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If you are a bride-to-be visiting our blog, it is highly likely that you adore seasonal, British grown flowers, just like us. Every year the weather fluctuates, but I still feel slightly anxious by the variations in the seasons and the impact that will have on locally grown blooms.

Perhaps as a bride-to-be this is something you have concerns about, especially after this long and unseasonably warm winter, followed by the recent cold snap with hail and snow across various parts of the country. And yet as I write this, today we have eaten lunch in the garden and have hats and flip flops on it’s so warm!

“I always worry about the weather…well I’m obsessed by it, but sure enough, the flowers defy nature and arrive at just the right time” – Helen, Bouquets and Butterflies.

Dreaming of a church filled with cow parsley

Every year as we enter spring, my mother likes to reflect on the weather in relation to the cow parsley and whether it would have been out for our wedding date of 21st May (I chose May because I love the cow parsley lined lanes of my childhood home in the Cotswolds). Now let me explain, despite getting married 5 years ago, my mum still contemplates this detail every year – I can quite imagine it continuing for many years to come!

I dreamed of a cow parsley filled church in which to get married, and this is what we got (phew). However, in the run up to our wedding there were lots of nervous moments – was the cow parsley going to be out or was it going to be over? So ever since, even as early at March, my mum starts to comment on the weather and it’s impact on the cow parsley’s development in their part of the country. Luckily I don’t have to worry about the status of the cow parsley, but I know there are many of you who will have similar anxieties.

“I think that Mother Nature throws us curveballs now and again, and that it’s how we [florists] deal with what we have that sets us apart” – Sarah, Floribunda Rose.

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I love roses, but garden grown and in season, not on Valentine’s Day. But what does a seasonal British Valentine’s bouquet look like? We asked Anne-Marie from Forage For to make us a Valentine’s floral creation – she is quite renown for her stunning floral designs.

So from one corner of Suffolk in a walled garden, this is what was seasonal this year – and it’s worth noting that this has been a particularly unusual year, with unseasonable weather resulting in quite an array of flowers.

The above floral heart features bellis daisies, witch hazel, primroses, hellebores, snowdrops, heather, daffodils, violets, violas, scabious, muscari, blossom and cow parsley (yes really). This crazy unusual weather means that Anne-Marie still has one cow parsley plant that’s hung on all winter and is still flowering. Incredible.

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One of my favourite parts of my job is browsing the websites of the wedding suppliers we list in the directory to see what new things they’ve been busy creating, making, or planning. There are always some hidden gems to discover, and then I get to share them with you!

Recently I came across these beautiful seasonal spring bouquets for a daffodil inspired wedding – now what could be more appropriate to share at this time of year, as all around us daffodil buds are plumping up ready to burst open and cheer us all up with their sunny yellow faces?

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I couldn’t get through this week of Easter wedding inspiration without featuring some seasonal flowers, and these two were real beauties.  I love the large twiggy birds nest style container filled with tulips in a variety of colours and tiny narcsissi or daffodils, and the colour of those peachy tulips on the right is just heavenly.

Do check with your local flower farmer or florist on what’s available seasonally in your area, certainly in the UK you’ll find variations on what’s flowering around Easter in different regions.  My granny lives in Devon and all her daffodils are over, whereas in Cheshire where I live they are just starting to think about flowering.

Image: Elizabeth Ann Designs blog via Pretty in White Planning

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I do like to try and find you inspiration, where I can, from non-wedding sources.  Sometimes I find wedding websites and blogs can become a bit saturated with the same kinds of ideas and images, and so I find it quite refreshing when I stumble across an un-wedding-y blog that I think could provide you with some refreshing inspiration.

Recently I shared these pretty jam jars of herbs and cornflowers from a blog I love called beauty everyday, and it’s from there that I’ve got a little more inspiration to share today.  From a blog post entitled ‘A Spring Luncheon’ (don’t you just love the idea!) I really like these pretty paper details with hand-written and illustrated designs.

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The Natural Wedding Company is a huge supporter of seasonal British grown flowers (if you’re interested to know more check out the #britishflowers chat that’s happening on Twitter) and so I want to ramp up my support by sharing truly seasonal wedding flower inspiration with you.

I think what can be so hard some times is knowing actually what’s in season in Britain during each month of the year, and even whether it’s seasonal in the part of the country you’re getting married in – for example, the flower growers in Cornwall tend to have blooms earlier than somewhere in the north.

The lovely ladies from The Garden Gate Flower Company in Cornwall have been playing around with some seasonal spring flowers and created these beautiful arrangements that I’m delighted to share with you.  The ideal inspiration for those of you planning a spring wedding!

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Following on from yesterday’s introduction to the fabulous photoshoot at Heaton House Farm that I got to be involved with, today I’m sharing the first of the two bridal looks that we created.  A team of wonderful wedding suppliers came together to put these looks together and you’ll find all their details at the bottom of the page.

Today’s bridal looks are accessorised with cute calves and a stonking great big tractor…

1950s inspired bride in the cow barn

This was probably my favourite look of the day, a gorgeous vintage-esque wedding dress with gorgeous lace bodice and cinched-in sash around the waist, red sparkly shoes and blanket covered hay bales.

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