Photo below courtesy of official wedding florist Philippa Craddock’s Instagram page
Did you love the royal wedding and want to add some Markle sparkle to your own bridal flowers this year? Were you inspired by the floral arrangements at Windsor Castle and wish you could do something similar yourself?
You don’t have to be a member of royalty to have stunning wedding flowers.
Here are some ideas from us at Flourishing Temple how you might achieve a similar look on a smaller, more modest budget.
As a Windsor-based florist myself it was fascinating to see the pomp and pageantry of the ceremony at the castle just down the road from us. I always enjoy looking at floral designs from other weddings and you can’t get a bigger one than this.
Philippa Craddock, the official Royal Wedding florist has truly inspired me and what an incredible job she and her team did. She said in the lead up to the wedding that the designs would be a true reflection of them as a couple, with sustainability at the forefront.
Meghan and Harry chose a stunning selection of seasonal flowers including peony, foxgloves, astilbe and garden roses in a natural and neutral ivory tone. I was particularly taken by the fact that they wanted the greenery to be locally sourced from the surrounding areas of Windsor great park and Crown Estates. Foliages that were used included ferns, branches of silver birch, English oak and beech. Though for the average bride some of these materials might not be easy to come by, you could consider using foliages such as eucalyptus, ruscus, pittosporum and pistache.
Megan’s bridal bouquet was simple yet elegant comprising of scented sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine, astranthia and several flowers hand-picked by Harry from the couple’s private garden at Kensington Palace. Inspired by Harry’s late mother Diana, Craddock also included forget-me-nots, Princess Diana’s favourite flower. It included sprigs of myrtle too—a tradition for royal brides. The bouquet was bound with a raw silk ribbon.
Not forgetting the show-stopping floral arches in the awe-inspiring St George’s Chapel, these beautiful arrangements really did not fail to deliver on the wow factor! Crammed with gorgeous and lush local foliages,ivory garden roses, fluffy peony, astilbe and astranthia, they provided the most beautiful back drop for the fairytale wedding.
Although for most of us, this variety and scale of flowers maybe a little out of reach because of the expense, you may want to consider a smaller scale flower arch or flower wall to sit behind your ceremony table or top table to create a lovely background for your wedding photos.
A more modest achievable version of such a design would be window flower arches or a smaller scale style of flower arch.
As an example, as shown in photos below, I recently created these window flower arches at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. I am also currently working on a large scale flower arch design with a bride for this summer so this is certainly something I can do for you.
If your own wedding is at a completely different time of the year you may want to consider a similar colour theme but different types of flowers that are more available at that time of year. Instead of using foxgloves, for example, you could opt for delphinium or antirrhinum. Instead of peony, which are only around in May, June and early July, go for David Austin roses, ranunculus or dahlia.
If you’re interested in some of these ideas or would like to chat more about your wedding flowers then why not give me a call or drop me a text or WhatsApp message on 078 378 34189? Or drop me an e-mail louise@flourishingtemple.co.uk .
My consultations are free and we can have a general chat about the kind of ideas you might want for your wedding.
To view a whole range of the types of flower options available for your wedding have a look at my weddings page here. You will find a wide range of colour schemes and different sorts of flower arrangements to give you some inspiration.
If you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, I’ll be happy to come up with a design bespoke to you at a cost effective price.
Best wishes,
Louise, founder of Flourishing Temple
