Amazing depths of colour and texture..
The list is endless.  

If you have the opportunity to visit a flower market before making choices on wedding flowers it is really worthwhile rather than just relying on social media sites.  It gives you the opportunity to see the size, texture, colour, and tone of all those flowers that you love.  

I had one bride who really wanted to use a specific rose for button holes because she had seen a photograph of the same on a web site.  Trying to explain that these really would be too big - I sent her a button hole made with a very similar rose and then another smaller rose button hole that would be a better option and look just as lovely.  She had to agree.  - the smaller rose worked.  

It is always with anticipation that I await the arrival of flowers for the next wedding.  Exciting, gorgeous, and then waiting to see if I have any divas or prima donnas in the mix!  

​Looking forward to meeting with brides for 2018.  

Taking a few days off, we took the opportunity to visit The Physic Garden in Chelsea and last week RHS Wisley.

Via New Covent Garden Market in their new home, which was a revelation and another visit is on the cards for
that and I will post photos on that one then, but on what must have been the hottest day of the year so far we arrived in the afternoon to view Chelsea Physic Garden.

Deciding to take on the offer of a free tour, we were guided through these most amazing gardens by the lovely
Alison, where we gently meandered the beautiful and in some cases quite poisonous - who knew - areas that
make up Chelsea Physic Gardens.  All I can say is that it is worth a visit and in fact you can buy a season ticket which one gentleman was doing as he was staying in London for a month nearby and wanted to enjoy the gardens during his stay.  There is a lovely area to enjoy a picnic and the obligatory tea room and shop, which sells the Chelsea Physic Garden honey as they have their own hives.  Truly inspirational.  

Next was RHS Wisley.  Wow!  That about sums it up.  Top tips:  get there early.  Wear comfortable shoes, and have your camera ready to take some fabulous photos.  There is planting to suit everyone.  Little corners of wonderment.  The RHS are going to spend a huge amount of money to up-grade some of the buildings, and increase the facilities at Wisley, but in all honesty it is beautiful just as it is, but will be spectacular for the future.  I spent the day saying "Oh, that is lovely", "Oh, what a fabulous idea".  "Oh, I must get that for the garden".  There is a restaurant which provides a hot meal service as well as a good sandwich selection and children's meals which looked inviting, coffee shop and abundant toilet facilities.  The grounds are so huge, we did not feel overcrowded.  The walk by the river is very calming.
On the way out visit their garden centre - well it would be rude not too! We came away with some of the plants we had fallen in love with during our visit.  Everyone was very helpful and answered all our questions about varieties - one of which was not available at the time, but they could get this in for me by next week.  I only wish I lived nearer, but I would need a bigger garden.

We will re-visit this beautiful place in the Spring.  

I cannot believe it is a year since British Flower Week in 2016.  It is truly fabulous to know that there are growers out there who provide the most wonderful British flowers.  There should be more.

Every year New Covent Garden run a campaign to promote British Growers and indeed British florists who then go on to showcase their talent.  It is worth a visit to the web site just to look at the stunning creations.

There are a few local growers I visit during the Summer months who can provide the most lovely sweet peas, dahlias, and peonies.. Also some fabulous roses can be found too.   It is worth seeking them out.

Enjoy your flowers in the garden.

I am a big Chelsea Flower Show fan - and this year looks like being an absolute delight.

Unfortunately I cannot go this year - the wedding season has taken over my diary - but I do know 
someone who is going for the first time this year and her excitement is infectious.

Having been a number of times now you forget just how amazing visiting Chelsea Flower Show can be.
Certainly the weather this year is going to be stunning.  

Chelsea buzzes from the moment you go through the gates and there is a temptation to run in all directions
to pack everything in, but trust me, take your time,  Perhaps target a few things you really want to see - one
of mine being the Great Pavilion where you will find the most wonderful displays of flowers.

The show gardens are a wonder which always leave me with the question "how did they do
that in such a short space of time"

It can be a bit odd when you see Joe Swift or Nicky Chapman wondering round the grounds followed by
a camera crew moving to the next shoot for TV.  

Top tips:  wear comfortable shoes, take layers and a wear a hat if hot.  Remember to keep hydrated, sit down
and take in the atmosphere. for a while.  The loo's are fab by the way and there are plenty of them.!

​Enjoy!