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A few weeks ago this wedding blogger was invited along to join in the celebrations for my Florist friend Leafy Couture’s Fifth Birthday at Harewood House’s Wedding Open Evening. As one of a select number of exhibitors, I spent an utterly gorgeous evening drinking champagne and chatting to brides to be in the beautifully decorated Courtyard, bedecked with blooms by Sarah and her team.
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This morning, we celebrate with Sarah, find out about Leafy Couture’s roots and how they hope to grow, whilst she shares some seeds of wisdom that will help you in choosing your own wedding flowers.
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Floral photographs by Faye Hatton
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Happy Birthday Leafy Couture – tell Brides Up North about how it all began?
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I was searching for a creative change in direction and was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I was blown away by the style, textures and fab colours… I quickly researched courses and my love affair began! I booked myself on a course and part of the requirements was 120 hours work experience. I blagged myself into a job in a local florist and was soon learning the ropes. I later moved on to a more modern and funky florist, spending all my time researching new designs, trips to London to see famous florists and lots of trade shows and exhibitions.
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I took the leap of setting up on my own five years ago as I wanted to concentrate on weddings and special events. We did 15 weddings in the first year from my mum’s cellar, with candelabra arrangements lining the cellar steps and large pedestal displays in the front room! We soon outgrew the cellar and moved into premises. The past five years we have gone from strength to strength and have done weddings as far as Belfast and London, with work regularly published in the national magazines such as Wedding Magazine and Wedding flowers. We also teach flower school. In the busy summer months we can have up to six leafy girls busy making arrangements so its all go and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
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What are your qualifications?
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I have BTEC level two and three diploma in Floristry and also taught Floristry for two years with my PTLLS teaching qualification at Shipley College. I also have a Degree in Sociology.
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What services do you offer?
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We create all the flowers that couples will need on their special day from bridal party flowers, ceremony arrangements to venue dressing. We have dressed marquees, hotels, stately homes and private parties. We also have a large range of hire items such as candelabras, trees, cake stands, candlesticks and vintage props. We offer an initial consultation then can meet couples at their chosen venue for a site visit if needed and we can create mock up arrangements to help them visualize their day.
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Can Brides Up North come in to see you and do they need an appointment?
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We offer a by appointment only service and couples can come and see what we do and look at our portfolio. We do have a price list but it is a guide as all weddings are bespoke. We ask for £100 deposit to book the date and we do get booked up quickly for certain dates in the summer.
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If you had to make Leafy Couture a birthday bouquet, what would you include?
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Hard question as we love so many flower combinations… it would have to contain roses as they feature heavily in our work and as our birthday is officially in the summer we would probably include hydrangea, sweet peas, astrantia with lots of herbs and textures. We would also include some David Austin roses as they smell divine!
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What was the thinking behind the open evening at Harewood House?
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Well, we are five years old and in this day and age its important to celebrate still being here and being so busy. We love an excuse for a bit of a celebration and there is always time for cake.
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We are the recommended Wedding florist for Harewood House and so we thought it would be a great place to celebrate and to showcase some designs. It is such a beautiful location and its right on our doorstep. We love dressing the Pavilion and the Courtyard: they are such blank canvasses and so you can let your imagination run wild with any theme.
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What are your plans for the future with Leafy Couture?
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We are developing the flower school for brides to be and hen parties with the Michelin starred Box Tree in Ilkley and so people can create fab arrangements and have an amazing dining experience at the same time.
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We shall keep doing what we do with over 40 weddings booked in for 2012 already and also look forward to working on some more photo-shoots with our industry friends. They are a chance for us to play and show our creativity, we love being in the wedding industry.
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What are you top 5 tips for wedding flowers?
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Go with what you love, its your wedding not anyone else’s, so do your homework, trawl wedding blogs, rip out pages of magazines…
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Go seasonal – flowers are just at their best at the right time of year.
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Chose a delicate scented flower in your bouquet to calm any last minute nerves – flowers you could choose include – lily of the valley, sweet peas, peonies, lavender, mint and freesia.
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Less is more: sometimes just using one type of flower en masse can look just stunning.
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If you are on a budget spend the most on your bouquet as it is the most photographed arrangement on the day, when else in your life do you carry flowers?
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What are your no nos for wedding flowers?
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Don’t be too gimmicky… flowers are beautiful so let them speak for themselves
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I’m not a lover of red and white together in a bouquet as it looks too stark.
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If you are going to try do flowers yourselves to save money then do a course such as at our flower school or a local college.
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If you are having different people creating flowers for different areas such as bridal, church and reception keep it simple.
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Why do you read and like Brides Up North?
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We love Brides up North as it is a fabulous resource for brides providing daily inspiration and a great place to find suppliers. We are also passionate about the North and so its great to see a wedding blog flying the flag for the North showcasing all the talent we have up here. I was very lucky to have my own wedding featured on Brides Up North and felt very proud seeing my husband and I on the blog. We also attended the tweet up in Leeds it was a great way to meet industry friends.
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If you were making a Brides Up North bouquet – what would it include?
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I think we would create a really vibrant bouquet with a modern feel and with lots of pink! We would use cerise anemones with black centres as they are funky and modern but a very beautiful spring flower to reflect the freshness of Brides Up North. We would include lots of roses as they come in lots of gorgeous pinks and also pink ranunculus to carry on the spring theme. We would finish the bouquet with some lime green guelder rose to add a funky feel and bind the stems with cerise ribbon, a black lace overlay and black pearl pins.
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{Ooh! Yes please!}
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2011 Faye Hatton Photography
This is not a sponsored post
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