Sarah has known Hannah for over l5 years as she used to babysit for her children, so what a pleasure to be asked to do the flowers for her wedding to Sebastian Preil. Hannah lives in Switzerland which meant that planning meetings with caterers (Cath Skates Fine Dining), Marquee company (Tent and Garden), Sound and lighting (Lightech), and The Anglican Cathedral Liverpool were compressed into a few trips home. Hannah and Sebastian were superbly organised, with spread sheets and a clear idea of the look and feel they wished to achieve.
The ceremony was to be held in the Lady Chapel of the Anglican Cathedral followed by a champagne canapé reception in the Cathedral itself with Speeches and the cutting of the beautiful multi-tiered cake. For anyone who has worked in a Cathedral, size is key – you can never be too large!! As the cathedral is quite dark, we all agreed that white and cream flowers would be the brightest solution. We placed three very large urn arrangements near and in the well area where the drinks were going to be held. Stocks, gladioli, roses and hydrangea filled the space with glamour and scent. The other reason to use classic white in the cathedral would be evident as soon as guests stepped into the Marquee for the dinner-dance evening reception!!!
Hannah carried a classic combination of roses, lily of the valley, sweet peas and roses. Her bridesmaids carried a handtied of bright cerise and orange, a hint of what was to come!!
As there was a couple of hours between the afternoon reception and the evening dinner-dance, Abi and I were able to empty the Cathedral and bring the flowers back to Hannah home. We reconstructed these to create an entrance to the garden and terrace. A path then lead down the garden into the dazzling white marquee.
From the outside, no one was expecting the explosion of COLOUR!!!
The central display was a 10 metre long suspended ‘plank’ of flowers in cerise and orange. Beautiful David Austin roses ‘darcy’ and ‘Juliet’, lilies, orchids, cerise stocks, gingers, heleconia, trailing red amaranthas adorned the display. The marquee also house a fantastic gold mirrored circular bar with had an enormous urn arrangement in the middle.
Hannah was keen to keen the look clean and neat so on the refrectory style tables a mix of 5 cube vases and candles were displayed. All the containers were white also which added to the crisp neat look. It is important to mention that we felt that 2 key pieces and table arrangements were all that was needed in this marquee. Additional smaller displays would have cluttered the look. We were very much part of a team with beautiful lighting from www.lightech.co.uk illuminating key areas. They even hung chandeliers in the trees!!. The marquee and furniture were also stunning. www.tentandgarden.co.uk and www.fresheventhire.co.uk supplied the white leather sofas, white chairs and the fabulous bar.
All in all ……. We were honoured to be part of the team!!