The Professional Wedding Flowers Masterclass happens only once a year and excitingly, sign ups for this year open later this month, ahead of the course starting on April 7th. In the lead up to the Masterclass, I’m thrilled to share a series of different ways to help support you to grow your wedding and event flower business.

Following last week’s free guide on How to Create Compelling Proposals, this week I’m bringing you into my studio, to share the making of an urn arrangement.

At this time of year, we always receive the greatest number of wedding and event enquiries for autumn, so I thought I would share a warm colour palette filled with seasonal autumnal stems and the steps to create a brilliantly useful design, perfect for ceremonies, receptions and focal points for events.

I hope it provides plenty of inspiration … and to note, the base mechanics also work perfectly anytime of year.

INGREDIENTS

All flowers grown by Wolves Lane Flower Company and foliage sourced from our garden and woodlands, including a mix of zinnias, sunflowers, phlox, viburnum, birch, maple and field maple. The colours work perfectly together, with pale yellows and deep burgundies, to the rich pinks and the burnt straw tones.

The image below shows the full spectrum within the design. Every ingredient plays its part to enhance the final design, adding depth and interest, together with an overall sense of harmony.

PREPARING THE BASE MECHANICS

Chickenwire forms the perfect base mechanic for medium to large wide necked vessels.

CREATING THE DESIGN

I spent a little time finding the perfect first few branches of field maple, as these form the initial shape. Lower on the left and reaching out higher to the right. I then chose further branches to add depth, to create a generously filled, all round design. Notice how I place stems coming down to soften the lip of the urn, which removes hard lines between the container and flowers.

The container is as much a part of the design as the ingredients. The colour of the container was considered, I loved the burnished look and antique feel. It complemented the autumnal colours perfectly.

I used the deeper, richer colours of the maple low within the design to add depth and interest. The leaves are larger and if they were extended, they would dominate and the design would lose its balance. You can see that I had almost created my finished shape with just foliage, before the flowers are introduced.

The first flowers added are the phlox. Their beautifully twisty shaped stems and colour, adds lightness to the design and highlights the overall shape of the design and colour of foliage.

I really enjoyed bringing in the zinnias and sunflowers - considered placement is key, allowing the design to feel natural and not contrived; you are looking for balance but not symmetry, as though they belong there. Notice how a few of the zinnia stems extend beyond the foliage, as though reaching for the sun. The flowers add depth, interest and incredible beauty.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I hope this design inspires you and the tips above, give you some practical steps to take into your own work. I love the gentle feel and warmth of the design, it is perfect for an autumn wedding/event. The range of colours, the deeper pinks blending perfectly with golden yellows and greens, is simply stunning.

A huge thank you to Camila and Marianne from Wolves Lane Flower Company, for the incredible flowers. I trusted them with the colour combination, which in turn inspired the foliage and the choice of urn.

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