Fuchsia Flower Design Brighton: 2011

Garlands, Garlands, Garlands

Holly and Ivy Door Wreath

I love this time of year when I'm greeted by the familiar Christmas pine fragrance every time I open my workshop.

I get great pleasure making wreaths, whether it's for a wedding, funeral or Christmas, they all have the same sentiment - the circle of life.

A tradition thought to have started in ancient Rome, Christmas Door wreaths are formed in a circle to signify eternity and hung on the front door to represent happiness and luck for the New Year.

Each Christmas wreath is constructed by hand onto a wire frame, bound with fresh moss and decorated with fresh evergreens. Designed to be hung outside, they last well into the New Year as long as they're sprayed with a mist of water every couple of days.

I have a selection of traditional rustic designs to choose from, or if you have a specific colour/theme, I'm happy to create a bespoke design.

Keep it Local. . .

Christmas officially started in Brighton last weekend with the 9th annual Open Houses Christmas Festival.

There are lots of opportunities to buy original arts and crafts from local artists and the Festival is running over the first two weekends in December.

On a bright and sunny Sunday morning, my first outing this year started on the Hove trail where I kicked off my spending spree at Kellie Miller’s studio in Wilbury Grove, Hove where I was greeted with a glass of hot mulled cider and a fabulous mixture of artworks and ceramics.

Image courtesty of Kellie Miller

Another favourite, which I visited at the May Festival, was 9A Hove Place, which has an eclectic mix of work from hats & accessories, to sculpture, ceramics and woodcarvings. There’s 23 houses on the Hove Trail and a total of 65 throughout the city, so if you’re stuck for ideas for gifts this year, this really is a fun way to do your Christmas shopping!

My workshop isn't on the trail, but I'm currently taking orders for my traditional door wreaths, which are all individually made by hand onto a wire frame, bound with fresh moss and decorated with fresh evergreens - and would make an ideal gift!

Make a Grand Entrance this Christmas

A tradition thought to have started in ancient Rome, Christmas wreaths are usually formed in a circle to signify eternity and are hung on the front door to represent happiness and luck for the New Year.

My traditional wreaths are all individually made by hand onto a wire frame, bound with fresh moss and decorated with fresh evergreens.

I blend fresh seasonal foliage with herbs such as rosemary and bay with wintry fragrances from spice sticks such as cinnamon and dried fruit and fir cones.

Each wreath is designed to be hung outside of either your office or home and last well into the New Year.

There's lot's more to choose from, and I'm designing some new designs with some added glitz. . . . coming soon!

Christmas 2011

A Day at the Races. . . .

Thanks to all the brides who stopped by our stand last Sunday at the Brighton Racecourse Wedding Fayre. I collaborated with Fay Miller from Pink Rose Cakes to showcase some new designs and ideas for wedding flowers and cakes.
There was a bit of a beach theme going on with the flowers! Opting for the recession-friendly carnation, and blocking hot colours to demonstrate that the humble carnation can create impact without denting your wallet.
Available in just about every colour, carnations are a symbol of love, are very hardy and last for days!

A trip to Switzerland. . .

I recently visited a friend who has upped sticks and moved to Basel in Switzerland.
Beautiful city.
Fabulously clean.
Fantastic flowers.
Oh, and lots of sheep (although they weren't actually in the city)!

There are flowers everywhere, whether on one of the many, many fountains, in the windowboxes of just about every building or in the daily market.

I was particularly taken with the quality of the Sunflowers, although not so much with the price - just a tad expensive!

Flowers for a wonky wedding cake

I work with a local Brighton cake designer, Fay Miller of Pink Rose Cakes by supplying her with fresh flowers for her wonderful cake designs.

I was recently involved in a bit of a show-stopper wedding cake which Fay was keen to showcase her skills, when it comes to producing quirky designs, by using a mixture of creative sugar decoration and fresh flowers.

The brief was 'truly tropical flowers to match the wedding theme'. The bride's flowers included roses, gerbera, double lissianthus, mollucella, shamrock blooms, Singapore orchids, and the theme was purple, pink, white, lime and orange!

Absolutely my most favourite colours and very 'on trend' for this summer!

Obviously, when thinking about flowers for a cake, it's not a good idea to choose any with delicate stems which aren't that happy out of water, and large blooms (unless they are the only flower being used), so I suggested a mixture of orange roses, fuchsia pink mini gerberas, purple Singapore orchids and looped Dracaena leaves (lime tips).

The cake was made up of 5 different tiers, each cake was a different flavour, marzipaned and then iced. Each tier was then decorated with a different design and made 'wonky' by inserting specially cut polystyrene wedges in between each tier and decorated with fresh flowers.

Fay was actually attending the wedding, so I delivered the flowers to her the night before after conditioning them and making up some of the looped lime tips and suggested ways of wiring each stem so Fay could do her creative magic on the day.

The result was absolutely stunning!

Wedding Flowers for a Late Spring Wedding

Here's some ideas for a late Spring wedding, using a mix of seasonal flowers and foliage and some old favourites which are available all year round.

A popular request for this year, a romantic over the arm bouquet using strong contrasting colours and super fragrant Eucalyptus. This style of bouquet suits a slender cut dress and great for taller brides.

A small hand tied bridesmaid posy suitable for flowergirls and younger bridesmaids, using white Avalanche roses and Hosta leaves bound with ivory organza ribbon, secured with diamante pins.

It's traditional for the groom's buttonhole to pick out one of the main flowers of the bride's bouquet. Here's an old favourite using an orange mini Gerbera with a small Hosta leaf for foliage.

Moving onto the wedding venue, it seems that simple is the key word this season with Gypsophilia making a resurgence. Here's some simple tied bunches which decorated the aisle chairs for a wedding I did in St Phillips Church in Hove.

And for the reception, simple square glass vases with a hint of Brighton beach using orange mini gerberas.

A tall vase filled with seasonal flowers is perfect for your cake table. Here a simple vase filled with glass marbles, sets off an arrangement of beautiful blue Delphiniums, steel grass and heart shaped hosta leaves.

And, for a finishing touch you could add fresh flowers to your place settings. Here I've used a white Avalance rose wired together with small Delphinium florets, to create this pretty napkin tie.

Visit my website for more wedding flower ideas. Fuchsia Flower Design

Early sightings of English Country Garden Roses!

I was out and about at the weekend and popped into National Trust - Nyman's Gardens and was surprised to see some early sightings of this year's crop of roses - beautiful varieties including several David Austin country roses all looking fabulous!