of persimmons and pomegranates

Yesterday there was a flower school
it was glorious

The loveliest group of ladies who made arrangements and hand tied bouquets and headresses and corsages and ate cassoulet and drank wine and talked of hounds and weddings and I didn't take enough photographs of everybody and everything they made.

I am a big fan of adding fruit to florals,

to enable one's guests to reach over pluck a ripe plum or a grape to eat with their cheese course.

it has a certain interactive decadence

and after years of being bombarded by DIY and budget

are we not all ready for a bit of wanton decadence?

Over the next 2 weeks I am going to overhaul the website and this blog so that it might actually be able to tell you when the next flower schools are.

Useful.

and on another note, i haven't blogged that many weddings this year yet, because they are bound for publications far fancier than this first.

Come December i will bombard you with what i spent the summer doing.

Stand by your beds.

Hashtag BTS

Friday was the You magazine Christmas shoot.

We took over most of the street, commandeering fireplaces and doors.

Banging nails into things

all in the spirit of editorial.

It really was a fascinating day, i love watching other creatives at work, the lingo of other industries, page sizes/ lens types, what hashtag bts means on the instagram (behind the scenes)

The photographer was Brent Darby, with his assistant Kristy. When most photographers come they bring out ALL the lights and the pictures look yellow, but Brent went with what natural light was available and used a very slow shutter speed, (5d mkiii) and for that fact alone, he is at the top of my favourite photographers to work with list. Plus he made having my picture taken relatively painless.

From the magazine, Clare Nolan and her assistant Nicole, who were just the loveliest people, full of ideas and a joy to have in the shop.

The Hound performed terribly well for once.

It's going into the 1st December issue of the You magazine (Mail on Sunday)

The new signage in the shop by Dani, there is more, you will see on the 1st.

and more of what we made and more behind the scenes and all that shizzle.

Moments

of blue, which has been the most refreshing change after the wedding season
and the beginning of Christmas, (first wreath of the year always takes a few to get your hand in)

Not pictured is the moment i slipped yesterday, went up in the air and fell hard, that bit between knowing you are going to fall and actually landing seems like a lifetime.

also not pictured is the moment when i got home and everything seized up and i couldn't get out of the bath and wondered if i was going to die and be eaten by alsatians. (name that film)

I chose gin.

This week Christmas is coming early as we have a magazine coming to photograph us. I am hoping by then the bruising will have subsided and the limp less obvious.

The Hound's presence was requested, he is still finishing his rider.

On Hounds and Hippeastrum

Hippeastrum all good
Hound in a mood

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?

On Monday Mrs Beard and I went to the antiques fair in Lincoln.

The Hound came too, on account of me having him left him behind when i went to London at the weekend, and i felt guilty doing it again. He spent much of the day trying to goad various bits of taxidermy and china lions into playing with him, so that was nice.

The fair is at the show ground, full of all the things you never knew you needed, and a few that you did. There are plenty of stands selling farrow and ball (esque) painted furniture on sisal flooring, accessorised with some white geraniums in a rusty bucket, but the weird shit makes for better photographs.

If you need a sledge, this is the place to go, everybody was selling sledges, everybody. Have All Saints done a sledge window? Do you remember when they took over the lovely antique centre at the bottom end of Portobello, and filled the window with Singer sewing machines? and all the people wanted them, and the market price of a Singer sewing machine soared to £38.00. On Monday they were being sold for £15.00. The fickle world of decoratives.

There was one stand that had really lovely pieces, and if I'm being honest here, quite a lovely man selling them. If you happen to be in Harrogate, his shop is worth a visit.

I didn't buy Mr Blobby, i was tempted by the deer....

Lately

Texture
Yellow
Hanging
and the like.

working late and watching a lot of vintage Justin Timberlake videos on Youtube.
no I don't know why either, it's not one of those secret message links.
maybe to make me feel better after a number of fruit preserving disasters?
this should be a post about pear, apple and sage jelly.....
Rock. Hard.

What florists actually do

The very nature of the beast they call wedding flowers is a last minute affair, late nights, very early mornings.
We drink all the coffee, and all the Diet Coke, and eat all the sugar.
and when it's all over
the adrenalin/ caffeine/ heart palpitations are still going
so we dance around our work rooms
interpretative dance
until we come down.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue

and walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch

If you can work out what the hell to wear that means you are nor too hot nor too cold in this season changeover.

Bloody love Kipling. I added that last bit, sorry Mr Baines.

It is late summer it is also early autumn, i have chosen autumn today, filled the shop with gourds and worn a polo neck. Doubtless by lunch it will be 24 degrees and people will be wanting peonies.

Congratulations to The Mother Hen and The Captain. It is their 10th wedding anniversary today, we have been house sitting

"Help yourself to anything you see in the freezer" they said

They said freezer
I heard garden.

Keeping it wild - Miss P's Flower school

Monday the 4th of November

at the shop

7 St. Paul's street, Stamford, PE9 2BE

9.30 - 4.30

Keeping it wild

My love of mixing lots of foliage with the very best of flowers is well documented, as is my love for using herbs and edibles. Creating asymmetrical designs with a wild and rugged and perhaps a quirky feel, although the word quirky has been grossly overused and I'm struggling with an alternative.

This flower school is about me imparting all that knowledge to you, how to use foliage and edibles to their best effect without it looking like you got signed up for the harvest festival on the church rota.

The day will begin with you making a handtied bouquet, and a head-dress, followed by lunch by a roaring fire in The Tobie Norris with wine.

Then the afternoon will be table centres and tricks of the trade.

During the day you have free reign of all the flowers and foliage in the shop, so everybody will create something different, allowing you to as Madonna once said "Express Yourself"

There will be a chance for gossip, stroking of The Hound, and discussion on whether or not i should have dyed my hair dark, i did, so the answer to this is yes. Heads up.

The price for the day is £250, which includes all materials, tools, vessels, food and beverages.

You don't need to have any previous floral experience or knowledge, just enthusiasm and warm clothing.

Buy your spot now in the online shop, or for further information email 

and if you can't make this one, there will be a Floral Coalition one on December 1st in Glasgow.
Imaginatively titled The Floral Coalition flower school Christmas.