The Epic Floral Tale of Sam & Lily's Breathtakingly Beautiful Wedding at St John the Divine & The Grand Hotel

So as predicted this wedding really was a belter!!!! I apologise in advance for the sincerely hyperbolic nature of my ramblings.....
I thought it best to commence this happy tale from the beginning, now these two families are just fantastical and we have enjoyed all of our meetings with all of them, but the 'Webbs' hold an enormously special place in our hearts. We've been working at their hotel, The Grand for more than 20 years and to say they have been good to us would be a huge understatement, but besides that they are just the very best of people!!! 
They all work ridiculously hard, have exceptional taste and are just downright fabulous folk, we've seen Sam & Tom grow up into the most handsome, respectful Gentlemen who are an absolute credit to Richard & Mandy, so what a huge pleasure it was to create beautiful flowers for Sam & Lily's Wedding.
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Now Lily Rose is probably one of my most favourite Brides ever not only is she named after beautiful flowers but she is truly beautiful, she knew exactly what she wanted and explained her brief clearly and in detail, her mood board was excellent and I have thoroughly enjoyed every single meeting we've had, (I think I'm going to miss her dreadfully)
Following on from our Mood Board meeting we created some sample designs for both families to see
From Pew End Hearts, Boutonnieres, Bouquets to Table & Church designs we showed them a fabulous collection of fresh flowers for them to choose from

Lily's sample Bridal Bouquet included English Garden Roses, Peonies, Sweet Peas and Hydrangeas, for the mock up Bouquet we use Lilac to represent Lily of the Valley
On the week of Lily & Sam's wedding preparations started early, Vicky is preparing for the table designs
On Friday all of the fresh flowers arrived including these glorious 'Bowl of Cream' Peonies
A Plethora of White Hydrangeas
Exquisite Roses from the Meijer Nursery, the Rolls Royce of Avalanche Roses

The spectacularly gorgeous and sweet scented White O'Hara Roses
Clouds of heavenly Sweet Peas
Work commenced very early and the team were in full flow
Lily's Wedding Bouquet was taking shape
Our Ruby was binding all of the handles
Josie, Ruby, Shirl & Vicky were putting together the table designs





I was making the Top Table design

Vicky working on the Altar designs
Ruby was making Sam's Tree

I moved on to the garland for the Lytch Gate and for the staircase at The Grand

By 5:45 we were over at St John the Divine on East Beach in Lytham to place and arrange the exquisite Church flowers, two huge Pedestals framed the ceremony space
Mossed Hearts decorated the pews
A spectacularly magnificently relaxed Font design which featured some of my all time favourite blooms Delphiniums, Peonies, English Garden Roses, Hydrangeas and Phalaenopsis Orchids
We then headed over to the Bride Groom's family home where a fresh Floral Heart was hung on the front door
 All ready for the rehearsal dinner at The Grand
Bright and early on the wedding morning Adele and I had the enormous pleasure of presenting our gorgeous Bride Lily and her retinue of Bridesmaids with their Bridal Bouquets
The perfume was quite simply heavenly
I handed the Bridal Bouquet over to Lily rather like parting with my first born....
I wish you could smell on a blog posting the fragrance really was very special

The Bridesmaids all carried different Bouquets, each one made up of a particular bloom in Lily's wedding Bouquet


I showed everyone how to carry their bouquets perfectly





The lovely Chloe was Maid of Honour and carried a smaller version of Lily's Wedding Bouquet, Ellie & Poppy both carried Bouquets of Peonies, Charlotte & Anna carried the most fragrant Garden Rose Bouquets, Cat, Looby & Julia carried Bouquets of White Hydrangeas and little Olivia carried Sweet Peas and Lily of the Valley and wore a Crown of Sweet Peas and Rose Buds
Preparations and beautification continued, the hair was done by the great folks from Saks in Lytham St Annes & Poulton
Next stop was the The Grand just to put a few of the designs in place, work was very much still underway with Dawn and her team from Creative Cover Hire providing ceiling drapes, Chair Covers and sequin table cloths
The Top table garland looked luscious even without the rest of the table dressed

Next stop, back to St John's to place the two Bay trees framing the door and silver lanterns lining the path, Adele was putting the finishing touches to the trees
Jason was attaching the garland of Roses, Peonies and Hydrangeas to the Lytch Gate






Reverend Canon Godfrey Hirst was first to arrive and would be conducting the ceremony in his own inimitable style


Inside this magnificent Church the scene was well and truly set, the fragrance of English Garden Roses filled the air



Sing Out Gospel Choir were next to arrive and we had the great pleasure of listening to them rehearse
The Font arrangement was the first design to meet the guests
The mossed hearts made a perfect Pew end and matched Lily & Sam's Heart motif on all of their staionery
The super handsome Bride Groom Sam was of course first to have his Boutonniere of Lily of the Valley and a 'White Cloud' Rose pinned in place, Lily & Rose after his Bride the lovely Lily Rose
The Bride Groom's quite fabulous Grandma Jean was next to have her corsage of Roses and Sweet peas pinned in place
The lovely Tom, Best Man and brother of the Groom


Grandma Judy's Corsage of rolled Petals and Rose buds in nude and ivory shades
Always a huge pleasure to see 'Old' FD Events Brides & Groom's Mr & Mrs Garthwaite aka Kate & James looking just as lovely as the day they were married here's a link to their big day
Exquisite White Cloud Rose & Sweet Pea Boutonnieres for the Groom's Men

A stunning Patience Rose from David Austin for the lovely Hannah
Ben Garthwaite my absolute favourite Usher bar none quite possibly the most experienced Groom's Man in the history of Flower Design, I think he's been an Usher/Best Man about 6 or 8 times that I'm aware of, I'm just looking forward to the day when he's the Groom!!!xxx
Ben with his lovely Mum Maggie xx








The Lytch Gate looked very welcoming

The Bride's Grandma Judy looking very glam


The Groom's fabulous Mum & Dad
The gorgeous Hannah with her corsage of Patience Rose and Sweet peas
Linda & John looking lovely
So lovely to see friends Rebecca & Ellie
The Bridesmaids were next to arrive and totally gorgeous they looked too....





Olivia was wearing a headdress of fresh Rose Buds and Sweet Peas and carried a posy of Sweet Peas and Lily of the Valley
All of the Bridesmaids were wearing a fabulous rosette shaped Patience Rose in their hair




The Maid of Honour Chloe with the beautiful Brides Mum Debbie































Here comes the Bride...
The breathtakingly beautiful Lily with her super proud Dad
































Huge and Ginormous Congratulations to Sam & Lily from all of the team here at Flower Design Events






The legendary photographer Lisa Aldersley was capturing all of the magic, I honestly can't wait to see her images
The fabulous Rebecca Reville was filming the day



























 






Fresh Rose Petals were being handed out by the number one Usher















We love these two gorgeous ladies, meeting and greeting everyone




A garland of fresh flowers including Peonies, Roses, Hydrangeas and Sweet peas dressed the staircase magnificently


The Champagne Bar was huge



Sam's Enchanted Tree 'Seating Plan' made a perfect feature in the Lytham Suite






So lovely so see Harriet looking so gorgeous and grown up (Harriet used to be one of our Saturday girls many moons ago)
Inside the St Annes Suite the scene was set for a glorious banquet
Fabulously tall elegant vases were topped with floral magnificence, Delphiniums, Stocks, English Garden Roses, Peonies and Hydrangeas, were like fluffy fragrant clouds
Caroline , Mandy and I soaking up the flowery atmosphere before the guests came in!!xx







We used all LSA Column shaped Glass vases in a variety of height each one topped with a glorious arrangement of fresh blooms, with fresh flowers in the base and suspended glass orbs with tea lights

The Moss Hearts were hung from the light fittings

I loved, loved, loved the Top Table it just looked so opulent with cascading Orchids, Roses, Peonies and Hydrangeas








The brilliant and super talented Tony Benedict was performing first









Can't begin to tell you how fabulous the canapes looked





The exquisite cake was created by Kelly from Pink Frosting Cake Company



Caroline C&B Manager at The Grand is quite simply the best she is a perfectionist no doubt and she is an absolute joy to work with

Provence Rose on ice

The amazing Gospel Choir Sing Out were at The Grand entertaining folks as they enjoyed their Champagne






Our work here was done it was time to leave the party in full swing, Huge thanks to The Webb's & The Atherton's for choosing FD Events to create their wedding flowers for such an important and wonderful day!!xxxx



Comments

Maggie said…
Jane - Fabulous Flowers! Fabulous Photos! You never disappoint! Well done! Maggie

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