A winter wedding

Photograph by Lisa Devlin.

I rarely blog the professional photographs from our weddings.

I don't know why, it would certainly make the blog look better.

I am making an exception for this one, because i forgot to photograph the bouquet, and even if i had, it is best viewed being held by the bride, and there is something deliciously British about it all.

and maybe you were thinking of having a domed hand-tied bouquet, and maybe you might be open to having one that reaches your ankles instead?

More of the wedding here on the blog of the lovely Lisa Devlin.

and i know, second time i have linked to the wedding, but it's all amaryllis and spruce here.........

Shop window plus glitter

The shop window.

It is an odd shape, it starts half way up the wall, and is our main source of natural light, so filling it with large cardboard cutouts isn't a very viable option.

So i filled it with jam jars, a novel way of displaying figurines, and anything with snow in a can applied looks festive.

Vignettes of winter, with a camel and a giraffe thrown in.

Then yesterday i tipped a lot of glitter over it all, and it sparkled under the lights, small children pushed their noses up against the window and marvelled at the magic that is Christmas.

Or maybe they just shouted "Can we go to McDonalds now?"

Whichever.

I wouldn't mind if anybody happened to buy me.....

1. Any print from the Lottie Davies print sale, but preferably "Pick-up and cacti"

2. A weekend in the house with a pineapple. The Landmark Trust is the place for quirky.

3. An oakleaf necklace from Rust.

Or anything from here

As subtle as a sledgehammer.....

Also heavenly photographs of the wedding.

How to wear flowers in your hair - Christmas Special

It's Christmas, it's time to go big.

You will need
Heavy gauge wire, big enough to go around your head, or 2 bits twisted together.
Fine reel wire
Scissors
Buttonhole tape, the paper crepe one not the rubbery one. It's horrid.

You will also need
Christmas foliage, bits of the Christmas tree
A jasmine plant or an ivy plant or other trailingness
Flowers

Tape the heavy gauge wire
Lay the foliage and flowers against the wire and reel them on.
Keep going
Lay a piece of foliage or pussy willow over softer stems to prevent the wire cutting through the stem.
Keep going.
Tape the ends for a smart finish.
Bend wire into circle
Put on head
or around the neck of a passing dog.

The last picture is Becca, who came on our Christmas flower school, and made flowers for her hair. Doesn't she look happy and festive?

You could also reel onto an alice band.

The world is your oyster.

Go forth.

Discretion

I wonder if they teach this at floristry college?

Because they should.

I like to think there is a lesson, just after the one where they teach you how to thread pearls onto bear grass.

Rule 1. Never ask a wife if she enjoyed the large romantic bouquet that her husband came into buy.

Because it isn't always for her.

You always wait for her to mention it first.

Always.

Florists are a lot like concierges.

Whites

I don't really do Christmas at home. The shop is like Christmas on acid, and home is an escape. Although i might steal the orange vase filled with cotton balls, all very DesignSponge. I got the book for my birthday, it is very good.

Back in the real world of rural England, Christmas falls into 2 camps. The whites versus the reds.

Today i have favoured the whites, boxes of white hyacinth and Paperwhites in the green, because seriously who has the time or the space to force these things? apart from Kirstie? Although rumours are that somebody in Stamford forces a huge bowl of lily of the valley for the Christmas table. Nice. Very Nice.

The Hound has howled all day, and point blank refused to look cute for customers, favouring the less attractive 1 ear, eyes closed pose.

also in the interests of full disclosure, i didn't make any of the wreaths in the last post. They were made by el studente on the Christmas flower school.

To say I am proud of their work is an understatement.

Also the U on my keyboard is playing up, i had no idea how much i used that vowel.

You come to me with open arms

trying to rectify my charms
You say tonight I'm to be your lover
and by the morning light I'm to discover
everything that you've held inside of you.

1 week
2 weddings
1 flower school
1 birthday
1 funeral
27 handmade wreaths
1 awkward customer
1 neglected Hound
598 shots of espresso
79 glasses of mulled wine
3 Nasi goreng
1 bag of chips
1 new ipod
which means i have been listening to Rod Stewart

did you have a good week?

Love drunk

You and I would die sober
I’m in this for forever and a day

Don't go
Don't leave
Please stay with me
You are the only thing i need to get by, get by.

Wretch 32 on a loop, plus he is hot.

December arrived on a juggernaut. Blogging is the sacrificial lamb.
I have manged to kill the ficus in my sitting room - 4 weeks.
Thank you for all the emails, my birthday is this Wednesday, but has been cancelled due to lack of time.
I have rediscovered the joy that is Chablis.
and cashmere scarves
especially when they belong to a boy.
and i had a word with The Hound about his lack of blogging.
he said
Whatever