Amanda will be marrying Adam on 25th March 2018 in a Jewish wedding at Braxted Park, UK.
THREE FACTS: (1) Amanda & Adam met outside in a bar in Tel Aviv (2) Adam has a ridiculous sense of humor (as described by Amanda!) and we love him all the more for it (3) Amanda & Adam’s wedding is 100% focused on all the people and things that mean the most to them. You can click here to read all Amanda’s planning posts to date.
All I Know About Flowers
My knowledge of flowers is extremely limited and can be reduced to the following statements:
- Flowers have healing powers, which, when combined with a glass of wine can instantly better a terrible day at work
- They give a room character and make it feel like home
- Supermarket flowers can sometimes surprise you and last for AGES, unless you happen to buy them during the week leading up to Valentine’s Day
- In place of a vase, wine bottles, port decanters and other containers work just as well
- Flowers are a great gift for any kind of celebration
I don’t know about you, but that’s where my knowledge pretty much ends. So when it finally came to talking about flowers for the wedding, I was a bit stumped. I love flowers, but thinking about them at scale, for a wedding seemed like a bit of a minefield.
Flowers… Where To Start?
Adam and I had admittedly not put flowers at the top of our to-do list. Partly because we didn’t know where to start, and partly because we needed to understand what else would be going on, to know where you’d want or need flowers. I have been to weddings that resemble scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and others with limited flowers, where candles and other centrepieces have played a lovely part. The easiest and most natural place to start was on Pinterest. With our wedding taking place in the Essex countryside, I had a vague notion of something relaxed, green and natural but if I was going to get any further, I’d need some help from an expert!
Looking for the right florist
By the start of November, I had been in touch with at least 5 florists. I wanted to make sure that we were getting a reasonable deal, and to understand what was out there. I needed a florist that would talk to me in human terms, that could show me imagery of the kind of thing they’d recommend and wouldn’t simply list off the latin names of flowers I’d never heard of.
I came across Emma at Urban Flower Farmer through Smashing The Glass (she’s a recommended vendor!) and she has proved to be exactly what we needed. Fortunately for us, Emma doesn’t live far from us, so was able to come over and talk through all of our options with us. Not only that, but her understanding of what we’re trying to achieve, along with her creative recommendations have made her the perfect partner for us.
Luckily for us, Emma says that she prefers having lots of flexibility rather than clients with a really clear vision of exactly what they’re looking for! This means that when I have more questions than answers, I know that I can leave it all with her. As we continue to progress with planning, our joint Pinterest board has been invaluable. Planning brides — get yourself a shared Pinterest board with your suppliers! It’s a much easier way of checking that you’re on the same page, understanding if what you want is realistic within your budget and being able to share interesting things you’ve seen.
I’m delighted to be working with Emma and would recommend her to anybody who, like us, isn’t sure where to start with flowers. She’ll be coming with us to the venue a couple of months before our wedding so we can really start to visualise how it might look on the day!
Special gifts for a special day
This is really the last major supplier we needed to secure and with the festive season upon us, my focus has now shifted slightly. As usual, we’ll spend most of December visiting family around the country, picking up my dress (hurray) and planning gifts. Given our wedding is only a couple of months later, I’ve even managed to combine Christmas/Chanukah presents with gifts we wanted to give to our family for the big day. Yes, that does mean I’ve done most of my Christmas shopping already (I know!) and without ruining any of the surprises, a big thank you must go out to STG vendor Litzi who have created something beautiful for me. I’m so excited to give gifts that we’ll see our family wearing/using on our wedding day!
Click here to read all Amanda’s planning posts to date.
Amanda & Adam’s Wedding Vendors booked so far:
Venue – Braxted Park
Photographer – Steve Carter Hewson
Band – LDN Party Band
Bridesmaid dress – David’s Bridal
Flowers – Urban Flower Farmer
Jewellery – Litzi
