How to Have the Wedding of Your Dreams; New Covent Garden Flower Market, Part 1

I had been meaning to go to the Covent Garden Flower Market for a number of years. My excuse, I could not find the time. I mean, Covent Garden at 4am did not seem like much fun. Then, before my dedication and commitment to buying flowers was tested, the market moved. Covent Garden Flower Market seemed oh so convenient when compared to its new location in Battersea, the aptly named New Covent Garden Flower Market.

I had written-off visiting the new market as the prospect of travelling from Primrose Hill to Battersea at 5am in the morning filled me with dread. Then I decided to design and arrange the flowers for my wedding and everything changed. New Covent Garden Flower Market was all I could think about.

My Motivation

My love of flowers is well documented. The decision to source and arrange the flowers for my civil wedding just made sense. I wanted breath-taking arrangements containing flowers of my choice.

As I will explain throughout this post, New Covent Garden Flower Market along with florists and flower specific websites, provided me with the tools I needed to design and make the wedding flower arrangements of my dreams.

The market is very accessible and the wholesalers are incredibly friendly. Everyone is happy to share their gems of wisdom and this is the reason why it only made sense to share my experience with you.

This is one of two posts that will demystify the process of choosing and ordering flowers for a special event. The second post is ‘How to Have the Wedding of Your Dreams; New Covent Garden Flower Market, Part 2’ and is coming soon.

Both posts will be relevant whether you are arranging the flowers for your wedding or enlisting a florist to arrange the flowers that you have sourced.

 

The Proposal

When my now husband (George) proposed to me in December 2017 we decided to have a long engagement. The aim, a Greek Orthodox wedding on one of the many Greek Islands at some point in the future. After much research, we have since chosen a Greek Orthodox chapel in Chania Crete with the wedding reception/dinner at Manousakis Winery.

 

For a whole host of reasons, we knew that we would need to have a legal wedding in the UK but had thought that it would take place in the distant future, be no more than a legal requirement. As an aside, I am aware that you do not always have to have a civil wedding as well as a religious wedding if you are getting married in Greece but it is a long story. Back to my point, the distant future became near future and in March 2018 we decided to have the legal wedding sooner rather than later. We knew that we wanted to be with each other, so why wait?

The Registry Office

The first task, a registry office. I had always envisaged a religious wedding. The idea of having a wedding in a registry office made me nervous. I thought that it would be a small room in a council building void of any decoration and warmth. How wrong I was.

After googling the registry offices in our area we fell in love with Marylebone Old Town Hall.

 

In particular, given that we were to be wed in front of a small party of 20, the Soho Room with its elegant colour scheme.

 

Whilst we opted for a smaller room, Marylebone Old Town Hall has rooms for weddings of up to 100 people.

 

After having registered our notice to marry, the wedding date was set for Friday 31st August. The wedding was initially going to be just me, George and two of our closest friends. We planned to be back at our desks by 11am. At some point between March and 31st August our plans changed. Instead of ‘just’ a registry office we decided to have a wedding lunch too. Then we decided to have a house party in the evening. There was no stopping us. We decided to celebrate with our loved ones in London as well as in Greece.

The Wedding Lunch Venue

After what seemed like only minutes searching for a location we decided on Somerset House. I mean, of all of the locations in London Somerset House was too perfect, the stuff dreams were made of. Its opulent grounds and beautiful architecture is like something out of a fairytale.

 

In particular, we were to dine within Spring, Skye Glynell’s restaurant.

Originally Australian, Skye is now one of Britain’s most respected and acclaimed chefs. I have followed her for a number of years but in particular, during her time at Petersham Nurseries.

Skye, like me, has carved out a career in a male dominated industry and I was incredibly excited about the prospect of being able to support a fellow female entrepreneur on our special day. Further, I was elated about the prospect of having a wedding menu crafted by such a talented chef.

 

Inspiration

The registry office took care of itself. It did not require any additional decorations, it was perfect. I could focus all of my energy on the wedding reception.

Spring is simply beautiful. If you have visited you will know that they have a main dining room as well as a private room. We were to have the lunch in the private room and I wanted it to be perfect.

I googled previous weddings and events in the private room and quickly realised that there was an opportunity to have the English wedding of my dreams. Admittedly it would be on a small scale but, it would have all of the key elements. Key to any wedding, there was an opportunity for a beautiful cake and flowers. I could create a floral paradise.

As I searched the internet, Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration, I found a Vogue magazine article about the best private dining rooms in London. Spring was featured and these photographs became key to my wedding mood board and the starting point of my flower plans.

 

In researching I also found a number of pictures of events in the private room centred around one large table. This provided the opportunity for a single, high impact flower configuration.

 

Such grand surroundings demanded equally grand flowers.

A friend of ours gave us an invaluable tip with regards to choosing a wedding location. They suggested that we find a reception location that did not require much decoration. A location that was beautiful independent of any flowers and decorations. This was one of the main reasons why we chose Spring.

Jinny Blom

The private dining room is beautiful. It was designed by the acclaimed landscaper Jinny Blom specifically for elegant events and dining. He made earthy yet contemporary black olive trees one of the main focal points and cloaked the space with both flora and fauna designs.

 

The style of the room cut my flower/decoration budget in half. I only needed to source a bouquet, button holes for the men and my magnificent table flowers.

On the point of table flowers, top tip, Spring do actually provide a number of jam jar table flowers as part of their daily decoration. They are perfectly adequate for the space and for a wedding if you do not have the time or the inclination to add this to your to-do list. I chose my own flowers because I am a flower addict and as you do not have any control over the colours if you opt for the flowers that are provided as standard. My suggestion, speak to the event organiser at Spring as you can order additional flowers from their supplier Jam Jar Flowers, if you would prefer to outsource the flowers.

 

On continuing my research I found that the pictures of weddings and events held at Spring all pointed towards flowers arranged in both jars and vases as opposed to one large arrangement.

I knew that it would take a lot of vases to create the effect that I wanted. Further, that instead of having 100 jam jar sized vases it would make more sense to have a combination of different sized vases. In doing so I could make less vases and/or jars whilst still creating the ‘sea of flowers’ that I was aiming for. I would combine large fishbowl vases with bottles, single flower vases and single flower miniature fishbowls.

 

Flower-mania

I have completed a number of theoretical and practical floristry courses. None of which were specifically for my wedding but rather for my love of flowers.

Luckily my flower experiences (bear in mind that I am no professional) equipped me with much of the knowledge and confidence required to arrange the flowers for my wedding reception. There are many reasons as to why I chose to arrange my wedding flowers but most importantly, I knew that it would be a lot of fun. Further, I would save a considerable amount of money whilst making sure that the table would look exactly as I wanted it to.

Where Do I Start?

I visited each and every florist in the area and as I suspected, ordering via any florist proved to be expensive. Understandably, they needed to add their mark-up to each and every stem. Ordinarily I have no issue with this but given the volume of flowers that I required, their mark-up made a significant difference to my flower budget.

I needed to go to the source. By source, I am not talking about the flower growers but rather, where florists buy their flowers, wholesalers.

To be clear, some of the larger florists receive flowers directly from flower producers. The majority of these flower producers deliver straight to your door provided you place their minimum required order. Understanding who these wholesalers are is relatively easy, I simply asked florists for the name of their wholesalers. Also, many florists leave the branded packaging from wholesalers on display and these usually have contact details on them.

I contacted a number of wholesalers but my main issue/fear was a lack of certainty about the process. I make this comment from the perspective of never having used wholesalers before. There were no guarantees that the flowers would be delivered? Further, what state would they be delivered in? If damaged or of a poor quality, would I then need to purchase further flowers last minute? The only answer seemed to be me completing a test order but this would double my flower budget. In doing a test order I might as well just order from a florist in the beginning. There were just too many unknown factors.

New Covent Garden Flower Market

I then remembered New Covent Garden Flower Market and the fact that many independent and event florists source their flowers there.

Not wanting to make any mistakes, I started to do some research (fail to plan, plan to fail). The first task, understanding how flowers are sold at the flower market and how they are priced. Fortunately, the Flower Market has thought of everything and have produced a Buying Guide for non-traders.

There is a whole host of information throughout their website from details on the flowers that you can purchase throughout the different seasons to practical information about parking.

Whilst the Flower Market’s website is very helpful I decided to visit the Flower Market in advance of the wedding. I wanted to meet the wholesalers and to ask some questions. I had so many questions. For example, does each stall sell the same flowers?  Are there fixed prices across wholesalers? Do you pay per stem?

 

To get the most out of the time with the wholesalers I compiled the list below. I knew that I had to have an idea of what I wanted, a starting point for all conversations. Research made me consider the following: The Time of Year, Cost, Desired Scent and How Flowers Behave.

Time of Year

Our wedding was to take place in the Summer. As such, I wanted summery colours. For example, deep red/magenta roses are synonymous with winter weddings. Alternatively, blush pink roses are more commonly used in summer. Clearly there is nothing that says that you cannot buck the trend and use whatever colours you so choose but you must also consider the types of flowers that are available throughout the different seasons.

Easyweddings.co.uk has produced a guide of wedding flowers by season. For me, whilst I read a number of guides, it was a visit to one of my favourite florists Scarlett & Violet which provided clarity regarding the seasonal availability of flowers. Well, Scarlett & Violet did not only provide clarity on the wedding flowers but also, inspiration on future flower arrangements for my home.

 

Flowers.org (Interflora) have also produced a guide outlining the availability of all the most popular flowers during throughout the year.

Top tip, flower yields are different each year. Long summers can lead to increased availability. Similarly, unfavourable conditions can result in shortages. Florist know exactly which flowers are available based on the different crop yields. Do not be afraid to ask for their advice.

I had always hoped that peonies would feature in my wedding.

 

Scarlett & Violet informed me that whilst peonies are generally in season between July and August, they can become scarce towards the end of the summer. Peony crops in 2018 meant that no one could guarantee that they would be available during the last week of August. Armed with this knowledge I opted for alternative flowers.

Cost

Some flowers cost more than others. You can create a fabulous flower arrangement to suit pretty much any budget. To reduce my budget slightly I opted to combine both expensive larger scented roses with smaller less expensive unscented roses.

Also, something to consider, typically the longer the stem the higher the expense, this is true of roses. If you are using small jars there is no need to buy long stemmed flowers, opt for the shorter stems and this will reduce the price.

Desired Scent

A visit to both Jo Malone (click here for the blog post) and Floral Street (click here for the blog post) planted the idea of having a wedding scent. Genius! My chosen scent would then dictate my flower selection, I was determined to scent the room naturally.

Some flowers have very strong scents and others have none at all. I wanted my flowers to scent the entire room. This is not easily achieved with roses alone but foliage like eucalyptus has a scent that travels and is easy to use in flower arrangements.

I love the scent of lilies but I am somewhat of a traditionalist, whilst I have lilies positioned around my apartment I could not use a flower synonymous with commiserating death as part of my wedding flower arrangements.

How Flowers Behave

Some flowers are easier to maintain and more reliable than others. My wedding was to be the most important day of my life. Admittedly I am having two weddings but you understand what I mean. I needed to eliminate the risk of wilted flowers and brown petals on our special day.

Some flowers are more sensitive to environmental conditions than others. Taking a step-back, you need to ‘condition’ all flowers and foliage before arranging them. ‘Conditioning’ flowers will increase longevity and limit negative reactions to environmental conditions.

Let’s take hydrangeas, they can be particularly sensitive to their conditions.

 

There are a number of steps you can take to condition hydrangeas but the most basic and easiest to achieve are outlined below.

1. You should not fill your vase to the top with water but an inch or so above the bottom of the stem. The water should then be refilled regularly. This is key as the more of a stem that is exposed to water the more that will rot and as a consequence, limit the life of the flower.
2. Hydrangeas bruise easily; you should never touch their petals. Doing so will minimise the life and beauty of the flower.
3. Hydrangeas can hydrate through their petals. Some people place hydrangeas upside down in a bucket of water to rehydrate. Others mist the flowers with water on a regular basis.
4. I place 1/4 of a steriliser tablet into water (Milton tablets) to stop the growth of bacteria. You will have to use your judgement here as I place 1/4 into a ‘normal’ sized vase. Think of a moderate sized bouquet.

Each flower behaves differently, some are more labour intensive than others. Nothing that is good comes easy.

My Conclusion

Having considering all of the above I decided that white rose would be my wedding scent. I mean what better a scent for a truly English wedding than rose?

I specifically chose white roses as they are considered to be soft, innocent and romantic. Further, I knew that there would be a number of varieties and sizes to choose from throughout summer. Furthermore, I knew that I could source highly scented white roses and achieve the scented wedding of my dreams. Funnily enough, I also chose hydrangeas despite the above.

Please watch out for ‘Part Two’ for the rest of my wedding flower project!