Flower Design Winter Wedding in the Yorkshire Dales

For this particular wedding I wanted to share with you our prelimenary thoughts during the planning stages, this posting will include excerpts of our correspondence with the lovely Katie, I hope it all make sense, it did to me...

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So first of all this is Katies Thoughts and Inspiration card...

Winter Wedding Daydreams
Key words: Serene Atmosphere, clean and fresh, nature revisited, imaginary places, stolen moments, Romantic, Sensitive and gentle, Casual Sophistication, Elegant, Warm and Cosy, Simple and Subtle.

Colours: Crisp whites, Milky coffee, Clotted cream, Crystallised Ivory, Deep Emerald Green, soft sagey greens, Aubergine, Highlights in Silver

Flowers: Lily of the Valley, Winter White Peonies, Avalanche roses, Lissianthus, Schwartzwalder & Ivory Zantedeschias, Anthuriums, Dangly Amaranthus, Lily of the valley, Stephanotis, White Anemones, Poppy seed Heads, Rosemary, Viburnum Tinnus berries, rosemary, eucalyptus, Jade roses, Delphiniums, Hydrangeas.

Sundries: Candles.

Shapes: Natural and Organic

Designs: Gentle and soft, Non-angular, Fluid

Senses heightened by: Colour, Fragrance and texture

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Welcome to Austwick Parish Church on a very cold wintery November Saturday the day before the Remembrance service in the same Church (Which now feels like forever ago)

"...We think that the flowers for your day ought to enhance the atmosphere and setting of The Church & The Austwick Traddock. When we visited the Church back in September it was already dressed with some of the flowers left over from the weekends wedding . The Church is lovely, very well lit, bright and airy, the flowers were arranged on the Arch over the door, Porch area, windowsills, altar, there were pedestals on either side and flowers on the pew ends (Only one pedestal had been returned to the Church on our visit and the pew ends were distributed around the various ledges). Mr Reynolds at The Austwick Traddock told us that the Church are happy for flowers to be removed and used at the Austwick Traddock and then some of them to be returned to Church the following day, however we are aware of the Remembrance day service on the Sunday so perhaps if you were to leave the Altar displays and windowsill designs in Church ready for the early morning service what do you think?"

I used statuesque ivory Delphinium Elatum, Ivory Arum Lilies, Avalanche Roses & Autumn shaded Hydrangeas. I used candles in the porch area which really warmed up the welcome

Neil and his Best Man Steven with co-ordinating Roses (Neil's has some Lily of the Valley too) in their buttonholes.

Both Mum's had their Hand bags dressed with Lilly of the Valley and tiny Rose Buds

"... I do completely appreciate the importance of these particular fowers, however Peonies in November are going to be quite pricey..."

"...Your bouquet, Katie, should be luscious but simple and quite small, you are classically beautiful and the bouquet should be in a supporting role not the main attraction. I would honestly recommend a soft gentle posy shape with broken edges not too structured or solidly framed by hard foliages, more random in its shape as if the flowers and foliages had been picked from the garden (All be it a May Garden) slightly casual but beautifully finished..."

"... Through, candlelight the colours ought to be subtle, using coffees, fresh greens, whites and creams, whilst including some deeper shades in terms of foliages, autumn shaded Hydrangeas and berries.

Perfectly enhancing and complimenting the Emerald green of the bride’s maids’ gowns and the traditional, evocative nature of both of your chosen venues. As such, there should be an atmosphere of both new beginnings and remembrance. Respectfully yet delicately included in the flowers of your day, through Rosemary. Everything is to be clean and fresh, not too structured, rather natural and free – symbolic of renaissance, simplistic but nevertheless in keeping with the opulent tradition of your venues. Individuality, as far as flowers are concerned, ought to be an important part of the designs and can be created by using relatively unusual flowers for the time of year, such as, Arums, Lily of the Valley & Peonies. Giving the arrangements edge and uniqueness, whilst not deterring from the afore mentioned soft freedom..."

"...Austwick is such a quintessentially English Village complete with red telephone box..."

Fresh Rose Petal confetti

Huge Congratulations to Katie & Niel from all of the Flower Design Team

"...There are obviously lots of places at The Austwick Traddock that the rest of the flowers from church can be used, particularly in the lounge and bar for your drinks reception. However as the front door will be blocked off with dining tables I thought it may be wise to use the two huge pedestals on either side of the back door so your guests know which way to go..."

"... The Austwick Traddock is cosy, homely yet grand and opulent; it feels like a secret waiting to be discovered. Mr Reynolds was very excited about the possibility of having the staircase and the small wrought iron arch over it dressed, he said that it looks fabulous on photographs. There is, we understand, a natural bottle neck as guests pass the bar towards the staircase so it seems this is the obvious place for a floral seating plan..."

"...We were un-sure as to your numbers for the dining room but we were shown the large round table tops used for weddings and how both rooms are used for numbers around 60, either way he said that after the dinner the second room is transformed back into a cosy sitting room. The banqueting tables are much larger than the rectangular tables used regularly in the dining room and can be dressed beautifully, however the ceiling is quite low and I do want to keep things in proportion..."

"....We can use the twinkle of candle light in arrangements to create romantic shadows and highlight beauty, with the ceilings being low and the windows tiny in the dining area candles will add to the sense of magic. With this in mind, I think that the table designs should be relatively compact, I have included on the mood board images of silver plated candelabras with the flowers around the base we feel this is a good compromise alongside low bowls of flowers and autumn fruits in silver plated fruit bowls, both of these suggestions are vintage but could be created from more contemporary blooms, if you wished. I have also included some images of mirror cubes because although the main theme is traditional there are some contemporary twists (When we visited they had modern bowls of dried chillies on each table which looked cute)...

And we even had flower in the ladies, I think I may be the only person on earth taking pictures of flowers in powder rooms