Flowers for a wedding in Italy...

The run up to the wedding itself is a fun and exciting experience, one full of much laughter and great memories!

When it comes to wedding flowers it makes me think about the florists we work with, especially one florist in Tuscany who I adore.  A wonderfully funny insight into Italian family working together... 

The Mama who opened the florist with her husband many moons ago, insists that you must eat something and sends out her husband to buy something for the guests. I have given up trying to tell her we have just eaten.  We sit in the little office going over ideas and once I have a full idea in my head I call in Nadia, the main florist, to go through everything. During this time she asks one of her two siblings to bring us different types of vases or flowers to get an idea how a display would look. There is a lot of banter, ideas and laughter flowing, even the grooms get involved! 

But they do create some amazing displays!

If our brides have an opportunity to come over to meet with Kelly and the florist, we ask them to cut out lots of photos of flowers that they like to bring with them. Normally it is very easy to see a theme develop  as we look through these cuttings, building an idea during this meeting on styles that the bride likes and also the styles she does not like!

''Flowers not only look beautiful they stir our emotions!''

Working with the brides personality and  style in mind, the florist and Kelly design the over all style for the wedding flowers and the day.

Rose: Rose is also known as the queen of the flower. Rose has always been used by poets and romantic writers as a reflection of beauty, emotion, true love and passion. No wonder rose is a perennial wedding flower! When it comes to wedding, you can take your pick from 3 main varieties of roses – garden roses, spray roses and hybrid tea roses.

Calla Lily: The elegant calla lily can look sensational in a wedding bouquet. Calla lily comes in white, yellow, orange, creamy ivory, dark purple and in many more different colors. Two varieties of calla lily are popular in weddings – A long stem containing a large head, (suitable for a presentation style bouquet) and smaller version that can be ideal for nosegays bouquets.

Stephanotis: The fragile white stephanotis flowers symbolize ‘marital happiness’, which make them popular wedding flowers. If you are going for a formal wedding, then stephanotis bouquet and a boutonniere can be your choice. Not only stephanotis are easily available throughout the year, they are moderately priced too.

Hydrangeas: The powerful presence of hydrangeas can infuse glamour and life to your wedding. A hydrangea is a cluster of small flowers that looks like a ball because of its large head. Blue hydrangeas are popular for use in wedding bouquets. You can use few stems of hydrangeas to fill out bouquets or you can add few sprigs in a boutonniere.

I know it is so hard to think about individual flowers so I am putting together a series on wedding flowers...

'The British bride will spend on adverage 2% of wedding budget on her flowers where as the American bride tends to spend a bit more around 7 % of total budget'