As one of Wasing Park’s preferred florists, I’ve been “flowering up” Wasing since it opened 12 years ago and have lost count of the myriad of beautiful weddings I’ve created in that time not to mention the hundreds of couples I’ve worked with to bring their unique vision to life.
During this time Wasing has become one of the UK’s premier wedding venues, offering a spectacular rural backdrop for those who want a countryside setting for their wedding celebration. I’ve seen flower trends come and go and when I look back, I recall a much tighter, tidier and more “flower heavy” arrangements and bouquets. Flowers back then were more contrived and stylised: neater, tidier – less suggestive of the season than they are today. Even the choice of vase has moved on; long gone are the tall narrow lily vases or the wide open mouthed martini vases sitting on a mirror mat, gone too are the goldfish bowls with a swirl of bear grass and calla lilies.
In 2009 a recession took flower decor from a place of austentacious opulence to pared back understatement; jam jars became all the rage, jute or as we Brits called it, hessian arrived on the scene and “rustic” became the bye word for many couples’ wedding day look. Lace and all things vintage became a huge trend, enter the lace wrapped flower filled jam jars placed on wood slices – one trend I will not be sad to see the end of alongside gypsophila posies – sadly the magazines did not convey the foul smell of cat wee this little flower often carries with it!
Towards the latter half of the decade an emergence of more environmentally aware couples, more conscious about provenance and seasonality has become apparent.
Today whilst wood slices and a rustic vibe is still very much part of the country barn wedding look, sound the klaxon for the arrival of the freestanding floral installation! These large standalone floral showstoppers replace more mainstream pedestal arrangements; although I absolutely love a big urn arrangement (nothing looks better for a stylish pedestal than something arranged in an urn), step aside urn for the more informal flower filled oversized vase or bell jar creating impact but without feeling overly formal.
Foliage heavy uprights framing civil ceremonies replace more traditional flower filled pedestal arrangements, moon gates form backdrops and floral meadows run along aisle floors, over hanging floral chandeliers dangle above table tops. Taper candles in a cornucopia of pastel shades replace the chunkier pillar candle of yesteryear.
Bouquets whilst always a personal choice are often larger, looser and greener than a decade ago, stems no longer bound tight and neatly pinned, today are loosely tied with long luxurious drops of plan dyed silk ribbon fluttering in the wind. I cannot recall the last rose I studded with diamante but I can tell you the craving for big over the top olive or eucalyptus heavy bouquets remain popular, as well as draping over table plans; peonies, parchment roses, Café au lait dahlias are all popular flower choices.
Buttonholes are no longer uniform and roses no longer the go to choice instead they are beautiful exquisite works of art simply tied with jute or wool.
Couples seeking wedding inspiration can while away hours on Pinterest which arrived around 2010 and has become main stream over the past five or six years allowing wedding fashion to be a global phenomenon rather than just a country based trend. Couples use Pinterest’s’ infinite image database as a source of ideas and inspiration, pinning their ideal wedding vision onto their own mood boards and we florists can curate our own our portfolios here too.
Today’s couples are more environmentally aware, individuality has always been key to me as a florist but just like Prosecco replaced champagne, gin bars, craft beer and sharing platters have all become the norm; floral trends continue to move forwards in ebbs and flows and I’d like to think so do I.
Sustainability has never been more important and for me that means using more locally grown flowers here in the UK, working very closely with the seasons so that a spring bouquet looks like it was picked from a spring garden and resisting the use of non-biodegradable floral foam in my work instead replacing it with more eco -friendly chicken wire and moss. With these things in mind I see pampas grass, bleached, dried flowers and foliage only designs coming through into my upcoming wedding palettes which all make epic statement pieces and last well beyond the wedding day itself.
I look forward to the next ten years of flowering weddings at Wasing Park and am excited to see the zeitgeists of the incoming decade whatever they may be.
Lindsey Kitchin is the florist at The White Horse Flower Company for more floral inspiration follow her Instagram account @thewhitehorseflower.
