"Lavender, sweet lavender;
come and buy my lavender,
hide it in your trousseau, lady fair.
Let it's lovely fragrance flow
Over your head to toe,
lightening on your eyes, your cheek, your hair."
Cumberland Clark Flower Song Book 1929
In my quest to use seasonal flowers for weddings, and preferably British seasonal flowers at that, I stumbled across the wonderfully helpful Joanna Spencer of Shropshire Lavender. I've always been a huge fan of dried lavender, as I'm sure you will have noticed from many of my designs - I love it's texture, subtle purpley-grey colour and above all it's calming scent.
Different varieties of Lavender have different uses - some are highly scented, some dry well and others are great in cooking. I have to confess to not ever having used fresh Lavender in a design before and cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed working with such lovely flowers. The smell in my workroom is just heavenly and the oils have made my florists hands softer than they've been in ages. It's widely know that Lavender has soothing properties and is used in alleviating headaches, migraine, stress, insomnia and depression. I can genuinely say that spending a couple of hours working with it has made me feel really, really happy!
Here are a couple of designs I made up, which I dearly hope provide you with some inspiration. I have to say nothing would give me greater pleasure than making a bridal bouquet like one of these and the 'something blue' would be well covered for those who might not want a garter. You never know, maybe next year!
For those of you who are interested, here are the varieties I used:-
1 x bunch of pink lavender 'Miss Katherine'
1 x bunch of royal blue lavender 'Folgate'
2 x bunches of lilac lavender 'Melissa Lilac'
1 x bunch of dark indigo blue lavender 'Imperial Gem'
A hand tied sheaf-style design which would really suit a petite Bride or Bridesmaid using 'Melissa Lilac' lavender and wheat. Finished with a pretty, simple tie of natural raffia - just perfect for a Boho wedding
Despite trying two different cameras, I just couldn't capture the subtle lilac colour of this variety - the lighting has made it look much bluer than it really is
Pale pink dried Limonium, commonly known as 'Sea Lavender', hand tied into a posy with fresh, pale pink 'Miss Katherine' lavender.
A close-up of the flowers. I dried the Limonium about six months ago in my workroom and am going to attempt the same with the lavender!
This pretty, bridal bouquet uses pink 'Miss Katherine', lilac 'Melissa Lilac' and dark indigo blue 'Imperial Gem' lavender for exquisite scent and absolutely gorgeous soft hues.
A miniature version of the Bride's bouquet, this lovely buttonhole would be perfect for a Groom wearing a Charcoal Grey suit.
I've used this grey urn to really emphasise all those lovely soft grey tones
Urns are so fashionable right now, they're in all the flowery magazines. If you don't want your wedding to look too formal, try a distressed metal instead of white, silver or black
Not a new idea I know, but lavenders and purples look so beautiful against white
Lastly, because lavender is edible, it's safe to use around food so why not use it to decorate around your cake or even scatter the florets on your tables?
If you need any help with seasonal flower choices, don't hesitate to get in touch and I will do my best to solve them!
Tracey x
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