Author Archive | greenandgorgeous

DIY Brides – Have fun!

By greenandgorgeous on February 29, 2012 in Corsage, Floristry, Floristry Courses, Weddings

Most brides we see at Green and Gorgeous want to create a natural feel to their wedding. They don't want to fall into line and ride the wedding conveyor belt, they want to 'keep it real'. Creating your own wedding flowers can be a great way of expressing yourself and ensuring your wedding day is unique to you. Many arrangements can be done the day before and is an opportunity for friends and family to come together and feel involved.

At Green and Gorgeous we offer a combination service, alongside our supply only and full floristry service. This is for those who would like to do some of the arranging themselves but not all. We could arrange just the bouquets and buttonholes or larger elements such as garlands and pedestals too. We also hire vintage china and host flower arranging courses and hen parties, so brides can pick up a few good tips before the big day.

Creating your own wedding flowers should be fun and as long as you follow a few guidelines there is no reason for it not to be a really positive experience. Our garden flowers don't need to be fussed or over arranged, they lend themselves well to being popped into a jug or jam jar.

My Top Tips are:

Be realistic about what you can achieve in the time you have available.
Make sure your helpers can commit and know what is expected of them.
Be mindful of the height of your containers for the tables, make sure the flowers won't mask your guests view.
Be prepared and have a plan. Know what you want doing. Have a work space prepared. Have a cool storage place for the arranged flowers to go over night (not the marquee!) and allow time to tidy up.
Ask advice on conditioning and how the flowers will perform.
Have fun and most importantly enjoy the process!

Thank you so much for all of our wedding flowers. We so enjoyed arranging the table centres (I put all my arranging skills from the hen do into practise – all your hard work paid off, thank you Jo!) And the bouquets and button holes were just wonderful. The soft natural look worked beautifully with the feel of our day. We can’t thank you enough. - Anna & Bradley

Jo Wise

South African Sunshine

By greenandgorgeous on February 5, 2012 in Travel

Just got back from a flora and fauna filled trip to South Africa. My sister lives there so it was a good excuse for some much needed rest and rays of sunshine. It was wonderful to see some of our favourite cut flowers growing in their natural habitat. Great drifts of Agapanthus and Cosmos along the roadside. Our host at the guest house in the Drakensburg mountains told us Cosmos is not a native as it was accidentally brought in with some animal feed from Argentina. It obviously liked it's new home as it grows like a weed! We also saw some Eucomis or pineapple lily, and Leonotis in the Drakensburg.

On the Elephant Coast we walked through Raffia Palm forests, the source of the raffia we use to tie the bouquets. The local people use it to thatch their houses and to build rafts for fishing in the lakes.