1. Getting your flowers
We wake up in the middle of the night to go to the flower market or to get the flower delivery in the early hours.
Getting the flowers from the New Covent Garden Market in London means that we need to arrive there at 5am. As the studio is in Cambridge, we need to leave at 3am to be able to buy the flowers when they are at their best.
Other times, we buy from a UK local flower wholesaler and they deliver in the early hours of the morning. Se we have to be up to get them in as soon as they arrive in the studio.
2. Conditioning
When the flowers arrive in the studio we need to condition them. That means we cut every stem, remove the lower foliage, clean buckets and add flower food or bacteria cleaning products and water.
We then separate the flower bunches by type and finally put them into the buckets. Depending on the amount of flowers and foliage, this can take most of a day. Also some flowers like roses need to arrive in advance in order to develop and open beautifully for the bouquets and other arrangements.
3. Creating the Arrangements
A couple of days before the wedding date we start creating some of the arrangements. That can take hours and requires lots of space. When the work is done, we need to clean the studio and tidy up the tools, buckets and remaining flowers.
Another job is to look after the bridal bouquet flowers, hairpieces, buttonholes, flower girl pieces, floral wearables and other designs that can only be done the day before. That involves changing the water in the buckets, giving them food if need be, cutting their stems and checking every inch of their petals. If anything is damaged, they will be moved out of the group of flowers for the wedding.
4. The Day Before
The day before the wedding is very busy, with finishing up the arrangements and finally taking the time to create the buttonholes, hairpieces, bouquets and the main piece: the bride's bouquet.
Everything is then prepared for their overnight stay in the studio, in their own vases and ready to go to the church and venue, as well as the Bride's home or where she is getting ready.
At the end of the day we have a meeting with the team that is going to work at setting up at the venue and confirm the final details.
5. The Wedding Day!
This is the most exciting day for me!
We get up early, finish the last bits that might need to go in last minute and load the van with all the flowers.
After that we get in touch with the a friend (might be a maid of honour or a best man) or a family member of the bride and groom to deliver the bridal bouquet and buttonholes or just drop them off at the designated address.
We then travel to the venue for the set up. There are always limited time with rules of how long we can take to put everything in place. That means that the team might be bigger or just a couple of people are needed to finish the job in time for the guests to arrive.
Finally we might have to go back on the same day to take the flowers down, so it can be a long day.
Since you are here, follow me on Instagram to see the day to day life in the studio.
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