Welcome to the blog of Green Earth Flowers, your local florist in Poynton, Cheshire

Kate and James were married at Sandhole Oak Barn near Congleton in Cheshire. We’d been there a few days earlier for the wedding of Gemma and Paul, but the look and feel of this celebration was totally different – a good example of what can be done at a venue like this.

Kate had chosen a stunning lace dress from Michelle at Timeless Bride in Poynton, and wanted the simplicity and elegance of a pure white colour scheme for the flowers. So if we’re talking elegant, glamorous and white, there’s only one real option – phalaenopsis orchids. Kate had seen this style of bouquet from a previous wedding we’d done, and knew it was the one for her.

When the flowers are this perfect, there’s no need to over-complicate things, so we just used phalaenopsis orchid ‘Red Lip’ on their natural stems and finished it off with a pure white satin ribbon handle.

The bridesmaids were in stylish ice blue dresses, so we chose to keep things simple again with bouquets of pure white hydrangea, finished with delicate silver bullion wire threaded with tiny silver and pearl beads to match the detail on Kate’s dress.

James sported a beautiful single ‘Red Lip’ phalaenopsis orchid head finished with a silver bullion wire ball for his buttonhole, while the other men in the bridal party had small clusters of white hydrangea to match the bridesmaids. The mums had simple but glamorous phalaenopsis orchid corsages.

The entrance to the barn was dressed with swags of seasonal white flowers, including roses, alliums, agapanthus and stocks, finished with trailing ivy.

For the ceremony, we lined the aisle with fresh white rose petals, and provided confetti cones of petals for the guests to throw. We had also dressed the chairs with white covers and white bows to give a classic, elegant look to the room.

We placed two huge ‘Red Lip’ phalaenopsis orchid plants in white pots dressed with twigs and moss at the top of the aisle. The lucky mums got to take these home as thankyou gifts.

The reception tables were decorated with our elegant tall conical vases which we topped with massed white hydrangea heads finished with fountains of steelgrass.

We wanted to make a more dramatic statement with the top table arrangement, so used a selection of seasonal white flowers such as alliums, stocks, roses, phlox and poppy seedheads interspersed with chunky church candles. This was all finished with a flamboyant waterfall of trailing foliages including asparagus fern and ivy, with a final touch of silver wire threaded with perfumed stephanotis heads.

The three tier cake was simply decorated with white hydrangea to match the bridesmaids’ bouquets and table centres.

All in all, a hugely stylish, elegant wedding day, which we were very proud to be a part of. Thanks to Chris Hanley for sending these fantastic images through – you can see the full gallery over on his blog. Kate and James’ wedding has also been featured on English Wedding – many thanks to Claire for the lovely write-up.

And last, but not least, thankyou to Kate and James – we hope you enjoyed your day and wish you all the best for the future…

Just a little teaser of an upcoming wedding we will be bringing to you in the not too distant future – short, vintage-style dress from the wonderful Timeless Bride, the stunning Belle Epoque in Knutsford as a setting, and fab photos by Jonny Draper. What more could you want…?

Gemma and Paul got married at the fantastic Sandhole Oak Barn near Congleton on one of the hottest weekends of the year. I was recommended to Gemma by our good friend Michelle from Timeless Bride, who supplied the stunning dress, and these images were very kindly provided by Jo and Simon from Shoot Photography, who we had the pleasure of working with for the first time (and not the last, I hope!).

Gemma would be the first to admit that she wasn’t the world’s biggest flower expert, but she knew she loved peonies and that she wanted mainly ivory with a hint of pink. The bridesmaids were dressed in a gorgeous coffee colour, so the pink we chose had to compliment what they were wearing.

But pink is one of those colours where there is a bewildering range of flowers available, so to make sure we were on the same wavelength, Gemma went to the local diy store and picked up a paint chart so she could show me exactly what she had in mind. This is a great tip for all you brides-to-be out there and it can be an invaluable reference point for us florists when it comes to picking which varieties to use.

So we ended up using ruffly white peonies, ivory ‘Avalanche’ roses, dusky pink ‘La Belle’ roses, David Austin’s ‘Rosalind’ pale pink garden roses and pretty ‘Lydia’ spray roses, all finished with a collar of variegated hosta leaves. Paul’s buttonhole was a simple ‘Avalanche’ rose finished with a ‘Lydia’ spray rosebud and fountain grass to match.

The smell was absolutely amazing – one of the reasons why peonies and the fantastic David Austin garden roses are so popular at this time of year. The bridesmaids’ bouquets were smaller versions of Gemma’s, with some loops of beargrass to make them a little different to the bride’s flowers.

For the reception, we decided to introduce a bit more colour, as the interior of the barn is very neutral – the ideal space for decorating as there is no possibility of clashing colours! Gemma wanted the table centres to have a great impact when the guests walked into the room, so we used our tall tapered vases with loosely hand-tied seasonal flowers in shades of antique and dusky pinks with a touch of ivory.

To add interest, we used crushed cellophane inside the vases, which were then placed on circular table mirrors with simple white tealights. The flowers used were white peonies, dusky pink stocks and lisianthus, eupatorium, astilbe, ‘La Belle’ and ‘Avalanche’ roses and an amazing new antique hydrangea variety with double flowers called ‘Bijoux Classic’. The flowers were complimented with soft foliages including asparagus fern, fountain grass and trailing variegated ivy.

To see more fabulous images from Gemma and Paul’s big day, head over to Shoot Photography’s blog for the full story.

Many congratulations to the happy couple from all of us at Green Earth Flowers.