We’ve had a very busy couple of months with lots of weddings – all of them so different but such a joy to work with every bride designing their perfect flowers!
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of making Sara’s bouquet for her wedding to Paul at the very lovely Pangdean Barn. Sara chose a particular variety of peony called Sunset Coral; a truly gorgeous deep coral peony that opens up into huge cup shaped blooms and, rather curiously, will eventually turn into a huge and very pale yellow flower. Peonies have a very short season and can be a little temperamental to work with as they arrive from the wholesaler the size of golf balls and within 24 hours they may,or may not, start to open out, sometimes at an alarming speed and sometimes resolutely staying shut – as was the case for Sara’s bouquet! With the heating on, lights full on – it was like a laboratory experiment out in the workshop with me checking them at 3 in the morning to monitor progress! On the morning before the wedding I had taken the precaution of ordering in some extra stems which, fortunately, showed a little more promise. I only needed 3 – but they had to be perfect. The challenge was on and I was relieved I did not have to resort to bringing in the ants to remove the sap which is how garden peonies are helped along! The bouquet was a total creative pleasure to make. With a ball of chicken wire in the centre the stems are woven through to create a delightful and surprisingly light to carry bouquet – wild and flowing with lots of colour and texture. Sara had sourced the most amazing silk chiffon ribbons which we tied on to complete the beautiful bouquet. You can see how quickly the flowers open up from the photos below – the first one, before we had added the ribbons was taken about 5 hours before the beautiful photos taken by the very talented Kirsten of Mavric Photography Sara was really delighted with her bouquet and I was so happy to have provided her dream bouquet – even if the peonies did give me a nightmare or two!!
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