Bloomsday Flowers

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.

It has been positively arctic this last week in Ireland!  Up north, everyone is snowed in, and even down here in Cork we are struggling with the bitter cold and icy roads.

My heart goes out to the couples who have planned their weddings for this week!  Not only is it so hard to travel, but even the logistics of getting everything moved and delivered must be so difficult.  At least they will have beautiful snowy, wintery photos!

If anyone is planning a winter wedding, a suggestion for a beautiful flower to include in bouquets and church flower is the snowberry.  The best feature of the showberry is that it grows really well in Ireland and is easy to find!  Even the imported version from Holland is really reasonably priced and has a long season, starting in late summer through to winter.

Snowberry looks most dramatic in white, but also comes in a pink variety,  It has a woody stem with long, dangling side shoots, and looks beautiful cascading down in a teardrop bouquet or a raised table centre arrangement.  The berries make gorgeous buttonholes, too!

These examples of bouquets made with snowberries may inspire you…the mixed, all white bouquet features a wide ribbon that adds a vintage romantic touch.  A full bouquet of all snowberries looks amazing, and would actually be really good value as it is not an expensive flower.  The buttonholes feature dried scabiosa seed pods, which look great on their own or could even be sprayed silver or gold for a bit of christmas glitz.  The bridal bouquet photos are from Martha Stewart Weddings, and the buttonholes were featured in an amazing wedding blog feature you can view here.

If you are interested in having a consultation for your winter wedding and would like to see some snowberries, just let us know when booking your appointment and we will try to have them in the shop to show you!