Rebecca Frere Flowers

Wedding me!

2009-11-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

I have been unbelievably remiss about putting up some of the stunning photos which the fantastic Simon at Lockeyear Photography was kind enough to email me during the summer. It's so wonderful to get some professional photos of weddings, since my photography skills leave a lot to be desired. Simon and I got chatting whilst I set up the wedding flowers and he took photos of the build up to the ceremony. He really put everyone at their ease in the stressful last few moments while annoying florists buzzed about, waiters polished glasses, the band set up and the pressure was on! It's great to have a photographer who isn't intrusive, but instead subtly captures the great moments of your day. After all, it's your wedding day, not a photo shoot! Check out his lovely photos, and then check out his fab website http://www.wedding.me.uk/

Happy days are here again

2009-11-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

Greetings all. Just a little post with a lovely photo and some kind words from the wonderful Julie. Look at her amazing wedding dress! She had a sweet bouquet of garden flowers with lots of delicious scented herbs in, and she's just sent me this lovely note:

"I had the most wonderful wedding, the day was absolutely brilliant and I wanted to thank you for the beautiful bouquets that you created for Jessica and myself. They were just exquisite and complimented our dresses perfectly. Everybody commented on them and I have enclosed a photo of Terry and myself with my bouquet taking pride of place! Thankyou again, you are a star!"

Hooray!

Season of mists

2009-10-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being so turbo-lazy (if such a state is possible) about updating photos. Basically it's because I have so many to put up that I have been dreading the amount of time it's going to take. However, it's pouring with rain, and I've hurt my back, so that means there is no excuse but to sit down with a cuppa and have a super mega upload fest. It's either this or doing the laundry. Exactly...

Simple September Celebrations.

2009-09-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Two weddings this weekend, and two very relaxed brides whose only demand was 'whatever you have in the garden'. Well, the garden is now a barren wasteland, but the weddings looked great!

Bridal bouquet

From the hedgerow!

An autumnal buttonhole for every guest

Simple, cheerful and chic.

Boxed up and ready to rumble.

Greeting guests at the entrance.

A corsage for the mother of the Groom

Boogaloo

2009-08-31T04:41:00.001-07:00

No photos today, just a suggestion that you try this at your wedding. It certainly beats 'here comes the bride'.

The sun will come out...tomorrow

2009-08-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but I'm feeling all autumnal. Maybe it's the changing light in the evenings, or the colours of the flowers, the hedgerows full of berries and rosehips, the slight chill to the evening breeze, or the TOTAL COMPLETE LACK OF ANY SORT OF SUMMER WHATSOEVER. Thanks Met office, for raising our hopes, and then dashing them on the...cruel shore of...fact? Anway. Just as I gave myself totally over to autumn, started making jam like a loon, bought some new wellies (totally awesome, there will be pictures) and generally started setting store for winter, the blistering sun has come out. Too late sun. Too late...

So here are some photos to show that the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is spilling over into the colour scheme of my flower arrangements. Some lovely little centrepieces for a late summer/early autumn wedding.

In other flowery news I got an absolutely lovely letter from the gorgeous Emma, whose wedding I did at the end of July (wow time has flown!) saying lots of nice thing about Rebecca Frere Flowers, so I thought I'd toot the auld horn and put it up here for all to see, toot toot:

Dear Rebecca,

I just wanted to say thank you for the flowers you provided for our wedding on Saturday 25th of July. The flowers were exactly what I wanted and the centrepieces were stunning. The guests were especially happy when we played a game with them that meant the winners would take home the vases; guests were fighting over them!

I was so pleased with the service I received, and it makes such a difference to have a friendly and helpful person such as you to assist the bride through such a hectic time!

Kind regards, Emma.

Hooray! She was really kind and enclosed a stunning photo of herself and her lovely bridesmaids with their flowers, which sadly I can't reproduce here, so I've put up a photo of the fab (though willful, as I believe I mentioned) gerberas she chose as her wedding flowers. Somehow a mass of ivory gerberas manage to be chic, simple and cool all at the same time, which is quite a feat for one flower. Emma's idea of giving the away the centrepieces as presents (or prizes, in her case, which sounds like fun!) is really great, because it means no wasted flowers, less money spent on thank you presents, and lots of people getting to enjoy the flowers for days and days, rather than just a few hours at a reception. Eco friendly, budget conscious. Brilliant.

1001 ways with a teapot

2009-08-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

The garden is literally groaning under the weight of all the lovely flowers at the moment, so much so that I'm actually running out of containers to put them in. Above you see the rather sweet results, since I have resorted to teapots and biscuit tins. I think this sort of thing looks great as a centrepiece for an informal, or sort of bohemian, wedding.

Pinky and Perky

2009-08-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Some more photos of last weekend's wedding, since you can never have too much pink, or so they say. A mixture of pink wildflowers, waxflower, eucalyptus, Majolika spray roses and...I think the rose is called Heaven, I can't remember now! Agh how quickly the wedding season turns one's brain to porridge...

Similarly different

2009-08-03T11:13:00.001-07:00

My My My Dahlia

2009-08-03T05:10:00.000-07:00

Weddings ahoy. Feast your eyes on some bouquets, centrepieces and other dainty trifles.

Wedding fever

2009-07-25T13:52:00.001-07:00

Well there's only one way to describe the state of my garden after two weeks away and that is 'seven shades of mental'. To say things have 'shot up' is a bit like saying 'I suppose I quite like cake', i.e. a powerful understatement. If only someone would have a weed-themed wedding then my ship would have come in. Here's hoping. I spent all afternoon weeding, and once I'd finished I stepped back to admire my hard work.....it looked exactly the same. Blast! I think the weeds grow faster than I can take them out. Anyway, amongst the weeds are oodles of cornflowers, stock, sweet peas, amaranthus, zinnias, dianthus and other treats for the discerning weeder.

Show me a florist who says that, on the morning of a wedding, they get up at a respectable hour, have a proper breakfast and the calmly get into their pre-loaded van, having checked everything off their check list, and I will show you a liar. It doesn't matter how well prepared you are, wedding mornings involve: getting up at an hour previously undiscovered by humankind, finding that at least one arrangement/type of flower has drooped/fallen over/gone purple overnight, you've run out of ribbon even though it was RIGHT THERE!, all the stuff doesn't fit in the van, it fits but you can't find your keys, you realise you've lost the directions to the venue, you rush out without breakfast and eat an entire packet of choccie biscuits in the car on the way while you get stuck in a traffic jam the length of the Great Wall of China, whilst the maid of honour calls you every twenty minutes just to 'check on your progress'. And YET, at the end of the day, somehow, it all gets done, everything looks beautiful, the bride looks beautiful, and you can go home and worry about that packet of biscuits...

Here are some photos of today's wedding in Dartford. If I ever work with gerberas again I give you permission to kick me in the face. Wilful flowers, gerberas...

Non rosie posie

2009-07-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

OK I totally lied, THIS is the last post before I go on holidays. I just wanted to put up a piccy or two of a very sweet little bridal posie for a laid-back wedding, and also to say that Pines Calyx, the wonderful eco venue where I am sort of 'florist in residence' has redone its wedding pages, and they look smashing, so check them out.

It's apollen! (get it?)

2009-07-01T13:22:00.001-07:00

Blogeens, I am going on HOLIDAYS. Yes, that's right. But when I come back it is weddings a go-go so you can look forward to a flurry of bouquets, buttonholes, centrepieces, garlands, and lots more besides on my return.

Usually I forget to take photos because I am in such a flap about getting everything done, and loading up, and making sure I haven't forgotten anything, and I have the best man's mobile number, and I've got a spare bit of this that and the other in case suddenly 52 people who previously weren't coming arrive anyway and a new table needs to be set up (this has happened!). Then I have to work out how to drive to either some beautiful venue in a village named Obscure-under-Wherethehell, or, the opposite of that, some incredibly famous, trust owned, national treasure of a venue, where every brick has been sneezed on by Henry the VIII, every sink has been personally unplugged by Charles Darwin, and I am followed around by a staff member on the verge of a nervous breakdown, screaming "You can't park THERE! That's the tomb of Saint Francis of Asisi!!!" (this has not happened).
But I will try to not forget to get snap happy, even when I'm desecrating national monuments in the name of floristry. I shall leave you with some photos tooken round the garden this evening.

2009-06-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogettes! This month you can find Rebecca Frere Flowers featured in none other than that prestigious publication, Kent Life Magazine. RUN from your houses to buy a copy, or just click on the link! It's a lovely feature about growing cut flowers, featuring all sorts of like minded persons and great contacts for people looking for a more natural way to do things. I will overlook the fact that they have included large photos of everyone involved APART from me and only hide my head in a bag for a few days.

A lucky local lady down the road has a very romantic husband. He's had to go away on business for three whole months, and has arranged, every Friday, for a bouquet and a card to be left secretly on her doorstep, as if from the fairies. Luckily I live so close I can just pedal down there on my bike with the bouquet in the basket. Sadly my bike, whilst being an object of great antique beauty, is designed for Edwardian ladies wearing bloomers, petticoats and all manner of rustling skirts, and so, unfortunately, does not go uphill or round corners.

In other news, the lovely Fiona, a new Bride-on-the-Books, or 'Bob', as I have just this minute decided to call new clients, has introduced me to three AMAZING websites which, I think it's safe to say, I am now totally obsessed with. All three are beautiful, unique, inspirational, and American, which I think might say something about the somewhat staid, cookie-cutter nature of a lot of British weddings. Is it just me, or are so many weddings these days identical? Anyway, Style Me Pretty (ignore hideously twee name) Once Wed and Saipua are all amazing websites for inspiration on how to make a wedding beautiful, individual, and budget friendly!

Summer flowers

2009-06-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

On the windowsill

Rose-a-rama
Buckets of Delphiniums

Mock up of little centrepieces for wedding

A very special flower in the garden

The Secret Life of Flowers

2009-06-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

So this is what happens when you buy a bouquet on the interweb from "Cheep Bowket FlowErz"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3pzV4vunGo

And below is the lifecycle of a bouquet from ME!

Flowers from the garden get picked...

Turned into an attractive bouquet...

Once wilted, get collected...

And put on the compost pile...

Where they become lovely compost to dig into the soil to help new flowers grow...

Helped on with rain water collected in waterbutts...

So that new flowers can make new bouquets!

Now isn't that a nicer story?

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

2009-06-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

Flotos

2009-06-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Salad days

2009-06-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

The cutting garden is now completely re...well, I was going to say 'designed' but that sounds a bit too Chelsea flower show. I have no water features, just compost bins made out of pallets from a builders yard. No yew -edged walkways but I am half way through making a nice sort of herringbone path through the flowers (have run out of bricks). No pergolas but the greenhouse needs repainting. The door to the shed doesn't shut unless you wedge it in with an old chimney pot. The top to the slug pellet bottle fell off mid sprinkle so now there is a mound of blue pellets at the top of one bed. In short, I don't think Country Living is going to be featuring me any time soon. But the good thing about plants is that they don't mind. They'll grow in cracks in supermarket car parks. They flourish down dank alleys that people are too scared to walk down. So they are all very happy growing in my newly dug, well manured but 'sculptural focal point' free cutting patch. Hooray for them. Here are a few photos of the garden (will take some of the cutting garden once it is in full bloom and not looking quite so new and unsure of itself) and the back of my car as I trundle off to a wedding. Enjoy. Comment. Faint in disbelief and repulsion.

You May kiss the Bride

2009-05-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. Have been very remiss about updating The Blog. There's just too much else to do! Even now the sun is shining and the cuckoo is cuckooing and all my little seedling are out of the greenhouse and into the big bad world, so I feel a bit naughty sitting in front of a computer in a dark room... Anyway. Here are some photos from a wedding last weekend. Stunning calla lillies for a stylish London wedding. Callas are a great wedding flower, as they look amazing in photographs, last all day and can be used in all sorts of ways.

April Bridal Showers

2009-04-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

To Cambridge, for a wedding in none other than King's College Chapel and Great Hall. I could not BELIEVE I was lucy enough to do the flowers for these venues. The Chapel is so amazing that there was simply no sense in trying to compete, florally, so it was just buttonholes (18! that's 52 individually wired and taped leaves. Bear that in mind ushers, when you accidentally sit on your coats during the speeches...) and bouquets. The Great Hall, no less stunning, was decorated with masses of glowing candles in sparkling glass jars, and fresh fragrant greenery. Simple but stunning.

Floral and Hardy

2009-03-31T05:10:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to the wonderful Jo who has kindly given permission for some of her wedding photos to be put up here. I think you'll agree they're just gorgeous, as is she, and they were taken by the very talented Alex Whittle of Alex Whittle Weddings. Jo had a bouquet made entirely of herbs and autumn foliage for her September wedding at The Lost Village of Dode, yet another spectacularly beautiful and intimate wedding venue in Kent. It just goes to show that simple and seasonal always wins the day!

This is what the lovely Jo had to say about Rebecca Frere Flowers:

"I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the beautiful bouquet that you created for me. You were so helpful from the very beginning, I think you knew what I wanted even before I did! I didn't want a big, fancy bouquet and you managed to create something simple yet beautiful, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much!" - Jo.

Heston's Rosy Roman Feast

2009-03-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

Those of you watching Heston's Roman Feast on Channel 4 last week may have been hiding behind the sofa whilst he made brain custard. However, if you were not, you will have noticed him plucking some particularly beautiful organic rose petals from a bunch, before grinding them into a paste with fermented fish guts. YES! Those beautiful roses came from Rebecca Frere Flowers! Here they are, in the kitchen, after Heston had had his wicked way with them. He only seemed to want the pink petals, although the end result was a delightful shade of grey. And yes I did taste the brain custard. And no I don't want to talk about it...

Oopsy Daisy

2009-03-30T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, apologies for the peculiar layout in the post below. It always looks OK in 'preview' and then when it actually gets published it goes all askew. Or is it asquew? No, spellcheck assures me it is not. Here are a few more photos.

Fair Enough

2009-03-30T03:29:00.000-07:00

Wow the week has flown by. The Pines Calyx wedding fair was a really wonderful day. Sunshine, music, cake, flowers, happy people wandering around in love... perfect. The fact that it took place at the same time as the rugby was a sure indicator that the few men who made it on the day were truly dedicated.

The Calyx really is amazing, from its incredible architecture to its own reed bed water filtration system, it really does define eco chic. Here are some piccies of some of the flowers I did. Love, and spring, were definitely in the air!