We are delighted to have on aboard our new writer/blogger Charlotte Kirkpatrick. She is our budding intern who is passionate about weddings and all things pretty. In the coming weeks, there will be fabulous posts and real wedding interviews and so much more.

‘So pleased to be taking part in this big opportunity and can’t wait to be posting regularly. Weddings are one of the most fabulous ways to get to know a person and to tell their own story, I am so excited to hear them!”

Welcome Charlotte from all at Tradvintflower x x x

 

 

 

 

Today’s Wednesday Wedding Blog is all about the humble watering can.

A little history

“Watering can” first appeared in 1692, in the diary of keen cottage Gardner Lord Timothy Simon George of Cornwall. Before then, it was known as a “watering pot”.Pots had holes in the bottom at first before the idea of a spout was invented some 50 to 100 years later. Early Watering cans were made in copper and then in 1850, iron, brass and zinc.

We are totally potty about them, filled with meadow flowers they make fabulous alternative table decorations, Great for a feature outside a church or marquee. Why not attach a little signs to them. There is so much choice so let your inspiration run wild. Why not create a pinterest board, we would love to see them. Bye for now… Clare x x x x

 

 

And they lived happily ever after…

I love Mondays, start of a new week, I love the anticipation that a new week brings and with Valentines just round the corner, I think its going to be a busy week and a busy weekend. We are delighted to be involved again with the Essex Vintage Wedding Fair this weekend. So why not pop down to Colchester Essex Vintage Wedding Fair Sunday 16th February 2014

The Minories Art Gallery 74 High Street Colchester Essex CO1 1UE

11am-4pm

FREE ENTRY

We would love to see you. Clare x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To celebrate our new website we have a new blog as well.

Welcome to ‘The Florem Diaries’

The Florem Diaries is a weekly Blog packed with interesting news, events and inspiring stories from real Weddings featuring our own wonderful brides. It will also include fabulous features from the Wedding Industry in general including Helpful Hints and tips, our favourite Wedding Suppliers and Award Winning Guest Bloggers. Launch issue coming soon …

So if you have a wonderful wedding you would like to share or a fabulous story that needs to be told. Please get in touch, we really would love to hear from you.

Clare x

 

Hello My Lovelies,

It’s that time of year again when Christmas Workshops seem to pop over everywhere. So to celebrate our make over of The Vintage Lodge we are holding several fun filled festive workshops.

This year we thought it would be fun to create your own Christmas Ted or even have a go with Christmas Rag Wreath, something a little different, we might even show you have to make your own Cranberry Wreath. Oh Yum.

 

 

So if you fancy loosing yourself in festive fun with a cup of tea, yummy cake and for those who would like something stronger a glass of mulled wine, then please come along

Dates: Saturday 30 November, 10-12 or 2-4. Sunday 1st December, 10-12 or 2-4. Saturday 14th December, 10-12 or 2-4 and Sunday 15th December 10-12 or 2-4.

Cost £25.00 for the Teddy Bear and £45.00 for the Rag Wreath. Cranberry Wreath £65.00

To book your place, please email [email protected] A £10.00 deposit is required. I look forward to seeing you. Clare x x x

Tis the Season to be Jolly x x x

Oh by the way watch out for our Romantic Floral Crown Work Shops coming in January. Yay! x x x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello My Lovelies,

Our blog has been officially launched Yay!

To celebrate this we asked one of the top UK wedding bloggers Phoebe Miller from ‘So you’re Getting Married’ to share her thoughts. So settle down with a cup of tea and enjoy.

Behind the Blog

When Clare asked me to write a little something my first thought was “what on earth would I write about?” This may seem quite absurd when I write about weddings for a living but peeling away the layers of fluffy gowns and stunning flowers leaves me quite anxious and bare.

I started So You’re Getting Married in 2009 prior to my own wedding in 2010. I thought I would use it as a way of documenting my planning journey and if just one person read it, and found solace in my stresses then that would be ok with me. I remember the first blog post I published and sat there waiting with a cup of tea for just one person to click on it, I think building readership and industry connections has been one of the hardest parts of blogging.

Fast forward to 2013, I have been nominated for awards, worked with amazing suppliers and every day I adore clicking on my email to see what exciting opportunities are waiting, glorious real weddings to be seen and quite often brides asking for advice.

The advice portion of my day is not something I often broadcast, but I would say I dedicate at least 2 hours replying to emails, or searching for answers for brides that have contacted me asking for an opinion or advice. I have to be honest, I am not quite sure why they have sought my advice. I think the blog posts I write can often be quite tongue in cheek when it comes to scattering my pearls of wisdom but I am grateful none the less, and I am pleased to say more often than not there is always a happy ending.

I think this is why wedding blogs are wonderful. You get to know the blogger behind them, you learn what they like and what they don’t like, what they will blog about and what they won’t, and as a reader you can choose to stay because you feel you click with them, or find someone else to ride along with.

Whilst I devoured wedding magazines when I was planning, I always thought of them as pretty pop up books. I never connected with any of the columnists and only bought them for the images to make inspiration boards. I think that you need both blogs and magazines whilst planning but I feel there is something a little more honest with a wedding blog. I only blog about products, services and suppliers I truly think are wonderful and I will tell you when I think something is rubbish.

I also blog about other aspects of life such as interiors, recipes, fashion and beauty, oh and Atticus!

There is a wedding blog for every kind of bride and you should take the time to read a few to discover which you love. They will become your virtual best friend whilst planning your wedding, we will flood your eyes with beautiful weddings, fill your mind with wonderful ideas and enter your heart with our passion for everlasting love. (That last bit is super cheesy but it is true).

Thank you for taking the time to read my little bit of waffle, I promise my blog posts are put together a lot more handsomely. May I also just take the moment to thank Clare, we have worked together a few times and she is so utterly passionate about her work that she is always a pleasure to talk to. I can only imagine she would be wonderful as your florist.

Many thanks Phoebe for your insight. Why not follower her - just click on the links below.

 

 

 

 

Hello My Lovelies,

Fabulous news! We are revamping our blog which alas has been sadly neglected over several months. So whats going to be on the blog you ask?

Yummy features from suppliers that we have met over the last wedding year. Real weddings from our Brides and Grooms and lots & lots of pretty stuff.

So without a further ado I announce our From The Vintage Lodge open. Yay!!

Lots of Love Clare x x x x

 

 

 

Hello My Lovelies,

Sorry we’ve not updated our blog recently, just been busy with scrumptious weddings. Well here’s a little selection, just love them all.

Clare x x x

 

 

Hello My Vintage Lovelies,

Gosh we’ve been busy with weddings,vintage fairs and photo shoots recently, which is great but unfortunately we’ve neglected our Feature Friday posts, but all is not lost.

On today’s Feature Friday I want to introduce to you, our dear friend Jessica Harrington from Wedding Save The Dates, a very talented designer.

I have had the pleasure of knowing the lovely Jessica since she first started her business. In fact, she came to us a bride and we loved creating her wedding flowers for her. Why not take a peek at the fabulous film of Jessica and Scott’s getting married on our website. Stunning I think! and here’s her story………..

I’ve been a designer/art-worker since graduating with a BA in Graphic Design in 2008. I work full-time but started my part-time business in 2012. I got married myself August 2012 and made the save the date magnets with packaging for my own wedding guests. The ‘Rose Floral’ design was inspired from the design of my wedding dress by Ian Stuart called ‘Flowerbomb’ and ended up styling the whole wedding based on it.

I had my save the date magnets published on a wedding blog, just to showcase what I had created for my own wedding. From that I started having enquires from other brides asking if I could make them for their weddings too.

When did you start your company and where are you based?

As mentioned above, the business started in 2012. I work from home in Essex, can ship worldwide and have an increasing customer base particularly in the US and Australia. It feels like a great achievement when you know your products are being talked about not only in the UK but in countries so far away.

What kind of services to you offer?

There are 3 products available which can be adapted to any of the 11 designs currently available:

1. Rose Floral 2. Sunflower Floral 3. Birdcage 4. Autumn 5. Pretty Bow 6. Seashell Beach 7. Aviation Birdcage 8. Retro Bunting 9. 1950′s Vinyl Record 10. Tea Party 11. Woodland (New)

There are two magnet sizes 58mm and 77mm, but also if your looking for something a little different the 58mm magnets can also be bought with handmade packaging. The packaging is a piece of coloured card with a beautiful delicate lace paper, with a matching label attached to the top. A clear plastic pouch displays the magnet beautifully within the packaging.

I am also open to creating a completely new design to match any wedding theme. I love when a bride comes to me asking for something new as I can get my ‘creative mind’ flowing!

Could you tell us about some of your recent commissions?

I am currently working on a design for a couple who want to include their golden retriever on the magnet design, because there dog is such a big part of their lives. I recently had the unusual commission of incorporating a ‘cow’ to the design…. anything is possible!

What are your plans of 2013?

Being a small one person business its all about getting the word out about the save the date products that I offer. I’ve exhibited at two wedding fairs on my own now and want to continue getting them out in the public eye rather than potential customers just seeing on-line.

I’ve been lucky enough to be featured on some top wedding blogs and one of my designs is going to be featured in a wedding magazine which will be coming out in April. This will be the first time my save the dates would be advertised in a magazine, so very excited about seeing it in print. Hopefully this will give me the platform to open the business to a larger audience.

I also want to expand the range of designs I offer. Wedding trends change so need to ensure the designs reflect the changing themes.

For more information contact Jess on [email protected]

Or visit her shop on www.etsy.com/shop/WeddingSavetheDates and www.facebook.com/handmadesavethedates Twitter @WedSavetheDate

Photographers: www.martinskikulis.com www.markammonphotography.co.uk

Thanks Jessica, for sharing your story and fabulous designs. I think a must for every bride, but then I just love them.

Clare x x

VIVE LA VINTAGE

 

 

Hello My Vintage Lovelies,

As it’s feature Friday I wanted to introduce you to our dear friend Vicky from Petals and Lace, a very talented Flower Preserver.

I wished I had know about it service when I got married 5 years ago. I so wanted to preserve my bouquet, as they were Cornish Roses and being married down in Cornwall it meant a lot to me. I tried in vain and ended up with dried dead roses on my dressing table for a couple of years.

So when I became aware of Vicky talents I thought it would be a wonderful idea to feature her and being vintage lovelies we asked her some questions….

Could you tell us what prompted you to become Flower Preserver

I have always enjoyed art & craft, I’ve tried most crafts over the years!

My job was working with Autistic children, both in special & main stream schools. I used to help Pauline, owner of Petals and Lace, during her busy periods & really enjoyed it. Pauline and Betty taught me so much about flower preservation, both in 3-D and pressed forms.

When did you start your company and where are you based?

After 23 years, Pauline decided to retire from Petals and Lace, which she ran from her home in Great Dunmow, Essex.I felt that it would be such a shame for the business to stop as there are very few companies able to offer this service. After much consideration, I decided to leave my school job and take over Petals and Lace.In August 2011, Petals and Lace moved to my home in Danbury, Essex.

What kind of services to you offer?

We no longer press flowers as we have installed new equipment in order for us to specialise in 3-D preservation.

We preserve flowers from all occasions which can then be framed alongside any memorabilia from the occasion. For example, wedding flowers could be framed with the brides veil and tiara, an invitation, table decorations, name place cards or a photograph.

Our frames are all hand made so your choice of frame is made exactly to the size you need.

Last summer we were honoured to preserve Olympic Double Gold Medallist Laura Trott’s winners bouquet. We were proud to preserve 23 Olympic and Paralympic winners bouquets in total.

Sadly, over the winter we preserve mainly funeral flowers and frame them alongside photos, poems and locks of hair.

At the moment we are preserving several beautiful bouquets from winter weddings. Our truly Christmas ones were a hand tied bouquet of 40 deep red roses, and a trailing bouquet of ivory roses, ivy and red hypericum.

What are your plans for 2013

Where to start? We have so many new ideas for 2013!

At the moment we are working with our advertising company on a new website design which should be launched very soon.

 

We are now working with a fantastic company who are able to make stunning paperweights for our clients. A personal message can be put on a disc in the base, making wonderful thankyou presents for the bridesmaids, best-man or parents.

We recently introduced our new memory boxes, which capture the entire feel of an event alongside some of the flowers. Examples can be seen on our website www.petalsandlace.co.uk.

Our fantastic new freeze drier enables us to produce amazing preserved flowers! The flowers look so fresh and the colour retention is much better than our desiccant dried flowers.

So many venues will only allow guests to throw 100% biodegradable confetti, our petals are the perfect answer. We are thrilled to be making bespoke confetti for The Traditional Vintage Flower Company, producing cones and baskets of petals to match their wedding flowers.

We are currently working with a company developing further products which we hope to launch later in the year. Watch this space!

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of having their bouquet preserved?

Contact us as soon as possible!

Due to the delicate nature of the work and the personal service we like to offer, we only accept a limited amount of bouquets each week. A small deposit secures your booking and there is nothing else payable until completion, which is approximately 12 weeks after the wedding.

Upon booking we will give advice on things that you, and your florist, can do to help the bouquet stay fresh on your wedding day and until it reaches us. Book today! We are giving 10% discount on the first 3 bookings quoting reference: TVF22213

Many thanks Vicky for sharing your story with us. Just love what you do and remember Vive La Vintage….. X x x