Jeni and Jonny’s wedding

Jeni’s Wild Secret Garden

The Initial Consultation

The initial consultation took place with Jeni, her Mum Brenda and family friend Claire. In addition to sharing the facts and logistics for the wedding, Jeni told me about her wishes for her flowers. She loved the idea of wild in season flowers that would be picked from an Irish meadow and brought together in loose handpicked arrangements. The wedding was scheduled for the month of May the following year, so my first bit of research was to understand what might be in season on the Island of Ireland as Spring turns to Summer. This would mean that I would not be considering flowers that would be grown overseas in very hot climates, but rather to celebrate the Flora of Ireland.
[Just a wee reminder, I do not use freshly cut flowers, but I use how they look as my inspiration]

Jeni’s design concept

The concept I began to create was named ‘Jeni’s Wild Secret Garden’. I wanted her flowers to look as if they had been hand picked hours before her wedding and loosely tied with soft frayed Chiffon ribbon and complemented with wild real ivy and twigs. Both of these grow locally and are a completely sustainable complement to faux florals.

[Ivy is a known parasite and is found everywhere growing on the trunks of trees, eventually leading to the suffocation of the actual tree itself because it competes with the tree for essential water and soil nutrients. Worse still, thick, mature ivy adds disproportionate weight to a tree, increasing the risk of branches breaking or the entire tree toppling over in storms. By incorporating wild ivy into faux arrangements not only does it add visual authenticity but it is helping the lives of trees]

As I would always do, I had asked permission to see photos of Jeni’s dress, Jonny’s wardrobe as well as that of the close wedding party. This is very important to me, because as the creative concept evolves it does so to complement the wardrobe, most especially to ensure that the bride’s dress and flowers look absolutely stunning together.

[I would look to do the same should the couple be Bride and Bride or Groom and Groom. I want to make all of my customers look beautifully handsome and totally unique, adding to the overall splendour of their beautiful day]

Presentation of the mood boards and concept direction

I began to pull together visual cues and photos of flowers, design styles, colour palette options and references from the world of fashion, interiors and creativity made by hand. These take the form of visual collages and proved to be a great way to share the concept with Jeni, Brenda and Claire.

Here are a few examples of mood boards…

How I create the design concept

[The best way for me to explain to you how the creative concept is structured and created is to use the example from the fashion world. Jeni’s flowers would be the Haute Couture fashion show, Jonny pieces would take the key elements of that show. The Bridesmaids and Grooms men would be as the ready-to-wear collection that is influenced by the Haute Couture runway. Other guests pieces would be the elements inspired by the collection look and feel. A tiering system that stems from Bride/ Groom and ripples down to all else, thus ensuring that everything created for the wedding has the same look-and-feel and are part of the same design concept.]

Sharing of samples and mock-ups

When we all next meet up I had samples of the faux flowers that I was suggesting for Jeni’s design concept; Jeni’s Wild Secret Garden’. Just being able to hold and feel the samples really brings the concept to life. I also mocked up the style of the bouquets and the options for the bridesmaids and Groomsmen. This meeting allows us all to agree on the collection of flowers to be used and how they will be created into bouquets, buttonholes, corsages, as well as table elements, room decor etc

[following are a few examples]

Production of the concept elements and delivery/ installation

During this important final stage I will order the chosen flowers and the required accessory elements.
Next I will make all of the luxury packaging so that the finished designs have the same presentation and packaging quality as say Dior*, Chanel or Hermes. This includes giftboxes, soft dust bags for bouquets etc

*cant miss the opportunity to applaud the creative genius of County Derry born Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of Dior, huge respect!

l hand make all of the arrangements and pieces in my workshop here in Derry, they are then packaged with much care and kept in my Wedding Showroom until the time for delivery and/or installation.
[below are some examples of the bespoke packaging. As with the floral pieces, no two packaging elements are the same, yet complement each other]

The Wedding Day

Jeni and Jonny had very kindly invited me to their wedding, which was so very thoughtful. This allowed me the opportunity to be on site as ‘Jeni’s Wild Secret Garden’ was brought to life. I was also on hand to assist with tying the corsages and fixing the buttonholes to lapels. Every guest at the wedding was presented with a corsage or a buttonhole on arrival thus creating a friends and family look and feel, and providing a keepsake for each guest. The design of these pieces stemmed from the overall concept in terms of colour palette and choice of flowers/ leaves. No two pieces were the same, I promise you!