Bloomsday Flowers

Love this vintage lace wedding theme from HeartLoveWeddings.com…pretty paper nosegay cones and crochet lace rosettes in the bouquets!

Another recent bridal bouquet using Cool Water roses…love this rose, the perfect shade of purpley-pink to go with all the navy and midnight blue bridesmaids’ dresses that are popular right now.  Combined with all of our favourite summer flowers–phlox, stock, chamomile, viburnum–it has become a bit of a signature bouquet for us!

We did a beautiful wedding a couple of weeks ago, in the Bayview Hotel in Ballycotton, Co. Cork.  The bride loved our vintage style ‘collection’ table centres, but wanted to use china, crystal, and silver vases, along with some of our little collaged jars.  I suggested that we line the tables with a selection of antique linens and doilies that we have here in the shop, to complement the pretty, ‘granny’s dining room’ feel.

The Bayview has a lovely atmosphere, very intimate with low ceilings and lots of antiques decorating the room, and is perfect for vintage style weddings.  We were all delighted with how they came out, we used the pew ends from the ceremony in a large vase along with cuttings in the smaller containers and fallen petals on the table.  I would recommend collecting or hiring vintage china cruets and sugar bowls in the future, to complete the look, but it was a gorgeous effect altogether, with the sun filtering into the room which overlooked Ballycotton Bay, a really stunning reception venue, can’t recommend it enough!

Contact the Bayview Hotel in Ballycotton, Co. Cork, on 021-464-6746 or visit their website at bayviewhotel.com.  For china hire, contact Pearl and Godiva on 086-783-8298 or visit pearlandgodiva.com.

I just uploaded some recent wedding photos to our wedding flower gallery, these are some bouquets from a wedding in June.  The bride wanted all white, and we kept the look on trend by using seasonal summer flowers, including chamomile, astilbe, phlox, stock, and alchemilla mollis.  A great bouquet to capture a country garden feel with an all-white colour scheme.

The summer issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine has a beautiful feature on affordable wedding flowers.  Love the images and the ideas are really practical and entirely suitable for Irish brides!

Lots of seasonal ‘wildflowers’, which is a look we always recommend, in really loose arrangments and bouquets.

Love the gypsophila garland– gyp is cheap, holds well out of water, and is available year round…would look beautiful for a winter wedding.

You can see the entire photo gallery at marthastewartweddings.com.  Be sure to have a look around the site, amazing wedding inspiration there!

We were delighted to see one of our favourite Etsy sellers, bridalwear company Bonzie, featured in Etsy’s coveted ‘Quit Your Day Job‘ feature today! A friend of mine had a piece custom made for her own wedding, and as an Etsy seller myself I’ve long been a fan of their work. Their vintage style bridal accessories are gorgeous and beautifully crafted with exquisite attention to detail, just lovely.  Such a great idea, dress up a simple, economical bridal gown with an original designer wrap, bolero, or shrug.

Yvonne and Ger have recently opened a retail outlet in the Viking Quarters in Waterford, in addition to their well-established Etsy shop.  You can also visit their blog at designsbybonzie.blogspot.com.

Saw this gorgeous wedding featured on weddingblog.ie…a vintage style wedding all themed around the bride’s vintage wedding dress, that had originally been her mam’s.  A sweet idea, especially because it’s a gorgeous dress!

Loved her simple bouquet of all white peonies…if you’re getting married in May or June, you’ve got to have peonies.  We’ve had brides get married in May or June just to have peonies. The bridesmaids carried pretty bouquets of pale pink roses (I’m guessing Sweet Avalanche) with eucolyptus.  Really pretty fabric bindings on all the bouquets, too.

Love it!  Can’t get enough vintage-y weddings!

Photography is by Johannes Photography, lots more details at weddingblog.ie.

I was at the wedding of a friend a few weeks ago, and wanted to share some images of her stunning table arrangements.  There was so much attention to detail and gorgeous handmade touches, it was truly the most beautiful table I have ever sat down to.

The tables were covered with bolts of hessian, and topped with brown and white toile runners.  Brown glass bottles and jars made simple vase for delicate paper blooms, while paper hearts cut from vintage sheet music were scattered like confetti.

The crowning glory of the tables had to be the exquisite china, an amazing selection of vintage pieces, all  from Pearl and Godiva, the vintage wedding hire in Dunmanway in West Cork.  Every piece was different, just like the wonderful chairs, whitewashed and upholstered in different colourful prints, also from Pearl and Godiva.

It was a country garden wedding, with the meal only metres from the beach, such a unique day and so much personality in all the details, it was all really special and it was wonderful to experience!  If you’d like to try to recreate some of her touches, look for paper flowers and confetti on Etsy.com.  Visit Pearl and Godiva online, or contact Pearl on 086 783 8298.

I’m going to attempt to round up all of our favourite wedding vendors in East Cork, making a feature called Best of East Cork.  These are people we know, have worked with, or generally just always hear fantastic things about.  But I warn you now:  there’s going to be a lot of cake.

I know you’re probably thinking ‘how does cake relate to flowers exactly?’   Well, we do a lot of wedding fairs, and wedding fairs are long days on our feet, under hot lights, and we get a little peckish.  So we make friends with all of the cake vendors…the ones with samples:)   It’s research!  Honestly!

My most sampled and favourite cake of all time is by Melissa of Cakes of Distinction in Cobh.  Her Belgian Chocolate Biscuit Cake is just amazing, and I have not skimped on my research:)  Her cakes are gorgeous, too, really beautiful, classic cakes with perfect attention to detail, like sweet little sugar roses and traditional fondant swags and bows.  My favourite is the tower of perfect ivory cupcakes, each in it’s own little scalloped sleeve topped with a handmade sugar butterfly.

Cakes of Distinction also have a shop!   Opened in April, it’s in Harbour Row in Cobh and Wednesday through Saturday.  Melissa does personal consultations by appointment, and I’m sure there will be samples:)  Ring her on 021-481-3108, or contact her via her website.

I came across a tutorial for this pretty garland and it spoke to my deep and abiding need to hang pretty things everywhere.  It would be perfect for wedding decorations, around the door of the church or across the top table, maybe?  It would be easy to make up in wedding colours, use up scraps of fabric or indulge yourself in a few metres of gorgeous quilting cottons.

It’s really easy to make–really!–and only requires some basic childlike skills, such as cutting with scissors and tying knots.  Perhaps some ironing.  Everything you need could be bought at Hickey’s, and if you can’t find the fusible interfacing, you could just use PVA glue, seriously.  Get your bridesmaids over and ply them with wine and cakes, you’ll end up with metres of it in no time.

This tutorial is courtesy of the beautful blog Two Shades of Pink, and is in two parts, here and here.