This will be the day

That you will hear me say
that i will never run away
I am here for you
Love is meant for two

This wedding was brought to you by Prince and too many bags of kettle chips.

There are tales to tell, but not enough time presently to tell them, there was so so much beauty.

The ever wonderful Tori Hancock was on camera, thank you to her for the above image. It made me cry.

In other news today is the 2 year anniversary of Stef and Emily with those amazing photos by Polly. Congratulations!

I get to see Polly again this weekend. This weekend is Becca's wedding, yes that Becca, 3 years in the planning. No pressure.

Lately and in no particular order

Espresso shots: 127
Diet cokes: 27
Number of Miss Pickerings it took to do one of the weddings: 2
Times i thought The Hound was on deaths door: 4
Times he disproved this by digging massive holes in the garden and generally being puppy like: 7
Flowergirls I wanted to steal: 2
Vases acquired for clients: 9
Fashion crises: 3
Emails to reply to after being offline: too many
Points scored by McLaren in the Canadian Grand Prix: 0
Brilliant videos found on youtube: 1
Magazines and books bought: 4
Magazines and books read: 0
Carbohydrate comas caused by eating all the garlic bread in the world: 1

Town and county

A Sunday at the Rutland show, a Monday in the city of Nottingham.

Sunshine on both days.

and for a while yet apparently, fingers crossed for the June weddings.

Also a lot of these pictures were taken with my iPhone, since getting it the DSLR has taken a back seat.

Does anybody else find this?

Is it on the trolley?

Of all the things i have acquired in the name of shop fittings, I think this ex-Red Cross trolley is going to be one of the best.

I love the stainless steel shelves, but the frame could do with a respray.

What colour?

I am leaning towards chartreuse, or neon orange.

It was whilst pushing it back to the shop that somebody shouted "is it on the trolley?" and i replied with "it's got good castors, been right over to cutlery"

Victoria Wood

It probably doesn't translate.

but it is awfully reminiscent of somewhere...

The viburnum opulus i cut from the garden, some pieces were 5ft tall. Who needs a Dutchman?

The answer to that is anybody who wants to make anything with any scale or consistency.

One for the florists.

In other news a new window is in, an homage to Liberace or "where the hell am i supposed to out all these candelabra and china swans?"

Coins and carrier bags

A Bank Holiday means a car boot sale, a sunny Bank holiday means a busy car boot sale.

Armed with loose change and plenty of carrier bags, we set off in search of treasure.

I think I'm more fascinated by the boot holders than the things they are selling. The people who are doing it for the first time, with a wallpaper pasting table that will sag within half an hour. The ones who are selling plants from their allotments - my personal favourites, the dealers getting rid of superfluous stock, the old couple armed with a copy of Millers Antiques 1983.

You never buy what you went for, but there is always something, an enormous bronze Beswick window vase, a beautiful copper mug, and countless digitalis plants yesterday. The haggling, the noting where things are and going back an hour later to see if it is still there, the endless trips back to the car to allow hands free to rummage.

and a silver rose bowl, which i filled with bits from the garden and a few leftover wedding roses, it is now sitting on my 1930's dressing table, looking like a scene from Miss Marple.

It is a weird thing florists do, spend all week arranging flowers and then do it in your spare time too. I should probably get a life, or take a husband.

The Floral Coalition flower school

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

En route to the station to collect Lotte, i got stuck behind "tractor fun day" aside from wondering if my life could be anymore of a cliche? I pondered how Lotte and I actually "met" because people were bound to ask, and would she like the shop? and what if she thought the vases I'd put everything in were awful? and seriously how many tractors? and what is fun about this?

There are few people more insecure than florists.

I needn't have worried, the shop looked beautiful, the flowers we had spent hours on the phone discussing were just perfect, and the sun was shining making Stamford look even prettier. We moved furniture, made up goodie bags, cut foliage from The Stamford Hen's garden, messed about in fields, drank gin, admired The Hound, and did that things that all florists do when you get more than one together - "have you used such and such lately?" "Did you see that post on such and such?""I once had a bride...."

and then it was time, and all the people came from far and wide, some drove half way across the country, some flew half way across the world, just for the day.

We started with a demonstration of an urn arrangement, 2 florists 2 arrangements. The differences in how we worked and what we used fascinated me, and the class. I have discovered a love for using apricots, i want to use them in all the things now.

Then everybody made one, let loose on the exact same flowers, same vessel. Completely different arrangements. Amazing. Later we made corsages, and then had a lunch at the pub, and there were hand tied bouquets and then we made a huge table-scape.

and throughout all of this we chatted, swapped stories, learnt about the flowers used in South Korea, and discussed the merits of a 7 in one paint stripper, and were all photographed by Cara, who rather amazingly offered up her services as official photographer.

An enormous thank you to everybody that came for being a part of it all.

There will be more, we have plans, great big plans, if you want the heads up on the next one. Sign up ici.

News just in, official pictures here.

and how did Lotte and I actually meet? We aren't really sure, just through being florists with blogs. The internets are full of nonsense, but at times bloody amazing.