Flower School – Seasonal Winter Flowers with Campbell’s Flowers

This afternoon we are talking flowers with our resident florist Tracey Campbell. As it is super cold and frosty outside, what better time to talk to you about Winter Flowers. If you are currently planning a winter wedding or planning one for next year then you will want to read this! Tracey is all about seasonal flowers, as any good florist should be and her focus is on using the best seasonal products around and winter is no different. So today Tracey will focus on the best winter flowers there are out there plus  a few that are available all year round.

I’ll pass the Blog over to Tracey…………..

My thanks as always to Kelly for the chance to share a bit of flowery inspiration with all her lovely readers, today I bring you some ideas on what’s available if you’re a winter bride.
I think winter weddings are gorgeous, to me they conjure up images of fur stoles, rich gorgeous colours, open fires, candlelight and can even combine magic of Christmas or New Year’s Eve with the biggest day of your life.

A word of caution though to you romantics out there, Christmas is a peak period for the floristry industry which can dramatically affect prices. Everything is more expensive, the auctions in Holland can rise to almost double the usual cost a florist might expect to pay her wholesaler and whilst I am a staunch supporter of British grown, the choice can be a bit limited in the depths of winter.
However, there is still plenty to choose from in terms of flowers and foliages which are available commercially all-year-round and choosing lots of textures and wintery whites or berries will create a gorgeous impression of seasonality.

Here are a few ideas which might provide inspiration

Using both twisted willow and pussy willow in designs is great for texture, with the pussy willow in particular, lending a really lovely silvery, velvety sheen to designs. I used both in a wedding between Christmas and New Year in the Bride’s and Bridesmaids’ bouquets.

To create a truly woodland feel to your table decorations, try using willow in a tall vase with ivy and other foliage and finish off with a moss base and church candles – moss is really on trend at the moment and is a fantastically inexpensive way to add character to your arrangements.

I just love to use native plants and species in my designs and nothing says winter to me like berried tree ivy. It’s incredibly versatile, really long lasting, has bright, bright green ‘flowers’ at this time of the year, which gradually become the loveliest dark grey/black berries. I’m so crazy about it I created this heart design which was used to welcome guests to one of my recent winter weddings.

This tall, majestic lovely flower comes not just in the usual white or reds, but in all kinds of wonderful colours from peaches, to cerise, to wonderful variegated varieties. It looks fantastic in a wreath style table centre, which can be teamed with a hurricane vase containing a large church candle for a lovely warm glow to your decorations.

If you are struggling for choice, there are still plenty of flowers and foliages which are available commercially all-year-round and choosing lots of textures and wintery whites or berries which will create a gorgeous impression of seasonality.

I hope our designs have given you an idea of what’s available at this time of the year.  We keep adding to our wedding portfolio all the time which might help you with inspiration with bridesmaids, buttonholes and venue decoration, or pop across to have a look at our latest ‘real weddings’.  We love sharing, so feel free to get in touch if you need any advice on choosing seasonal flowers for your special day.

My thanks again to Kelly for this feature, If you have any flowery questions, or need any help – do get in touch and I’ll answer any questions and help in any way I can.

Until next time – enjoy!

Tracey x

Thanks so much Tracey! I hope you all enjoyed her Winter flowers post? Keep an eye out for her feature in a few months time to discuss Spring seasonal flowers.

For more information on Tracey’s work go to

www.campbellsflowers.co.uk
http://blog.campbellsflowers.co.uk/
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• Photo credit:  Jess Petrie Photography