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Summer bouquet of mixed pink and ivory roses, pink spray roses and peonies with white stocks for Gemma. Simple but stunning bouquets of pink peonies, ivory roses and white stocks for the bridesmaids. Mum's corsage of pink rose, ivory spray rose and pearl sprays. Floral heart used to decorate the entrance to the church. Here I've used mixed ivory and pink roses, pink peonies and white stocks. The heart sits on the bookcase at the entrance and along the bookcase we have little shot glasses of roses. A very different but very lovely way to decorate a church entrance with flowers. Large pedestal designs of hydrangeas, roses, peonies, spray roses and stocks takes pride of place either side of the top of the aisle making a gorgeous frame to the wedding ceremony.  The White Horse Romsey, all set for the wedding breakfast. Tall table centres in cocktail vases of roses, peonies and stocks in pinks and whites look amazing in the centre of the room. Centre pieces of pink roses, spray rose...

I have a talented friend, Marie McMillen, who is a stylist, an Interior Designer, and now owner of an online shop Natural Calico, selling lovely things for the home. Her blog has lots of really useful tips and advice on setting up home,  how best to display things, as well as a 'look book' containing lots of snippets of some of the beautiful homes she has styled and her business partner Ashley Morrison has photographed. You may even have come across their work on Pinterest. You can find her website here:  www.naturalcalico.com . Here are some pictures of the sort of things she sells. Her shop has a certain cool, elegant look as indeed Marie herself has. I hope you will find the time to pop in and visit her. She also has a facebook page. I was frantically painting a large mahogany desk this week, which is now finished and in the shop, I was really pleased with the colour (Aubergine) which I hadn't used before, and it seems to be really popular with the customers too, as ther...

A trip to Lainston House this weekend reminded me, I had not posted this lovely wedding from a few weeks back. A treat for lovers of the vintage glamour look. Jodie's bouquet - white peonies and bouvardia with palest pink roses and sweet peas.Very soft and very pretty. Pink and white late May bouquet using peonies, roses, sweet peas and bouvardia,   early summer favourites. Pale blue, ivory and pink bouquet using blue hydrangea with ivory roses and pink astilbe. Lovely for the bridesmaids. Stunning vintage glamour look tall tablecentre using blue hydrangeas, white peonies and pale pink roses with crystal drops. Inside the trumpet vase are 2 pink roses in a pool of crystals.  Tall tablecentres in pink, blue and ivory lined up and ready to go at Lainston House.  A couple of pink roses and a pool of crystals in the base of the vase makes a very special finishing touch and gives guests sitting at the table something pretty to look at. That just leaves me to say thank you so m...

For her July wedding Lynne chose a stunning colour scheme of yellow, lime and white, the look is very fresh and pretty and just perfect for the hot summers day that arrived. Lynne's bouquet of yellow roses, lime buplerum, white freesia and aster ( the daisy like flowers) and cream lisianthus. Lovely and fresh for a hot summers day. Buttonhole of yellow "Sphinx" rose, white aster and myrtle Gorgeous yellow and lime themed wedding tables, a wreath of summer flowers surrounds cream candelabra, a yellow rose is placed on each napkin and the lime glasses finish the look perfectly.  The venue is the Holiday Inn in Southampton  I have to say their staff could not be more helpful and it was a pleasure to work with them in putting this look together for Lynne and Ian. Cream candelabra with wreath of yellow roses, cream lisianthus, white freesias and aster looks so fresh and pretty, the butterfly place cards look perfect too. The Holiday Inn in Southampton all set for Lynne and Ia...

 Dear readers, I hope you are not offended by the title of my post? Let me explain....my sister-in-law has some good friends who have a family motto 'aren't we lucky buggers!' When they sit down to a lovingly prepared meal they raise their glasses and proclaim how lucky they are. This has always amused me, and greatly appealed to me. I think the family that can be grateful for small mercies and simple pleasures, is a long way towards making the most of life, and surely that is what it is all about? I feel very much the 'lucky bugger', in having just returned from a lovely relaxing week in Corfu. My husband saw the holiday on Trip Advisor. I normally feel the urge to get my oar in, to be quality controller, researcher and general pain in the ass. This time I decided I would trust my man and to take 'whatever' comes and be grateful for it. It paid off big time! This year I was able to relax from day one, which NEVER happens. We all enjoyed the relaxed manner o...

A lovely classic wedding in lilacs, pinks and whites at New Place. Mia's bouquet of lilac roses, pink freesias and white lisianthus with a little variegated  foliage.  Very classic and very elegant. Groom's buttonhole of lilac rose with pink freesia and variegated leaves. For the ladies, classic corsage of pink freesias with variegated leaves. Stunning tall table centre of white lilies, roses and lilac lisianthus in a tall cocktail vase with a garland of iridescent beads wound down the stem onto the mirror plate below. The venue is New Place, Shirrell Heath Lilac and white themed tall centre pieces using lilies, roses and lisianthus in a martini vase decorated with an iridescent bead garland. Lilac chair sashes complete the look. Lilac and white themed wedding at New Place That just leaves me to say thank you so much Mia and Chris for asking me to design and create your wedding flowers for you, it was an absolute pleasure to do them for you.

The Reception of Kara and Niall's Wedding was held  here  , a beautiful Georgian Estate in Limavady, in a pretty white marquee in the old walled garden. The entrance to the walled garden flanked by roses. Although the owners of this beautiful place still live here, a party of 16 fortunate guests can stay in the main house. I sadly didn't get to see inside, but if you click on the link above you will see how special it is. The mother of the bride told me that the Housekeeper really took special care of them, and they felt really pampered. (So much more personal than a hotel). The marquee is all white and looks lovely even before the finishing touches. Kara had a 'World' theme for the tables, with a lovely big map at the entrance to show guests where they are to be seated. She had a sweet table for children and the young at heart with cute little bags as keepsakes. There was a Wishing tree so that guests could write a little message on a paper heart and hang it on the tre...