We're hiring! February 2023

Contract Florist & Studio Assistant (Maternity Cover) - position filled

Please note this position has now been filled. Thank you for your interest.

We are really excited to be seeking a maternity cover replacement for 12 months starting in February 2023 (exact start date flexible) for the position of Contract Florist & Studio Assistant. This role is on average 24 hours per week, falling on Mondays and Tuesdays, with the third day to be decided depending on your availability.

Since starting Still Life Flowers in 2016, I have grown a body of restaurants and other clients, whose premises I am really proud to dress on a weekly basis. For many florists, contracts can be seen as less exciting work, but for me, the work for this clientbase is very much synonymous with my design approach. Each client takes a keen interest in their aesthetic and brand and the styled flowers we provide are an extension of both that level of design and consideration. Working seasonally, we use premium flowers and beautiful vases to create varying artful arrangements each week.

In the initial months of this role, we will work closely together to train you up in the Still Life Flowers style as well as the requirements of each client. In time this role will become more independent, requiring you some weeks to make and deliver contracts on your own, whilst I work on other aspects of the business.

The right candidate will - 

• Be passionate and enthusiastic about the Still Life Flowers brand and what we represent

• Support me in the running of the business; be both proactive and forthcoming with ideas

• Be a stickler for detail

• Have the patience for and enjoy the time and precision honing their craft

• Have an artistic eye for use of colour, shape and texture

• Be happy to work in a very small team (i.e. with just me!) and often on your own

• Be prepared to drive a lot – please do not apply if you cannot drive, a driving license is essential to this role

• Be happy to undertake the more menial (but essential) tasks involved in floristry and the upkeep of the studio

• Welcome a sense of routine to their week

Application process: 

Send your CV to hello@stilllifeflowers.co.uk with a cover letter and responses to the questions below:

1.   Why Still Life Flowers? 

2.   What motivates you in your day-to-day? 

3.   List three brands you are loving at the moment and why? (This could include restaurants, artists, stylists, clothing etc)

4.   How would your colleagues describe you in three words? 

This role is open to all experience levels (minimum 1 years floristry experience). Salary will be dependent on your level of experience. 

There is potential for this role to extend beyond the 12 months advertised. There is also potential for this role to extend beyond 24 hours per week depending on other skills you can bring to the role.

Additional overtime hours available when we have wedding and event work.

Closing date:  Tuesday 17th January (midnight)


Looking forward to hearing from you!

Carla

We're Hiring!

Junior Florist Role

This is a rare opportunity to join us at Still Life Flowers for two days a week.  We are looking for a Freelance Junior Florist who has a genuine interest in pursuing a career in floristry and wants to grow within the company.

If this sounds like you, read on…

What we’re looking for:

- Passion and enthusiasm for the Still Life Flowers brand and what we represent

- Hardworking, efficient, reliable, organised, with a willingness to get stuck in

- Eager to turn your hand to all aspects of the role, however menial

- Able to work independently and as part of a team

- Basic floristry experience is preferred but not essential 

- An artistic eye for use of colour, shape and texture

- Driving license is essential – please do not apply if you cannot drive

- Flexibility to work weekends

Responsibilities:

- Conditioning flowers for contracts and subscriptions 

- One to one training to learn the Still Life Flowers style and approach to floral design

- Driving the van and delivery of contracts and subscriptions 

- General studio upkeep 

o Cleaning up at the end of each day 

o Cleaning vases 

o Sweeping 

o Changing the bins etc 

Application process: 

Send your CV to info@stilllifeflowers.co.uk with a cover letter and response to the questions below:

1. Why Still Life Flowers? 

2. What motivates you in your day-to-day? 

3. List three brands you are loving at the moment and why? (This could include restaurants, artists, stylists etc)

4. How would your colleagues describe you in three words? 

Freelance Role (£10 hourly rate)

Closing date:  Monday 31st May (midnight)

Please ensure you answer ALL questions and send a cover letter otherwise you won’t be considered.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Carla

Flower Delivery London - Valentine's Giveaway

Flower Delivery London - Valentine's Giveaway

If ever there was a year to embrace Valentine's Day, it is surely this one. This year we all need that bit more kindness, love and excuse to treat ourselves and others. We've teamed up with Kemp Kitchen and MASAJ to run a give-away; adding some treats for someone you love to win in addition to a flower delivery in London.  Between us, we've got every type of love covered. Here is what we are all offering this Valentine’s Day with details of how to enter our give-away.

A feast for the eyes – Valentine’s Flower Delivery London

I don’t find it much of a challenge to design bouquets at this time of year – early Spring flowers are some of my very favourites and feature in this year Valentine’s arrangements. I’m using the biggest most premium peach ranunculus available, with ranunculus support acts in dark red and a ruffly peach number. Tulips are at the core of everything I make in this season and this bouquet is no exception; I am using three varieties in a soft pink, a chocolate and a tall French white tulip. Possibly the most exciting element to the bouquet lies dormant upon arrival: magnolia buds will eventually open in your homes and though their beauty is ephemeral, they are worth the wait and the fleeting moment. Our Valentine’s bouquets come in four sizes, ranging from £45 - £110.

Purchase a Valentine’s Day Flower Delivery in London here.

Relax and indulge – MASAJ awakens the senses

MASAJ, East London based bodywork studio, are sending their aromatherapy goods and partnership products nationwide. As a company they endeavour to make all of their processes and products wholly sustainable. All of their products are 100% natural and are handmade in small batches, from their essential oil blends to their soy candles.

Their ‘Love Bundle’ contains:

• Limited Edition 100% pure essential oils MASAJ LOVE Candle (100g) (Lemon, Bergamot and Patchouli)

• MASAJ Pink Himalayan Salt (500g)

• Land Chocolate (60g) - Vegan option available

• Mini MASAJ Studio Oil (50ml)

• Handwritten ‘Make Hearts Happy’ Postcard

You can upgrade your Bundle by choosing to add a Perlesque Selene Palm Massager to the set and/or add a 30, 60 or 90 Minute MASAJ Treatment Voucher for the ultimate upgrade - valid for 6 months from the date their Studios are able to safely reopen.

Purchase a MASAJ Love Bundle here.

Eat your heart out – Kemp Kitchen’s Valentine’s Box

Usually working in food styling and shoot catering, El of Kemp Kitchen, was one of the very first to turn her hand to home meals in the face of the pandemic, and in addition, fed many who were going without. As one of the many ‘pivot experiments’, we partnered up then, adding London flower delivery to her meals by bike. After the success of her Christmas hampers, she has packaged her ‘Valentine’s Box’, a collection of her most loved treats available for nationwide delivery. Perfect for Valentine’s, Galentines, or to send in the post to someone you miss.

The Valentines Box includes

• 4 brown butter chocolate blondies

• 6 coconut macaroons

• Jar of Seville & blood orange marmalade

• Jar of chilli jam

• A bag of Kemp Kitchen buckwheat granola

• Raspberry & pistachio dark chocolate

• Halen Môn Bloody Mary ketchup

Kemp Kitchen are donating 10% of the profits to St Mungo’s, a charity working tirelessly to end homelessness.

Purchase Kemp Kitchen’s Valentine’s Box here.

Flower Delivery London – How to enter our London Valentine's Giveaway

Win the ultimate Valentine’s Day treat for someone you love. You/they could win:

• A Limited Edition MASAJ LOVE Bundle

• A Kemp Kitchen Valentine's Box

• ​A Still Life Flowers Valentine's Bouquet

​
​All you have to do is:
​
​✔️Follow ALL THREE brands on Instagram @stilllifeflowers @masajme_ @kempkitchen
​✔️Like the relevant post of their pages
​✔️Tag someone who deserves to win this glorious prize!
​

Each comment counts as a new entry, and we'll combine all the entries across each brands' posts to select a winner at random at 6pm on Monday 8th February. Because we're all in need of a little love this February, MASAJ will send a Treatment Voucher to the winning entrant too.
​

Good luck to all entrants…and for those that don’t want to take their chances, here is a link to our Valentine’s Flowers for London Delivery.

London Wedding Flowers - Five Floral Design Ideas for a More Sustainable Wedding

London Wedding Flowers - Five Floral Design Ideas for a More Sustainable Wedding

Let me start by saying I am no expert on this subject! I am far from perfect when it comes to my actions that impact the planet. Though I have long been sustainably minded, more recently the impact I have personally, and more widely speaking the industry that I work in has on the planet, has become a point of focus. I can’t claim to be a total eco warrior but bit by bit I am trying to live and work more sustainably. The irony of working with a natural product for such a special occasion, juxtaposed against the incredible waste the industry creates, is sometimes heart-breaking. Reports suggest that last year in the UK somewhere close to 4,910 tonnes of unrecyclable plastic was used and left behind at weddings. When it comes to tackling such a gigantean issue, the numbers feel overwhelming. I write this as no know-it-all but I believe that small choices made by all will make a difference. I want to walk you through five ways that make for a more sustainable wedding through your flower and design choices. 

1. Find a sustainable wedding florist who doesn’t use floral foam

Floral foam bricks soak up water like a sponge, that florists use to keep flowers both fresh and in place in arrangements. In many instances it has previously been a fall back for me. Despite it’s practicality, floral foam is highly toxic and most notably not bio-gradable. To think of how many bricks of floral foam that go to landfill is quite sickening.

Thankfully more and more florists are choosing to go #foamfree – a hashtag as well as #nofloralfoam to look out for when seeking out a more sustainable florist. Floral foam is certainly more reliable and easier to work with but there are many design tricks and mechanics available to us florists to create more sustainable wedding flowers. I now actively don’t use it unless there is no other option.

2. Choose seasonal flowers, and where you can, choose British

The carbon footprint of flowers is just staggering. A lot of flowers are grown in Holland, Italy and France, however flowers are imported from across the world; most roses are grown in Kenya, Ecuador and Columbia.

There are many reasons to go British: most obviously for the sustainability factor, but the quality and charm of British stems is second to none. Rather than being mass farmed under a single light source that create your supermarket super straight stems, British growers put relentless hours into their fields that produce stems with shape and character.

It would be highly misleading for me to not acknowledge that I do use imported flowers.  British grown flowers are amazing but the UK is playing catch up in this arena. Unfortunately, varieties grown here are limited and the vase life of these often delicate stems doesn't contend with those grown in Europe and beyond. My clients demands often can’t be fulfilled with British grown, but I think being mindful of where the flowers I choose are grown is a start. I limit purchases that have come from afar and make the more sustainable choice where there is such an option, always preferencing British grown.

3. Consider using dried flowers for your sustainable wedding arrangements

As well as being a fashionable choice, using dried flowers for your wedding is also a sustainable one. Many of the dried flowers I use for sustainable wedding displays have had a previous life which I just love. Collecting, drying out and holding onto certain stems for the right calling, rather than going to waste brings me a lot of joy. Where I have been able to repurpose dried flowers I have also passed on some of the financial saving to the client as well. If dried flowers are on your moodboard, have a conversation with your florist about which pieces you would like to take home and which that youre happy for your florist to reuse for other work.

4. Make your flowers work harder by re-using arrangements

Despite the beauty and romance created with an abundance of beautiful blooms, some floral arrangements (especially those used for your ceremony) may only be seen by you and your guests for a matter of hours, sometimes minutes. You can achieve having the look of more flowers throughout your day by asking your florists’ input on how your displays can either be moved, say from one venue to another, or entirely repurposed to make another arrangement using the same flowers.

Don’t necessarily expect this to save you the equivalent money spent on a second arrangement; the time spent moving or repurposing your flowers will increase your labour costs but will keep waste to a low.

5. Re-use and gift – be prepared to make giving out flowers a smooth process

Following on from point 4, sometimes there aren’t ways to reuse your flowers, perhaps because of the types of flowers being used or the flow of your day means that a conspicuous operation reusing and resetting isn’t possible. Where it is feasible, I have started asking my couples whether they would like their flowers to be made into bunches for guests to take home at the end of the evening. This works particularly well for the ceremony flowers that often are left behind or larger displays that still have long stems suitable for a vase at home. In scenarios where your florist may not be able to facilitate this, it can be a good idea to have twine and scissors to hand so that your guests can help themselves at the end of the night.

Wedding centrepieces, depending on how they have been arranged, are often best not dismantled! We usually arrange our wedding centrepieces in chicken wire held in low bowls. To create our signature dynamic shapes, many stems are cut particularly short to create that in-out effect. I’ve known some couples to assign wedding centrepieces for certain special guests to take home as thank you gifts. The bowls that we use to arrange our flowers in can be reused again at home.

I hope that some of these ideas can make their way into your wedding plans. If you are interested in further advise on how to have a more sustainable wedding beyond just your flowers, have a look at this incredibly in depth resource The Guide to Sustainable, Zero-Waste, Ethical Weddings

For unique and interesting ways to incorporate dried flowers into your wedding centrepieces and bar displays - read our post on Inspiration for Dressing your Dry Hire Wedding Venue We used a mix of fresh flowers with dried; some that were repurposed and a collection that Maya and Stephen could keep forever as a keepsake from the day.

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London Wedding Flowers – Inspiration for Dressing Your Dry Hire Wedding Venue

London Wedding Flowers – Inspiration for Dressing Your Dry Hire Wedding Venue 

If you’re planning your wedding, your first consideration has most likely been the venue. Finding somewhere that can host all of your guests, facilitate all of your ideas as well as reflect your taste can be a challenge. One way of making your wedding day truly unique and true to you as a couple is to use a dry hire venue: a blank canvas that gives you the freedom to make a space your own. In this blog post I share with you my advice on how best to approach a dry hire venue and my experience working in them. I also share London wedding flowers image inspiration from one of my favourite weddings held last summer at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

To Dry Hire or not to Dry Hire

Be under no illusion that a dry hire venue will save you much money; and for the pennies one may save you, it may not be worth the stress likely caused. As much as they are desirable for their custom-ability, they require an inordinate amount of organisation and logistics, by comparison to a furnished venue.

When making that comparison between dry hire and those that aren’t, really consider the pros and cons and be fully aware that going dry hire just quite simply will be a lot more work. Wedding planning stress should not be underestimated – pick your battles and work out what is important to you both.

When a Wedding Planner is Key

When hiring a dry hire space my first and top suggestion is to employ a wedding planner. There will almost certainly be questions and costs that you won’t think to enquire about that will be integral to a smooth flow of your day and the avoidance of surprise bills later on in your planning.

Your venue will likely come with a dedicated venue manager, but this person won’t offer the same hands on support and best intentions for creating your dream day. They will have regular suppliers that they like to work with, however credible these may be, this won’t result in a bespoke outcome, the very reason you might have gone down the route of dry hire.

A good wedding planner will listen to your wishes and requirements and work closely with specially selected suppliers, doing all the back and forth, cross-comparisons and budgeting so that you don’t have to. Beyond the admin, they are invested in designing a unique celebration that is representative of you. They don’t want to run out what they have done before for the sake of convenience.

London Wedding Flowers and Decor – Choosing the Right Suppliers

Should a wedding planner not be a priority for you or within budget, then I have a handful of crucial recommendations:

• Carefully choose suppliers that you can trust and who’s work you love. With a dry hire space, your suppliers’ advice and input with be invaluable. Listen to their ideas on how they can maximise impact. This could mean sacrificing some ideas and small details you had in mind, but with a large dry hire space it’s important to maximise impact in fewer areas as opposed to scattering lots of ideas and spreading your budget too thinly.

• Budget more than you expect, especially for decor.

• Don’t be too hasty to choose the least expensive quote from comparative suppliers – it won’t necessarily mean you are getting the same for less.

Of course, as someone who works with and sells London wedding flowers, I am biased, but I guarantee, without all the paraphernalia that a furnished venue comes with, a dry hire venue requires a lot to make it feel atmospheric.

Still Life Flowers and Wedding Planner, Hilde. Case Study - London Wedding Flowers and Decor Inspiration

Anne of Hilde. is someone that I have had the pleasure to work with a number of times. She put me forward as an option to wedding couple, Maya and Stephen, who chose me for their wedding at Trinity Buoy Wharf last summer.

As an interior designer, Maya had a focus on having an aesthetically beautiful wedding day. She chose a dry hire venue so that she could make it her own, working with suppliers she could put her trust in to transform the space.

Maya and Stephen wanted to bring their Indian and Italian cultures together and so decided on hues of warm oranges, gold and yellows to transform the four vast white walls that make up Trinity Buoy Wharf into a warm atmospheric setting.

Anne provided me with a dreamy palette and source of inspiration from hers and Maya’s design choices. I love striking a balance between potentially conflicting elements: I knew I would need to create impact in such a space but wanted to ensure a sense of softness and romance that reflected this understated couple.

Ochre was chosen as the lead colour for the arrangements: combo roses and vanda orchids formed the base of the arrangements, softened by delicate white sweet peas and creamy beige peppercorns. In using our signature grouped and sculptured style we created a harmony between the luxury Art Deco influence and the soft earthy aesthetic created for the day.

Suppliers

Venue – The Chainstore at Trinity Buoy Wharf

Wedding Planner – HILDE.

Photographer – Jessica Williams

Catering – Sabel Food

Some of my favourite weddings have been held at dry hire venues. So much energy, thought and attention detail has gone into these and has certainly paid off. If you are considering a dry hire venue, I hope you have found my suggestions helpful.

Read more about Maya and Stephens beautiful riverside celebrations at Harpers Bazaar.

For more London wedding flowers inspiration, have a look at Aimee & Simon’s botanical inspired day at The Barbican or Chris & Skyla’s Guildhall wedding mixing fresh and dried blooms and grasses.

London Wedding Venues – Barbican Wedding Inspiration

London Wedding Venues – Barbican Wedding Inspiration

In these strange times of lock down I have become weather obsessed. The same is to be said of many brides, anticipating the weekend ahead. Weather uncertainty can be a huge stressor or let down for those that have pictured a marquee wedding in glorious sunshine. This conundrum brings me nicely to the second in my series of London Weddings in Autumn, another example of a beautiful day that wouldn’t have been changed by hail or storms. The weather was no issue for Aimee and Simon, who celebrated their Barbican Wedding in October.

Barbican Wedding Ideas

As a celebrity stylist, I knew Aimee would have an exacting eye for just how she wanted everything to look on her big day. We spoke at lengths about her ideas, what she loved about the venue, her bridal party outfit ideas and party favour ideas. I use these points as not only a source of inspiration, but I also allow them to inform my design choices with flowers. I previously worked as an events manager and stylist and I see my role as ‘wedding florist’ very much to tie everything together, bridging aesthetic continuity across the day. Aimee is a visual person, so it’s no surprise that she had an abundance of ideas. I worked with her to consolidate the final look and how we would execute this through the florals.

Both Aimee & Simon loved the brutalist architecture of the Barbican and the somewhat out-of-place tropical nature that makes it feel otherworldly. We chose to work sympathetically with the ‘interior’, with floral design ideas that were effortless yet striking.

How to style a Barbican Wedding

On first viewing of the Barbican Conservatory Terrace, the couple felt this space lacked the same magic that the rest of the Conservatory had. They wanted to continue the overgrown plants into this area on both the tables and across the high ceilings.

For the tables we worked solely with tropical leaves that offered different shapes and sizes, creating a very simple table design which was highly effective. We arranged stems and trailing vines at different heights and lengths, creating an undulating table-scape that contrasted the white tablecloths. For a pop of colour, bottles of peachy rhubarb gin, made by Aimee and Simon’s family, provided this accent along the tables.

Decorating the vast ceiling was a challenge but we decided to work with one variety en masse to create as much impact within budget, whilst looking as if it had grown there. Meters upon meters of Spanish moss was strung together to form long trails that were suspended above the guests heads.

Fashion and Flowers

With Aimee designing all the outfits herself, I was so excited to see what she had created. Simon and the groomsmen wore very timeless all black, which the bridesmaids and flower girls made a nod to in their accessories. For the bridesmaids’ hair, they wrapped slicked back ponytails with black velvet ribbon, used again for their simple wrist corsages that featured single orchid heads. Aimee’s dress was striking, clean and elegant which suited her so style well. She accessorised with gloves hand-strung with pearls and pearls again in her hair. Aimee wanted a feminine but ‘cool’ bouquet; to balance the detail she already had in her outfit, I used blousy garden roses and orchids in shades of white and the palest pink which made for a modern design that complimented her look. This has to be up there with my favourite bride’s looks.

Suppliers

The Conservatory itself makes for the most beautiful backdrop to wedding photography. Iona Wolff, who also works a lot in the celebrity world took these incredible shots, with second shooter, Chloe Winstanley.

Photography – Iona Wolff and Chloe Winstanley

Styling – Aimee Croysdill

Hair – Sami Knight

Make – Up - Lucy Wearing

Venue – The Barbican Conservatory

Testimonial

““Still Life Flowers made my vision come to life. They also let me explore new ideas throughout the planning process and helped guide me to make the right decisions without diluting the end result and impact. I’ll be forever grateful to them for making me feel secure in knowing that when I stepped in to my venue on the day of my wedding it was going to look the way I imagined it, and it really did. Absolutely faultless.”
- Aimee”

I hope this has inspired you to consider your own Barbican wedding come rain or shine. For more autumn wedding inspiration, take a look at Chris & Skyla’s London wedding at St Lawrence Jewry Church and Hawksmoor Guildhall.

London Wedding Flowers - Off-season Wedding ideas for postponed London Weddings

London Wedding Flowers - Off-season Wedding ideas for postponed London Weddings

This wet and windy weather has had me reminiscing about some of my favourite London wedding flowers we have had the pleasure of making...

If you’re wedding has been postponed this year, I’m in that same boat with you. I know how it can be less than straightforward trying to find a date that all of your suppliers can do, whilst being at a time of year that you had always imagined.

2021 is set to be a busy wedding year, with so many postponements on top of recently booked dates and new engagements. For these reasons, you may be faced with little option other than to postpone for a time of year that is traditionally not so busy.

I want to share with you some of my favourite Autumn London weddings across a number of blog posts to show you that the weather really doesn’t matter on your wedding day. Let’s face it, we’re in England…next June could be just as miserable…

First we have Chris and Skyla who were married last October at St Lawrence Jewry Church and celebrated their reception at award-winning British steakhouse and London wedding venue, Hawksmoor Guildhall.

London Wedding Flowers - Design

Chris and Skyla had a strong sense of how they wanted their day to look and feel. They had many ideas and were looking for expertise from us to reign them in to bring visual continuity throughout their day. The style-conscious couple wanted their flowers to be unique and memorable without being ephemeral.

This can be a fine art to achieve but we created this by making individual arrangements, each different to the next, some with bounds of character and shape, balanced by others that were softer and more feminine. Following on from this brief, we chose a colour palette that infused classic bridal whites and soft pinks with more interesting earthy tones. The mood lighting of Hawksmoor required a lighter colour-way to contrast with the wood-panelled walls and speakeasy aesthetic. These more brown tones, made the arrangements season appropriate without being typically autumnal, which was important to Skyla.

Adding to the ‘interest’ we used a mix of fresh and classic blooms with dried flowers and grasses. The bridal flowers leant towards the lighter side of the palette and Hawsmoor saw the introduction of some of the mid-tone shades. This is a way I like to transition from one part of the day to the next, whilst ensuring a link throughout the floral design.

Food and Flowers - Reception at Hawksmoor Guildhall

Hawksmoor as a London venue is beautiful but of course what they are known for is their food. I do always ask my couples about their menu as it is important that flowers and food do not compete – by this I mean physically collide where there is not enough room on the table for both. A considered tablescape to encompass both is easily achieved with some forward planning.

As to be expected at a Hawksmoor wedding, food was certainly at the centre of this occasion. We allowed for large sharing platters by tailoring arrangements to the size of table and number of guests at each. No one wants to battle a rose to get to the triple-cooked chips…

Suppliers

Skyla and Chris did an amazing job curating a list of suppliers that worked harmoniously together. I have had the pleasure of seeing Natalie of Sixfold Studio’s stationery a number of times as I’m placing the flowers in final position. Our brands work well together as I feel we both create work that is modern and yet timeless. Jessica Williams Photography was the ideal choice for this wedding and the time of year itself; she has a stunning way of capturing a gloomy day in such a graceful fashion…resulting in the type of photos you want on your walls and not just on your computer. Below are just some of them….

Photography - Jessica Williams

Make-Up - Carla Francesca

Hair - Nicole Deabreu Hair

Stationery - Sixfold Studio

Dress - Lola Varma stocked at The Fall Bride

Venues - Getting ready at The Ned, Ceremony at St Lawrence Jewry Church & Reception at Hawksmoor Guildhall

Silk Ribbons - Lancaster and Cornish

Cake - By the Groom himself!

We would be delighted to discuss plans for your Autumn London wedding flowers. For more ideas and costs, please visit our contact page to express your interest and we shall be in touch with our price guide. We look forward to working with you.

Flower Delivery in London - Five Flower Arrangement Techniques and Tips

Coronavirus, as for many, has necessitated the rethinking of my business model and what I can offer to my clients.

It’s meant muddling through and continuing to struggle at times, but it has also provided the opportunity for growth – pushing me out of my introverted comfort zone; connecting with more businesses, more people, adapting my skill set…hustling!!

One new addition has been a web shop, offering luxury flowers for customers to enjoy in their homes. 

Another first (bar the odd Instagram caption) is sharing my thoughts in public…and so here you are reading my first ever blog post…Hello!

With my introduction out of the way, I would like to share with you five tips for arranging flowers at home.

1.     Flower prep and care

On receiving or purchasing your flowers, take care to remove all packaging as soon as is possible.

Remove the lower leaves of the flowers (this will most likely have already been done for you and is one of the perks with a pre-arranged bouquet). The reason for this is, any leaves under water will add bacteria to the water that your flowers are drinking from, shortening their vase life.

When you’re ready to position your flowers, cut all stems at an angle before plunging into cool water. Cutting your stems at an angle gives them a larger surface area to absorb water.

2.    Choosing your vase

One of the most common faux-pas I see with flower arranging is where too big a vase has been used. My two cents are - whichever sized vase you may think you need, you most likely need to go smaller!

The key is to go for a vase with a relative neck size to your bouquet (or number of stems). 

• Too big a neck and your flowers will splay unintentionally creating a sort of crown effect with no flowers in the middle and nothing standing sprightly.

• Too tight a neck and you’ll lose the ability to arrange any kind of shape and organic feel – everything will stand too firm and upright.

Take the above photo as an example – tall stems, and few of them, require a smallish neck so that they can stand tall and proud. As you can see, the vase itself is relatively small. 

The key is always in the neck…Go smaller than you think…

3.    Create a Grid

You may have seen florists using chicken wire or tape to create a grid that facilitates the desired shape. With the right vase size, you can also have control over your arrangements using the stems themselves to create a grid.

• With your initial stems, place them so that they cross each other. Your first stems will lean against the neck of your vase. Continue criss-crossing your stems as you place them, creating a grid formation. 

• At a certain point your grid will be strong enough to hold stems at different angles i.e. not just how they wish to fall. Play with the different angles and positions you can place your flowers at, now that you have this grid. I like to place my grid flowers low and short and finish with taller more pronounced stems.

4.    Style considerations

For a Still Life Flowers take on your arrangement try the following steps:

• Cut mostly shorter stems for your initial grid-forming-flowers, taking care not to arrange two flowers at exactly the same length next to one another. You want to group your flowers without creating a flat surface area.

• Start building with middle length stems, still working with shorter ones to add points of depth throughout your arrangement. Think about your flowers moving in and out, creating an irregular and exaggerated shape rather than a round smooth shape. 

• Now that you have a strong grid, build height with taller stems in two thirds of your arrangement.

• Finish your flower arrangement by adding your tallest stem(s) in the other one third.

The overall finish should feel airy and asymmetric. 

5.     Secret mechanics

My last tip is for those who have a vase with a perfect neck size but the height of the vase is just too tall for the stems that you are working with.  This tip is really only for ceramic vases or opaque options that you can’t see the mechanics through. 

Really quick and simple – scrunch up the cellophane that your flowers came in and pad out the bottom of the vase. You can achieve the same thing by using marbles or pebbles, which can be a good idea especially for otherwise lightweight vases that might topple with taller stems. When you’ve done this, apply the same steps as above and your flowers will sing….remember to keep your water topped up high whilst your stems don’t reach the bottom of the vase.

You can use these tips to arrange any of our flowers available on our Shop, please visit our range for collection here…and remember, in these hot summer months to keep your flowers out of direct sunlight for the best possible vase life.