WINTER FLORALS

Before we emerge completely from the depths of winter, we wanted to share this stunning winter floral inspiration by incredibly talented florist Vervain and film photographer Sarah Hannam.  Winter offers up the most delicate of blooms, with pure white flowers contrasting against textured foliage and soft velvety leaves, and while it’s often the centrepieces or bouquets that catch our attention, this time we’re focussing on the most forgotten wedding flowers – the tiny butonniere. Teamed with the softest blue velvet ribbons, we think this is possibly the prettiest inspiration for your winter wedding palette.  Read on to find out more about the flowers & the florist…

Tell us about Vervain – how did you get started as a florist, and why flowers?! I grew up surrounded by plants and flowers; my parents are both professional horticulturists so it was inevitable I would follow them in some way. It began with a horticultural blog, which led me to write about flowers, which in turn led to me cutting and arranging them for my blog. From there I pretty much realised I didn’t want to do anything else, so I enrolled myself on an intensive course in floristry, which was the best thing I have ever done. I graduated in graphic art and design but never felt passionate about it, unlike flowers and floral design, which I don’t think I could ever tire of.

It’s refreshing to see cooler colour palettes coming in to winter weddings, what was your inspiration? To me these colours represent winter far more than red berries and dark greens. The pale greys and whites are inspired by icy winter mornings and hoar frosts, while the brighter greens make me think of the moments when spring starts to appear in the garden with snowdrops popping up.

What flowers would you suggest for a winter wedding?  It has to be Ranunculus, the colours that you can get now are incredible. I do think they look at their best just before they are about to die, the edges change colour & the petals crinkle, it is wonderful. Also Amaryllis, they are a serious statement flower.

We love the touches of blue-grey and think this shade is going to be big in 2015 – how else could you use it?  I think colours like pale blues and greys could be used anywhere, from the ribbons on a bouquet to the tablecloth at a reception. They are calm, elegant colours that work so well with other muted shades. 

Any other trends do you think we’ll be seeing more of this year? I love the masala colour trend that is appearing; I would say darker shades and deeper colours are what I am drawn to most when it comes to flowers. So I hope to see more brides being bold and opting for dark reds and burgundy colours. I’d love a bride who wanted dark reds mixed with deep oranges – that would be a great colour palette to play with! 

What’s next for Vervain? Any challenges for the next 12 months? There are lots of exciting things happening over the next 12 months. My flower patch has doubled in size as well as doubled in variety so there will be buckets of blooms all through out the year. I also have a number of photo shoots planned, so expect to see some exciting new images appearing on Vervain soon.

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• Florist: Vervain