JANUARY MUSINGS
Seasonal stories and notable happenings from the team behind Ochre Botanical Studios.
Thank you for joining us here!
And so we find ourselves on the precipice of another flowery year at Ochre Botanical Studios…
January tends to be a relatively slow time for weddings and events here in Scotland. What with the cold and lack of the sorts of ‘flowery’ flowers folk are generally drawn to for their celebrations, it makes sense. There tend to be only a brave few who are content to embrace the plentiful wintery foliages, comparatively scant collection of winter-flowering stems, alongside dried treasures at this time of year. We are so pleased when they do!
January is, however, a busy time behind the scenes as we reflect on all the beauty of the year just gone by and make plans for all the wonderful celebrations that are to come this year. We browse the catalogs, deciding on what to grow in our cutting garden, we make lists and inventories and we spend time collating images of our past work so we can share what seasonal flowers look like throughout the year and just how magically they can help root your celebrations in place and time! Puns all intended.
In this spirit, we thought we might dig deeper into how locally grown flowers can shine at different times of the year. Perhaps it will be an inspiring resource for those in the planning stages, or maybe just a nice way to dream of what’s to come while we sit here indoors, cocooned in all our warm layers. It’s worth saying that we had so many exquisite celebrations to choose from – many, many lovely couples who have put their trust in us (thank you!) – so this is just a small slice of what is possible.
We’ll start with winter, as this is the season in which we find ourselves. Elizabeth & Noah choose December for their nuptials and were happy to lean into the festive feeling that is omnipresent in December rather than trying to compete with it. Edinburgh can be very magical in the run up to Christmas, as those of you who have visited then will know. Their aspirations were for ‘romantic, whimsical and organic’ flowers, where Claire focused on using lush evergreens with hints of white and palest powdery blue to match Elizabeth’s beautiful (handmade by her, we might add!) dusky blue cape. A variety of different textures featured throughout the designs, with some sweet details like the tiny bells hung from within the mantelpiece design, tonal taper candles and the softest blue ribbons tied around the glasses’ stems. All these elements helped to make their intimate celebration at The Edinburgh Grand feel really special as seen in these images by Claire Fleck.
Sara and Gus were interested in showcasing ‘the beauty of Scottish landscapes with a modern twist’ for their celebration at Dovecot Studios, also in December. Julie used plenty of lush, sweet-scented winter foliages both to dress the long guest tables as well as to create a climbing, asymmetrical installation on the Dovecot’s feature wall, the focal point of the room. Naturally occurring shapes and movement guided the designs and the strong contrasts between the deep green foliages and the stark whites of the walls (and the satiny ranunculus petals) gave an overall contemporary feel which Melody Joy captured so perfectly. Some of you may have seen that we recently shared a few images on our Instagram.
Daffodils, tulips, fritillaria.. It’s not hard to understand why florists get so excited by spring flowers when they come around. Not to mention the first blossom! It’s a cornucopia of sweetly scented beauty after the deep sleep and patience required by winter. Emer and Ian were keen to capture this feeling of verdant new life for their March union at the Royal College of Physicians. Sophie sourced plenty of real, growing bulbs, twiggy branches and moss alongside delicate blossom in soft, muted tones to fill the space with whimsicality and the promise of spring. Thanks to Sarah Fulton for these evocative images. We loved making these arrangements.
Mikey and Charlotte choose Barras Art and Design (BAaD) for their spring wedding and were keen on ‘joyful and celebratory’ flowers to match the edgy, cool, relaxed vibe of their venue with its unique architectural charm. Sarah designed a large, abundant installation at the altar to provide a memorable backdrop for their exchange of vows which remained in place for later on in the day when the room was switched over to host the wedding breakfast. It was a real spring showstopper that was brimming with the season’s texture and floral bounty. Tomas Hermoso, their photographer, captured the character and scale of their flowers so beautifully, we are very grateful.
spring into summer
May is the point in the year where spring starts melding into summer and the number of seasonally available varieties has swelled significantly to include the first sweetpeas, peonies and long-awaited flushes of early summer roses. The days are longer and it’s getting warmer so it’s no wonder why it’s such a popular time for celebrations. There are also those very handy bank holidays to consider!
Ayla and Alex tied the knot at Preston Hall at the end of May in a celebration that took place over three days. Their ceremony was held in the beautiful walled garden where they were keen on ‘colourful, modern, curated’ flowers that would be impactful for their budget yet not out of place in the garden setting. Marion sourced their flowers primarily from the walled garden itself and from Rosie Louise Cut Flowers who has a flower farm on site, in order to achieve this sense of seemlessness. The arrangements were designed to be able to be moved and repositioned in the large marquee that hosted their wedding breakfast as well as the Walima the following day. Simon Hird was on hand to capture every moment.
summer
High summer is a veritable feast for beautiful seasonal flowers. Not only do you have a continuation of the above mentioned late spring varieties, but you also start to see some of the beauties that will last us into the autumn months too like dahlias, cosmos, rudbeckia, phlox and many more. The question then becomes, what do you choose when you could have anything?!
For Fabia and Roger’s celebration, they chose to personalise their blooms by limiting the colour palette to clean, delicate whites and abundant greens alongside hints of earthy browns to add depth and interest. Sophie created large, flower-filled arrangements inside a marquee in their parent’s garden to achieve the feeling of ‘timeless sophistication’ the couple were intent on capturing. The marquee’s large centrally hanging hoop was lashed with an opulent array of lush foliages and two statement urns overflowing with summer goodness framed the altar for their vows. Photos by Sophie herself.
It was the generous, natural beauty of a summer garden that inspired Amy and Patrick’s floral displays for their August wedding at Newhall Estate. Fiona gathered a bevy of rich-toned summer blooms to fashion a meadow-style arrangement for their altar. Constructed using all foam-free mechanics, the design was made to appear as if growing from the ground and dancing posies of summer blooms continued the garden feeling down the aisle. You can feel the summer abundance in the proliferation of flower varieties in these arrangements. Behind the scenes images taken here by Fiona.
summer into autumn
The palpable shift from summer to autumn starts to become evident in the arrangements Julie designed for Nichelle and Olivier’s September nuptials at the Free Company. Though the palette focused on the season’s softer, rosier tones, those pinky hues of turning elder leaves are only to be found in the autumn months. The sweetest, seasonal gift. Could you look at these arrangements and place them in time? We would argue yes. These versatile mini meadow arrangements are easily moved and so they featured throughout their day starting in the ceremony space and then moving onto their guest tables later in the day. Photographs by Julie and Sarah.
autumn
Natalia Swiader loves a moody autumn wedding as much as we do, so we are always thrilled to see her name among the list of suppliers. We had such an occasion to squeal with delight for Clare and Robert’s wedding at the historic Riddles Court at the end of October. Sarah lent into all autumn’s texture and drama when creating their bountiful urn filled with tumbling blooms, trailing vines and branching foliage which sat atop a plinth draped in ruby velvet during their exchange of vows. This is a great example to show that it’s not how big your flower budget is that matters but how you choose to use it to create that impactful ‘wow’ moment you can cherish forever.
By the time November rolls around, us season-led florists are holding onto every stem as if it could be the last for the growing year. Once the frost extends its icy grasp on the cutting garden, we say a tearful goodbye to all the dainty, soft and blousy half-hardy stems of the warmer months and greedily gather up the speciality chrysanthemums, calendulas and other miraculous varieties who brace themselves against the cold and outlast the rest, helped along by the safety and warmth of the polytunnel.
autumn into winter
Euan and Elise weren’t afraid of letting late autumn’s texture and tonality take centre stage. Welcoming their guests to The Byre at Inchyra in Highland Perthshire from all over the world, they wanted to give everyone a taste of what Scotland is really like; moody, steeped in nature and history and above all, full of warm hospitality. They asked Marion to translated this feeling of warmth into their arrangements which she did by using a combination of toasty browns, greens and rusty oranges alongside soft whites to bring a touch of luminosity to the ever-darkening evenings and to what is largely an indoor venue. The fairy lights twinkled, glass were raised and love was in the air, with Simon’s Studio there to capture it all.
Thank you for coming along as we transported you through a year’s worth of seasonal flowers. We hope it has inspired you to choose the unique and magical quality of locally grown flowers when you can. It is our humble opinion that nothing else compares!
By the time we write again, the first new flowers of the year will be coming through and along with them, our immeasurable joy to do it all again.
Until then...
Beautiful, inspiring work from Ochre, as usual. Thank you for choosing locally grown, Scottish flowers and for helping to spread the seasonality message, you are all awesome.
Thank you Sarah. Hoping you are well!