Flower Crown Workshop

A few weeks ago my good friend Migle, owner of Your London Florist invited me to a workshop at her brand-new studio in Crew Hill, North London. You might have seen me mention Your London Florist before as they did all my wedding flowers.

At the workshop we learnt how to construct floral crowns from scratch. It was a really interesting and technical class. We trimmed garden roses down to size then threaded florist's wire through the stem, criss-crossing the wires before pulling them down and wrapping them with florist's tape. Once we had a pile of trimmed, taped flowers we are ready to start constructing the crown. We bunched together the flowers and foliage then wrapped the wires with tape working round gradually until all the flowers were incorporated. We also added a few succulents with the help of a hot glue gun. The lovely florists then showed us how to measure it round our heads to create a loop and tape the whole thing in place. Doesn't it look amazing! The best thing is the class was so thorough and well taught that I would definitely feel confident making myself a flower crown from scratch again. There was such a lovely bunch of women at the workshop that night, including Katie from Oh Squirrel who it's always lovely to catch up with

All the beautiful photos  were taken by photographer Tia Talula. Find more details for the Flower School here.

All The Little Details

When it comes to blogging about your wedding it’s difficult to know where to start. It’s only one day but there is so much to say! I have already done a run through of the day, but I wanted to focus a bit more on the amazing suppliers that made our wedding so special.

The Venue

Finding a venue was quite tricky because our guest list meant that most traditional wedding venues were too big and most pub function rooms were too small. We were so happy to find Clissold House, a beautiful listed building in Clissold Park, Stoke Newington. Clissold house gave the day the perfect elegant yet relaxed vibe, and the glorious weather meant everyone could enjoy the terrace and the beautiful park setting.

The Flowers

Where do I even start with the flowers? They were incredible. I am very good friends with Migle, who owns Your London Florist, and you can really see the love that she put into everything from the table arrangements to the button holes. Migle knows me and my taste so well that I was able to just trust her to do her thing, which meant the flowers were a total surprise on the day. The archway of sliver birch and cherry blossom she created was just stunning, and provided the perfect back drop for both our ceremony and the first dance. Apparently the whole room smelt amazing, but as I had a sinus infection I couldn’t smell a thing. If you’re getting married in London and looking for a florist you should definitely speak to Your London Florist.

The Dress

I knew straight away that I didn’t want a big traditional wedding dress, and there wasn’t really room for it in our budget either, so I didn’t even bother setting foot inside a wedding dress shop. I did some research online and was pretty sure that I would be able to find something on the high street, and I was right. This dress was actually the first one I tried on. It had the vintage, romantic feel that I was going for and fitted perfectly. My veil was actually my mum’s, and my shoes came from Boden. My husband wore a suit from John Lewis and a beautiful vintage tie we bought in Nashville. The bridesmaids wore dresses from Asos.

The Cake

We knew that we definitely didn’t want a traditional wedding cake with fondant icing. I wanted something really pretty and whimsical, and most importantly very tasty. I first met My Little Cake Tin at Renegade Craft Fair, and I found out that she was actually based very locally to me in North London. My Little Cake Tin were absolutely wonderful to work with, and the cake was delicious as well as well as stunning. We had a rich chocolate cake with chocolate ganache as the bottom tier, which we ate for dessert, the middle tier was lemon and elderflower sponge which we had at the evening reception, and the top tier was another chocolate cake which we took home with us. Being able to enjoy eating a little slice of wedding cake every day for a week after the wedding was so lovely. I definitely recommend doing this!

Photography

Emily Quinton isn’t actually the wedding photographer I originally booked. Two weeks before the wedding the photographer that I had booked let us down, which meant I was frantically searching for a new photographer very last minute. I emailed Emily, knowing that she didn’t do wedding photography any more, but hoping that she might be able to help us out, and amazingly she said yes. Emily was so fantastic on the day, she made it all feel really natural and relaxed, and the photos are absolutely stunning. They capture the day so well and don’t feel forced or posed. Like I say Emily doesn’t do wedding photography any more, but if you’d like to learn how to improve your Instagram or learn how to use your camera I can’t recommend her workshops enough.

The Band

My husband is a jazz musician so we were always going to have live music at our wedding.  Five of his friend played traditional jazz for us whilst we and our guests ate. Go to Place Avenue Swing to book them.

The Little Details

I wanted to add some little personal touches to the day, without going overboard on crafts and DIY, which is why I chose to play to my strengths. I designed and illustrated the invites and the on the day stationery myself.  I also hand lettered the seating chart and the welcome sign. I would definitely advise leaving the seating chart to the last possible minute, there’s always one guess that drops out two days before! I also hand painted the wedding cake toppers.

We got Married!

So, I got married! The day was absolutely amazing, hopefully it’s clear from the photos that as well as being a beautiful day it was also a really funny, emotional, magical perfect day.

I’ll start with the night before. I spent the day before with my fiance and my mum, dropping off a few things at the venue and finishing a bit of hand lettering. I was so glad that I didn’t have lots of last minute DIY projects to complete, I deliberately had not given myself too much crafting to do so that I wouldn’t be stressed the day before. We went out for dinner at one of our favourite local restaurants The Step, where Alex had actually proposed, and had an early night, which was sheer bliss.

The next morning my mum and I had breakfast at my flat before getting a taxi to our hotel in Stoke Newington. When we arrived both my bridesmaids were there and Migle, my florist had just dropped off the flowers. I actually woke up feeling really ill on the day of the wedding. I’ve had a cold about a month before and due to stress and overwork I haven’t been able to fight it off, so it had turned into a sinus infection. Fortunately paracetamol, concealer and adrenaline got me through the day. I’d only booked the photographer for a half day so my bridesmaids got few photos up with getting ready. I love these photos, they are so personal and intimate. I did my own hair and make up, a decision I will blog about a bit later. Getting ready with my mum and bridesmaids was one of my favourite parts of the day.

We decided to do a first look, which I’m really really glad we did. It helped everything after the ceremony flow really smoothly, without the need to disappear for an hour to take lots of couple photos. It also helped my pre-wedding nerves, although I was still absolutely terrified walking down the aisle. 

Writing our own vows is something else and really glad we did. It made it so special and emotional. We also got my husband sister to do a reading from a Midsummer’s night dream, which was really beautiful. The ceremony was so beautiful and meaningful.

The weather was absolutely glorious that day, so after the ceremony we headed straight outside to the terrace for Pimms, canapes and confetti throwing. 

We managed to get a group of family photos done with the minimum of fuss, and then we will back chatting with our guests. The wedding took place in Clissold House in Clissold Park, Stoke Newington. Because it was such a gorgeous sunny day there were lots of people around, and that made it even more special. One of my favourite parts of the day was how happy everyone was for us and how many people came up to us to say congratulations. 

We eventually managed to drag everyone inside for dinner, cake, speeches and prosecco. Alex is a jazz musician, and his band serenaded us as we ate. I made a speech thanking everyone who had played a part in the wedding, and then we had the father of the bride speech and the best man speech, which were both hilarious. We finished with my husband’s speech, and I don’t think I was the only one who shed a tear. Time seemed to flow by very smoothly, there was no waiting or hanging around, but also no rushing or panicking. Just everything flowing very smoothly and everyone having a wonderful day. Everyone was magnetically drawn to the sunshine, with a pint or a Pimms in their hand. Before the light faded we regather for the first dance, under the arbour of fresh cherry blossom.