The Tinker Girl: Where do you say.........I do?

I'd like to share my real passion.

My really, real passion.

Something I've done for over 25 years, yet still I'm totally enthused about. Floristry.

Specifically, wedding flowers.

What I really like to do is small weddings.

I don't want to become a celeb florist. I don't want to be endorsed by any one. What i do want to do and love doing is dealing with brides (of all ages I should point out) that just want something simple and small. Because small doesn't mean boring! Small actually means you have far more time to include personal, special details. To get to know the bride, to become part of their special day.

Bride number one.

I was thrilled when Nicola phoned and asked me to do her flowers. It was to be at the RAF Club at Picadilly. Instantly I knew I had to create something soft yet formal. In such splendid surroundings something that looks like it's just put together from a field of wild flowers would look beautiful of course, but slightly out of place. She knew what she wanted. I knew what I needed to do. The nice part about it all is that the men usually don't get involved...at all, but Alex added a few (yes just a few) ideas, so we all k ew what we were doing.

So how does it work?

Well, throughout my years doing this I have encountered so many people who say "floristry how lovely".

Let me tell you that at 4 a.m, when it's dark outside ,in my kitchen, there's nothing very lovely about floristry.

It's cold and to be honest quite lonely . Afraid of waking anyone, you try to do everything silently.

Number one on the list is of course the bouquet. Once that's done, next come the buttonholes. You now know the bridal couple are done. Then other people that you consider to be part of the bridal party, mums, dads, bridesmaids and other special people. Then guest buttonholes, if you have any - not really the thing anymore. People tend to stick with just the bridal party. Then it's venue dressing, which in some cases can't be done until you actually get to the venue, so it's just a case of loading up and crossing your fingers that you haven't forgotten anything.

For me, the big thing is handing over the bouquet to the bride. There is ALWAYS that little flutter in your tummy that they say "oh.....right". I would die if that happened 😁. But once they have looked, turned,held and hopefully given you a big hug, the rest is simply a case of doing your job and ticking off the list.

So back to Nicolas big day.......

So there I was driving around and around and around and around again looking for a legal, rightful parking space to drop the brides bouquet off at the hotel she was going from. I eventually got my poor mum to jump out and take the flowers into the hotel whilst I held my breath hoping a traffic warden or police officer wouldn't appear out of the pavement. All the time texting Nicola waiting with even more bated breath for her response.

She loved it, phew, I could breath out, move off the yellow line and get the rest of the flowers to where they had to go. So off to the RAF Club we went, men's and mums buttonholes delivered and top table arrangement . The lovely Frederick was extremely helpful and took over from that point.

All of a sudden I noticed the park, the people, the cars and the fact I was in the middle of London!

The responsibility you have to these lovely people is huge. Flowers are an accessory, just like the perfect pair of shoes or the right color tie and waistcoat. You need to get it right.

So when people say "oh, how lovely" they aren't really considering the responsibility, the unsociable hours, lack of heat and worries about where to park!

They just see the end result

For more details about the RAF Club

https://www.rafclub.org.uk/

Bride number two ..........

Now let's go to the other end of the request scale. A dear friend, after

many years had decided it was time to make an honest man of her other half. Her request:- yellow, white, daisies and to be a day that everyone enjoyed. The venue being a golf club with beautiful views. Like before you just instantly know what you have to do. So this wedding was totally different, but the procedure was the same.

Up, brides bouquet done and buttonhole. Because the flowers for the venue where in small vases there was nothing I could do until I got there. Brides flowers delivered - she was thrilled. Yes, silent punch in the air! Now off to the venue. Each table had a large vase with a floating candle. Around that three

small vases of flowers. The only problem here is that I can't actually lay the flowers out on the table as the ceremony will be there. So I have to set up in another room with very specific instructions to the staff of what needs to go where. Then the groom arrives looking all handsome and nervouse I must say, buttonhole pinned on.

My job here is done!

All I can do now is keep an eye on Facebook for early pictures appearing!

The feeling I have when the pictures finally come through is a mixture of relief, excitement and an odd feeling of proudly looking at the bride and groom knowing I had a little something to do with the fact they look beautifully radiant and happy.