A special gift for Mandy

I am blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law and I wanted to make a special gift for her. 

Following her wedding, Mandy dried the roses from her bouquet and displayed them in a vase. Unfortunately they did not survive her active dog playing fetch in the living room. 

While sorting out my photo albums I came across a photo of her bouquet and decided to try making a heirloom homage to her bouquet as a gift.

Her bridal bouquet was made from Velvet Roses with Baby's Breath and Bear Grass interspersed with crystals and ribbon. 

 

My version used burgundy velvet for the roses, wired pearls for the Baby's Breath, peacock feathers instead of Bear Grass and wired chandelier crystals with ribbon.

I am very pleased with this bouquet and think the idea of recreating heirloom versions of bridal bouquets would make a lovely and unusual anniversary present. 

                   

Deep purple satin flowers

 

I have been experimenting with different mediums and techniques for two special brides getting married next year.

I love the shape and texture of these fabric flowers.

 While they would work well in any colour, this deep purple is particularly striking. It will be fun to see how they work in a facinator, on shoe clips and as part of a bouquet...

...watch this space!

Fabric Flowers

In preparation for a number of weddings next year I decided to play with different fabrics and techniques to make flowers. Thanks to a large collection of silk, lace, satin and brocade scraps I was able to make a variety of styles and shapes.

The Webb-Brown Wedding (September 2011)

Vikki knew exactly what she wanted for her tiara and, unable to find it, asked me to make one for her.

She wanted her tiara to showcase the intricate detailing on the bodice of her stunning dress.

 I used rice and potato freshwater pearls and crystals to make this floral design which looked lovely on such a beautiful bride.

The Hunneyball-Prince Wedding (August 2011)

This was a very special wedding as I like to take credit for initiating the courtship of the bride and groom.

The very talented bride, Emma, made her stunning bouquet using heirloom brooches and wanted something equally unique for the bridesmaids.

The colour scheme of merlot and forest green challenged me to find a medium that would lend itself to such vibrant colours.

 

The bridesmaids bouquets were made using individually sewn ribbon roses centred with crystal pins.

The Hyde-Lomanovskis Wedding (August 2011)

       

               

Claire chose a beautiful purple as the accent colour for her feather bouquets and buttonholes.

I used various tones in the flower girl bouquets and buttonholes ranging from lilac to deep purple.

The bridal bouquet was made using white goose feather flowers centred with pearls and crystals with lavender biot feathers providing subtle flecks of colour.

   

The Tudor-Griffth Wedding (June 2011)

       

The Tudor-Giffith wedding involved working with feathers rather than flowers.

Liz wanted something a bit different so we used the feather establishment on her wedding dress as inspiration.

The Johnson-Cork Wedding (September 2010)

Heather had a clear idea of what she wanted for her wedding flowers. She loved the idea of using vibrant colours and avoiding an overly structured look. Instead she asked for a bouquet that could almost have been gathered in armful from a meadow.

Heather designed her wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses together with her incredibly talented mother, Elizabeth Cork, dressmaker and "3d fabric manipulator".

My Wedding (August 2008)

I discovered my interest in making all things "wedding" through necessity rather than design. My wonderful husband and I had a very tight wedding budget and decided it was more important to be able to invite all our family and friends then have a posh venue. We were blessed that our village memorial hall is a stunning building which we could hire for the occasion. We hired in china and cutlery and I made the table clothes by cutting and hemming king size sheets.

The napkins were made by accordion folding a black and ivory napkin on the diagonal and tying with a wired rose and paper tag. The intention was for place names to be added to these but, having made 130, I ran out of time! The seating plan was also home-made with ribbon flowers as an accent. Ribbon flowers were also used to decorate the flower girl baskets which were filled with dried rose petals - thanks again to the ladies of our village for collecting and drying them for me!

     
The day before my wedding was spent in last minute preparations including making my bouquet as well as those for the bridesmaids and all the buttonholes. The remaining flowers were used in the hall and church decorations to tie everything together. 

                     

I am very fortunate to have had lots of wonderful family come over for our wedding from Holland. One particular Aunt and Uncle have earned my eternal gratitude for bringing me fresh roses over from the Dutch flower market at an incredible price. The roses travelled beautifully and allowed me to have the flowers I wanted within our budget (even if they were a real DIY job!). I had never made a bouquet before but, armed with a YouTube video, I gave it a go and discovered that I love working with flowers! 

I spent about 12 months prior to the wedding day on preparations. Every evening I would either be folding napkins, making invitations or orders of service. In addition to this (and with the help of my mother), I designed and made my tiara. I also made pearl hair combs and alice band for my bridesmaids, as well as necklaces, bracelets and earrings for all the female members of the wedding party. I will try to find some close up pictures of the jewellery as I used a mix of white and black cultured pearls to make these. I will also try to add a picture of our cake topper which were fimo representations of ourselves in footwear form (a rugby boot and high heel).

  It truly was a wonderful day which would not have been possible without the help and good wishes of our many family and friends. A particular thank you to the Helmer clan and all those who helped clean the hall! 

My wedding was the start of a very happy marriage. 

It also proved to be the start of my journey to the world of weddings...

more soon...