Hot summer wedding at Anran @ Tidwell Farm
So it's taking me a while to get into the habit of writing blog posts and now I have a massive backlog of weddings to share with you. To start my new year of blog writing I'm going back to June 2018 and the wedding of Rachel and Richard.
Rachel and Richard hosted their wedding at two venues in Devon. An outdoor ceremony at Ugbrooke House and their fabulous reception and evening party was at Anran.
30th June 2018, possibly the hottest weekend of the year. With an outdoor ceremony it was testing with the flowers. Everything had to be left to the last minute to make sure we got the best of the blooms.
We started bright and early at Ugbrooke House to create a meadow aisle and frame the gazebo with a garland of fresh foliage and flowers. Our brief here was summer meadow with greens, whites and a flash of light pink.
White delphiniums created height to the meadow boxes with added ammi, lisianthus, scabiosa, stocks, phlox and grasses.
Our biggest challenge here was the lack of water source to the garland and meadow flowers. Everything was made on site to keep them as fresh as possible and then heavily sprayed down with water to stop them wilting in the sun light. Just one of the many challenges we deal with for outside ceremonies.
Once Ugbrooke House was dressed it was a 20 minute drive to deliver the bridal party flowers.
Rachel chose a natural hand tied bouquet to include peonies, roses and jasmine.
The bouquet also included garden roses, spray roses, scabiosa, spray carnations, grasses and honeysuckle. Greenery was nicoli, poplus leaf and jasmine trails.
The gentlemen wore buttonholes created from floral elements taken from Rachel's bridal bouquet.
The mid summer sun shone as Rachel made her way to the ceremony, all smiles and looking effortlessly elegant in her dress.
After the exchange of wedding vows, Rachel and Richard made their way through the meadow box aisle, beaming with smiles and showered with confetti. Moving onto their reception which was held in the Glasshouse at Anran.
Anran @ Tidwell Farm has to be a favourite of mine when it comes to venues. There is something unique about this space that I love.
Anran has the manor house that you can use for your bridal party along with the barn accommodation for other guests, allowing you to celebrate for the whole weekend.
The main reception space is the Glasshouse. A space already filled with lush green plants and trees. We often get asked to just complement the surroundings which is exactly what we did for Rachel and Richard.
The Glasshouse at Anran was filled with wooden trestle tables supplied by Virginias Vintage Hire and we complimented them simply by adding foliage table runners and a touch of candlelight. The foliage table runners were made from eucalyptus, pittosporum and ferns. With over 100 foot of foliage garlands for the tables we pre made them and gave them a good spray down before dressing them on the tables. We then used our own supply of gold candleholders with ivory candles and cut glass tea light holders to weave in and out of the table garlands.
Clear glassware and white table napkins gave a lovely fresh and clean look to the tables which complimented everything effortlessly.
With the tables at Anran's Glasshouse being simply dressed with greenery, Rachel and Richard asked for us to provide a hanging installation. Installation work is something that we specialise in so we were very excited to create this. The brief was to have a central installation running through the middle of the Glasshouse with added lighting using edison lamps. We also have a supply of lighting to hire to clients so fitting lighting into this installation wasn't problem.
The challenge with this installation was that with it being the hottest weekend in June and working in the Glasshouse at Anran, the roof had a heat of 90degrees c... I guess it is a greenhouse after all. This installation was pre made in sections the night before and left until the very last minute before putting up onto the 10 metre plank that we installed on the Thursday. It's always useful to get the mechanics up early so we can concentrate on the flowers the day before the event. A very tall ladder, some muscle and sweat and everything was set to go for the 5pm meal. Cru Events were very accommodating allowing us to put this together at the last minute.
It may have been hot and challenging but it's such a pleasure to work on something that works so naturally in the given space. Everything we designed and styled worked seamlessly in Anran's Glasshouse, it blended in perfectly.
We made to most of all the flowers throughout the day and moved the aisle meadow flowers back to Anran from Ugrbooke House and then decorated the stage area with a border of flowers.
When the finished look is this lush it makes me feel so happy. I love working in challenging environments and when the end result looks this fab it just makes me love what we do even more.
Rachel and Richard's special day was a total pleasure to work on...Even if it was baking hot!
Ceremony venue: Ugbrooke House gardens www.ugbrooke.co.uk
Reception venue: Anran @ Tidwell farm www.anran.co.uk
Catering: Cru Events www.cruevents.co.uk
Photography: Nova Photography www.novaweddingphotography.co.uk
Flowers: Emma Hewlett Floral Design www.emmahewlett.co.uk
Lighting: Emma Hewlett Floral Design www.emmahewlett.co.uk