The newly married Mr and Mrs Ayres tied the knot in Bristol on Saturday 14thSeptember 2019 at the picturesque church of Dundry with stunning views over the city, followed by drinks at the local pub opposite and then on to Colliters Brook Farm for the marquee reception. Jess and Jack chose Isabloom Floral Design as their wedding florist along with the most beautiful day to get married as the sun shone from start to finish without a cloud in the sky.
Jess had her first wedding flower consultation at home in Bristol back in early 2019. It was to be a quick turnaround for the wedding with the engagement happening the same year. Jess was not too sure on what flowers she wanted or the colours or the style at this stage as she was still planning a lot of the wedding including the colours of bridesmaid’s dresses and suits etc. Jess knew however, that she wanted her bridesmaids to be in a shade of powder blue and was shopping around at the time to find this. As we still had plenty of time flower wise, I suggested to Jess that I give her some inspiration and ideas along with costings and then her and Jack have a little think about it. I didn’t want her to rush into any rash decisions. Small details like colours and styles can be changed up until around 6 weeks before the wedding when the flower ordering process begins.
We started with looking at some bridal bouquet designs and Jess particularly loved peonies which unfortunately would be out of season and hydrangea which were a possibility. She also loved lots of greenery and we decided that eucalyptus would be the foliage of the wedding due to its gorgeous scent. Jess also swayed more towards the traditional rounded shape of a bridal bouquet with a bit of a natural and rustic twist whilst not being oversized. I introduced her to the anemone as at this time of year is a favourite of mine. She instantly fell in love and thought they paired perfectly with the groom’s party being in black suits which would now be another thing confirmed. Then it was on to the bridesmaids. As Jess had a pretty large bridal party with six bridesmaids, a bridesman and a flower girl she wasn’t sure what to do for them as this could become a very costly part of the wedding flowers. Wax flower was another one that Jess liked from my ideas, so we discussed maybe just having posies of wax flower tied off with ribbon for the girls and a matching buttonhole for the bridesman. This would ensure costs would be at a minimum.
Next up would be the grooms party which was also pretty large. The guys were easy to choose for as a black velvet tucks just lent itself to an ivory anemone with that velvety black centre. The anemone would be supported with scented eucalyptus.
It was then on to the ceremony décor which was to be nice and simple yet effective. Pew ends up the aisle on either side on every other bench with trailing ribbons. The colours and flowers of these would be decided on closer to the time.
We then discussed the reception décor and the tables. There were to be round tables and a rectangle top table. Jess and Jack were having afternoon tea so there would be 2-3 stands on each table. Jess was not sure if there would be enough room for flowers as well, so we discussed the possibility of 1 or 3 jam jars on the table and would decide on this at a later date once the table mock ups had been done. For the top table it would depend on the round tables, but we looked into foliage garlands and jam jars dotted along.
There was one things Jess was sure on and that was a photo backdrop she had pinned on good old Pinterest. This wasn’t your average faux flower wall, it was a gorgeous oak wooden frame draped with white fabric and framed with a stunning eucalyptus garland on either side. This was one of those ideas I was super excited to bring to life.
At the end of the first wedding flower consultation we had the main areas of the wedding flowers in place, so I went away and put together a rough quote for Jess and Jack. They were happy with this, so we held off until July 2019 for the next and final meeting which gave them time to get everything else in place and properly think about the flowers and what they wanted. With short wedding turnaround times I am happy to be flexible as I know just how stressful it can be for the bride and groom to be.
In July there were some changes to the initial plan in terms of colour which was no problem at all. The bridesmaids now had their dresses and they were a gorgeous shade of mink pink which would now be the colour of the wedding florals alongside ivory; the main colour and the greenery that Jess so loved.
The buttonholes and photo backdrop were the same, it was just the bridal party and table flowers which were to change. The bridal bouquet would now be a combination of ivory anemones, ivory roses, mink roses, ivory wax flower and eucalyptus. Jess had also decided that she would like the bridesmaids to have something a little more special than the posies, so they were going to have ivory roses, ivory wax flower and eucalyptus. Something I had mentioned previously and something Jess had grown to love was the idea of having the maid of honours bouquet as slightly different to the rest of the bridesmaids and slightly more special. Emma was to have anemones added to her bouquet as well. The flower girl would then be the only one having the wax flower posy which is enough for a young girl as bouquets can become over powering. The bridesman would then have an ivory rose, wax flower and eucalyptus buttonhole to match the maids and differ from the groom’s party. Mink ribbons would now decorate the pew ends and tie off the garland for the photo backdrop.
Jess and Jack didn’t feel the jam jars would fit on the table with the afternoon tea stands, wine, place settings etc. so there would be no flowers on the round tables. This then meant that the jars planned for the top table may also appear a little random, so Jess liked the idea of a centre piece of foliage and flowers in front of her and jack which would be around 1m long. This would be created in the flowers and colours of the wedding. 3 little bottles of flowers would then be placed on each end of the table just to tie it all in. I would also leave some jam jars around for the girls to pop their bouquets into during the reception to keep them fresh and also as added décor.
The last thing Jess wanted to add on was the flowers for her semi naked cake. She wanted the cake to be quite floral with 4 posies and a foliage wreath around the bottle. On the day I also added some jam jars next to the cake with left overs which was a nice touch.
One week before the wedding I placed the order for the wedding flower collection and they arrived on the Thursday before. Along with the help of my amazing mum I spent the day conditioning the flowers and separating them out for different things. I also created the two foliage garlands using ruscus and populus leaf and berry eucalyptus on the Thursday afternoon for the photo backdrop. With a good misting foliage will last for a great length of time.
Early on the Friday the real preparation began with button holes and bouquets being created along with much more! On the Friday evening myself and my mum headed up to the church in Bristol to hang the pew ends as they were in foam due to it being benches and the church was cool so there would be no problem with them lasting. We then headed down to Colliters Brook Farm to hang the foliage alongside the drapes on the wooden frame. On the morning of the wedding the set up began at the marquee simply delivering the cake flowers to the cake maker there and decorating the top table. It was then on to the bride’s house to deliver the bouquets before assisting all of the groom’s party at the pub beforehand with their button holes.
Thank you to Jess and Jack for choosing Isabloom Floral Design to create their wedding flowers. I attended the wedding as a family guest and it was a brilliant day from start to finish with lots of lovely memories made. I wish Jess and Jack a happy future together.
