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Charlie

A DIY guide to decorating your wedding cheeses with edible flowers and petals from The Edible Flower Shop

Charlie

It’s so nice to hand the blog over to guest writers once in a while, so today we are joined by Rachael who runs The Edible Flower Shop to teach us how we can decorate cheeses with edible flowers and petals to make a unique addition to your wedding feast.

Cheese wedding cakes are increasingly popular so why not make them even more beautiful with edible flowers. I particularly love these soft goat’s cheeses above that have been decorated with edible calendula and cornflower petals – such a riot of beautiful colours! I so want to try this out this summer.

Over to Rachael…

Wedding cheeses are becoming ever more popular and are often the centrepiece at a wedding breakfast. To personalise your wedding cheese and add stunning colour and beauty, why not have a go at decorating them with your own home grown edible flowers?

Using edible flowers is a wonderful way to incorporate any colour theme from your wedding in to your food, and adds a really personal touch to your wedding breakfast. Not only that, but if you grow edible flowers for your wedding you can also use them for table decorations, button holes and to decorate cakes. The possibilities really are endless…

Base of Brie decorated with violas and goat’s cheese on top decorated with dianthus

Edible flowers can be used to decorate either hard or soft cheeses but the methods used are quite different. Popular edible flowers for decorating cheeses are nasturtiums (flowers and leaves), chive flowers, calendula, violas, pansies, dianthus, borage, primulas, rocket, mustard, radish, sunflowers and cornflower petals to name but a few.

Viola ‘Sorbet Raspberry’

Charlie

This Valentine’s Day buy seasonal blooms grown in Britain with love and say no to the imported red rose

Charlie

Just 5 days until Valentine’s Day! My plan today is to convince you to buy or ask for a bunch of beautiful, British grown flowers for Valentine’s Day this year. I had wanted to dedicate more time and promotion to this wonderful campaign that is happening, but a sweet baby is consuming oodles of my attention and time.

The main objective of my message is simple: Buy British flowers. There are so many wonderful flower farmers growing stunning, seasonal British flowers (yes, even in damp dark February!), and lots of florists who buy British grown blooms. Let’s support these fab small growers and businesses, push aside that bouquet of imported and rather stiff looking red roses, and celebrate this year with a bunch of something seasonal and grown with a whole lot of love.

Still not convinced that there are pretty seasonal blooms to be bought from Britain this Valentine’s? Well now I’m going to bombard you with a whole stream of pretty pictures of what these skilled flower farmers are growing right now. They include tulips, anemones, narcissi, snowdrops, iris, pussy willow and more!

(I’ve included links below each picture to the flower farmer/grower/florist who’s flowers they are, where they’re based – in case you’re local – and do visit their website as many of them delivery nationwide)

The Flower Mill Cornwall :: Cornwall

Cherfold Cottage Flowers :: Surrey/West Sussex

Charlie

Modern vintage inspired bouquets for brides who want more than a hand-tied from Petal and Twig

Charlie

Today I have another lovely treat from one of our recommended wedding suppliers. This guest post has been put together by Angela who runs Petal and Twig, a Lancashire based floral designer with an emphasis on seasonality, locally grown flowers and ethical sourcing.

Over to Angela to tell us all about these wedding bouquets she’s created, each one inspired by a vintage bouquet…

The majority of wedding bouquets we do these days are hand-tied and I have always loved the informality of this style compared to the rather stiff, wired bouquets that dominated weddings from the 60s to the late 80s. I remember staying up late with my mum almost every Friday night in my teens, wiring flowers within an inch of their lives. Looking back, it seems utterly mad to deconstruct and then reconstruct flowers but I never questioned it at the time.

In recent years the availability of “antique” shades in roses have inspired beautifully subtle colour schemes for weddings and we have rediscovered the potential of garden plant material and more natural styles. The peach, gold and soft pinks of an antique jug are brought out in the “Faith” roses and garden plant material of this simple hand tied posy. It certainly looks very vintage, although I don’t think my grandmother would have thought much of this as a wedding bouquet – she would have put it straight in the vase.

Charlie

Jo and Dom’s natural and relaxed Scottish wedding with a ceremony in a ruined chapel, picnic on the beach, and foraged flowers

Charlie

Relaxed Scottish wedding with a beach picnic

A real wedding feature has been long overdue, and what nicer way to kick off 2014 than with the exquisite wedding of Jo and Dom. They got married last July in Scotland with a ceremony in a ruin chapel amongst the dunes, a beach picnic for all their guests, swimming in the sea, foraged and wild flowers for the bouquets and table arrangements, and a beautifully decorated tent – phew!

I could go on and on and on about everything that I love about this wedding, but it’s better than I just let you immerse yourself. Go get lost in Jo and Dom’s wonderful day…

“We wanted our wedding to be as natural and relaxed as possible. We wanted to be able to enjoy it, and for everyone else to have a good time too! We had a humanist wedding in a tiny ruined chapel on the east coast of Scotland, just down the coast from Edinburgh followed by a picnic on the beach.”

“I grew up there and every Christmas my family walk down the beach to the ruin with some friends and hold an informal Christmas ceremony where we sing carols and have readings and generally acknowledge that its Christmas.”

“Dom proposed on boxing day 2012 on a rock just beside the chapel and there was never any question that we would marry anywhere else. It’s a very important place to me. Our wedding guests had to walk over the dunes for half an hour to reach the chapel so the weather was definitely a concern! But no, we didn’t have a wet weather plan!”

Izzy

A Day in the Life … For The Love Of Vintage: styling an English Summer Fete wedding in the Lake District

Izzy

Today we have a lovely guest post from Sharon who runs a vintage crockery company For The Love Of Vintage. For our ‘A Day in the Life’ feature Sharon is taking us along to find out what it’s like to be involved with one particular summer Lake District wedding.

Over to Sharon…

Apart from my life long obsession with crockery and getting to play tea parties every day, the two things I love most about my job are the variety (as no two vintage weddings are ever the same) and the people I meet.

I have styled weddings in all sorts of venues but was especially excited when Kimberly and Tim contacted me to discuss their big day. We met over a year before the wedding, eating cake, drinking tea and talking about the wonderfully creative ideas they had and our mutual love of Cocker Spaniels!

One of the things I loved most about the ideas for the day was Kimberley and Tim’s determination to use artisan crafts people, local suppliers and really bring their treasured Lake District as a theme into the whole day. I just knew from the start this was going to be a very special wedding.

After a year of planning and preparation July 6th was almost upon us. It’s hard to squeeze an event like this into just one day but here is my story of a perfect wedding day!

Charlie

A Day in the Life … Pyrus: growing seasonal and organic wedding blooms in a Scottish walled garden

Charlie

I am so thrilled to be back with this ‘A Day in the Life’ feature on the blog. Embarrassingly it’s been over a year since I did my first one (have a read here) but I do hope that I can bring it as a more regular feature. The idea behind it is to give you a peek into the lives of some of the fab wedding businesses that you can find on our directory.

Today I’m handing the blog over to Natalya and Fiona who are the dynamic and creative duo behind Pyrus, flower farmers growing seasonal and organic blooms from their walled garden near Edinburgh and weaving them into the most fantastic floral arrangements.

Over to Natalya and Fiona…

Earlier this year we invited the wonderful photographer Nic Rue to spend the day at the Pyrus flower garden and studio outside Edinburgh, documenting us as we prepared for a late summer wedding.

We first met Nic when she came to one of our flower classes with friends and knew we wanted to work with her on a project. We were nervous about opening our doors to be photographed but we needn’t have worried, in fact it was a pleasure to share our studio with her for the day. She brought a plethora of cameras in her kit bag and the results are a combination of digital and film shots which captured the Colstoun estate we are based on beautifully.

Charlie

Get a vintage, rustic or festival look for your wedding flowers with ideas and inspiration from Fletcher & Foley

Charlie

I can hardly believe that Christmas is so near now! This year has gone by in such a whirlwind for me what with having little Tilly at the end of the summer, and I imagine all of your brides- and grooms-to-be who are getting hitched next summer will be feeling like it’s not long now once the New Year is upon us.

Today I have another lovely treat from one of our recommended wedding suppliers. This guest post has been put together by Joanne of Fletcher & Foley (a fab Manchester based florist) using the same selection of flowers and foliage, but in three quite different styles: Rustic, Vintage, and ‘Wedstival’. I love the selection of old pots Joanne’s used for the vintage styling, but I most like her use of colour for the ‘Wedstival’ theme, perfect for all of you inspired by summer festivals for your wedding day.

Over to Joanne…

Get the look

Getting the styling right for your wedding can be a daunting prospect. So much to think of. In fact writing this blog I’m a little worried myself as to where to start. Ok, let’s start with a little inspiration, and this can come from anywhere. Without rambling too much, a visit from my mother-in-law means a whole heap of glossy magazines will be left behind. A trend piece in Vogue. It screams autumn.

Using key words may help. For this little project I’m going to break it down into three wedding trends. Rustic, Vintage and Wedstival.

See what we’re doing here? Building up a picture of the overall feel for the big day by taking it slowly. Not getting bogged down in too much detail. No micro managing. Giving yourself a break so you can enjoy it.

The flowers

From a florist’s viewpoint, it doesn’t matter if you know nothing about flowers. Give us some idea of colour and seasonality or if you prefer a particular flower and let us do the work. Or even just tell us what you don’t like. That can often guide us in the right direction too.

I used the following flowers and foliage for the three wedding themes: Amaranthus, Dahlia, Free Spirit and Coffee Break Roses, Sedum, Hydrangea, Elder Berries, Nigella (Love in the Mist), Rosemary, Aster, Cornflower, Eryngium, Hawthorn, Scabious Seed Head, Mokara orchid, Rowan, and Virginia Creeper.

Izzy

A how to guide to make your own pretty linen and lace pocket wedding favours filled with dried petals from The Brides Table

Izzy

We are really getting spoilt at the moment with lovely guest posts from some of our recommended wedding suppliers, and today we have another DIY project to inspire all you crafty brides. If you are looking for wedding favour ideas to make, then Katy and Kath at The Brides Table have a great step-by-step guide to making these pretty petal pockets.

If you love the look of these petal pocket wedding favours but don’t feel crafty enough to have a go making them yourself, or if you already have a wedding ‘to do’ list as long as your arm, then visit The Brides Table website where you can buy them instead. They would also make beautiful bridesmaid gifts.

Over to Katy and Kath…

These petal pocket favours are filled with dried petals or lavender and not only do they smell divine, they look so pretty too!

You could ask your family and friends to save flowers from their gardens for you to use (roses work particularly well). Just before the petals drop, collect them on a tray and leave to dry in the sun or on a very low heat in your oven.

Charlie

Inspiration for edible flower decorated wedding cocktails and drinks to delight your guests from Maddocks Farm Organics

Charlie

I am thoroughly enjoying sharing (and reading) all these wonderful guest blog posts from some of the great wedding businesses listed on the directory. On the blog today it’s one of my favourite subjects – edible flowers. For me there is something rather romantic about the idea of eating flowers, perhaps it’s in my DNA because as a crawling baby I was often found in the garden eating flowers.

Today’s blog post on edible flowers from Jan at Maddocks Farm Organics is much more sophisticated, sharing some great ideas for using edible flowers in your wedding cocktails and drinks. The perfect grown-up use for edible flowers for the girl who enjoyed snacking on them as a child. I’m sure I can’t be the only one who loves the idea of a scrumptious cocktail adorned with edible flowers?

Over to Jan to share her suggestions for adding edible flowers to your wedding drinks (and here’s a feature she did on edible flower wedding favours)…

Above left: A dark and stormy rum cocktail with a twist of lime and citrussy tagetes; Above right: a non-alcoholic mojito with fresh mint, a squeeze of lime and stunning mallow ‘heart’ petals

Edible flowers work brilliantly in wedding drinks irrespective of whether your wedding is a formal ‘champagne all the way’ kind of do or whether you are casually pitching a teepee in the back garden and opting for the DIY route.

Izzy

DIY guide to creating painted clothes peg name cards for your homemade wedding from A Alicia Handmade

Izzy

Today’s guest blog post is another fab DIY guide, this time from the lovely Anna who is the designer behind A Alicia Handmade. She has put together this ‘how to’ guide for making peg name cards, and also has lots of advice on how to give them your own style!

Without further ado, it’s over to Anna…

Hi, I’m Anna and I’m a designer-maker and author of craft/interiors how-to book Make it Your Own. The idea behind the book was to encourage anyone trying the projects to explore and develop their own design style, to literally make the projects their own, and I think this principle couldn’t be more important in planning your wedding.

Whatever kind of day you’re planning – from a big do with loads of guests to a tiny ceremony followed by chips and champagne in a lovely old pub (mine was the latter option!) – it’s such a beautiful opportunity to explore who the two of you are.

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