Sarah & George’s pastel wedding at Great Fosters 

 

Sarah and George feel in love with our flowers at one of the Great Fosters wedding open days, and then contacted us and as soon as they were under the helpful planning hand of Dale Alexander Events.   Dale was fantastic to deal with and trusting our long standing expertise at Great Fosters, he left the floral designs firmly and squarely in our hands, while he helped Sarah & George coordinate other aspects of the wedding. 

Sarah’s colour choice was shaped by her bridesmaids wearing sage green and the maid of honour wearing dark forest green.  Sarah wanted to create a soft and delicate  contrast against their dresses and she loved lavender and champagne peach and also eucalyptus.  So to bridge the colours , we added some lilac roses, and hint of blush roses and spray roses, and also wispy pale blue from delphinium and wild nigella, and bloomy blue hydrangeas.  As the wedding was in the height of the peony season, we also used peonies and beautifully scented garden roses. All foliage was a muted mix of sage green eucalyptus and olive, and pittosporum Ralphi.  

Sarah and George held their reception at Great Fosters , a beautiful venue near us, where they also got ready before the ceremony at St John’s Church in Windlesham in Surrey.  We had one team go set up the church flowers while we headed to Great Fosters to drop off the bouquets and mens buttonholes.  We arrived with the bridesmaids bouquets to a room filled with laughter, smiles and happiness.  True to form Sarah was really chilled out and relaxed and was really enjoying the morning getting ready with her best friends.   Meanwhile, the men were getting ready and admiring their socks.  Funny to see afterwards in photos, as it reminded me of the huge disparity between the considerable timely and effort for the women getting ready versus the men… A secretive George was keeping his choice of socks under wraps!

At the beautiful church, we welcomed guests with a large display on the foyer table, and 2 amazing grand urn displays to frame the ceremony area, while the pretty aisle was styled with cute pew end posies of gypsophila and lavender with eucalyptus sprigs.  After the church ceremony, the couple and guests headed back to Great Fosters  for the wedding reception – guests on a couple of fairly full red London buses, and  Sarah & George in a lovely vintage car.   The day was gorgeous, with a clear blue sky and not too hot, and Chloe Martin guided the guests through a relaxed laid back photography in the stunning rose gardens and maze at Great Fosters, while family & friends made chit chat over drinks and canapés. Finally everyone headed inside to the cool Tithe Barn.  

We dressed the barn tables first and got that all looking lovely.   Then just before heading back to the church at lunchtime, to repurpose the church flower back at Great Fosters, we dressed the barn with our overhead eucalyptus garlands strung along the light strings by Party Lights. If you like this effect, ask Party Lights about it – we collaborate when this blended approach is desired and it works beautifully – we supply the garlands and together we add the green garlands around their light strings.   The barn looked spectacular and adding more of Sarah’s favourite eucalyptus to the venue decor made it even lovelier than normal. 

The guest tables in the middle of the barn, where the ceiling is so high were dressed with bloomy silver candelabras with organic style floral displays of roses, hydrangeas, peonies, spray roses, lisianthus and eucalyptus, while the table sunder the eaves of the bar where dressed with abundant silver rose bowls.  Finally, we dressed the top table with bouquets in silver vases, small flower posies in small silver Julep vases and extra candlesticks. We also added candlesticks around all the table centrepieces and finished the table decor with sprigs of lavender on each napkin.    

Overall I couldn’t have been more pleased with the flowers and the decor, it looked beautiful and really suited Sarah & George’s laid back outlook and love of country garden flowers.  Here’s what Sarah had to say, which I was thrilled about: 

“Gabi did an absolutely outstanding job on the flowers for our wedding! She was a delight to work with from the beginning and knew our venue (Great Fosters Hotel) so well, which was super helpful in coming up with a plan for how to decorate the reception. She was very thoughtful and helpful with repurposing flowers from the church to the venue and helped us maintain our budget, while making my visions come to life and having the most stunning arrangements. She also suggested the most beautiful and meaningful little heart arrangement to hang behind the top table in honor of my mother (who has passed), which really added a sweet touch to the reception. The flowers were just so beautiful and true to what we had discussed for months – I was just blown away by how Gabi was able to make our color scheme come to life. She also was just a joy to work with and we can’t recommend her enough!”.  Super pleased with the feedback and it was a pleasure for me too, it is so uplifting ti receive such a lovely review, its what we strive for at every single wedding. 

If you are planning your wedding at Great Fosters, take a look at our other featured Great Fosters weddings.  We are a stones’ throw away from it and have a wealth of beautiful and inspirational Great Fosters weddings showcased on our featured weddings pages.