The wedding of yesterday's post (here) was held at the fabulous Hemswell Court.
The venue was all ready decked out for Christmas and fortunately they had gone for a red and green theme, so all designs worked well together.
On the tables half were 60cm martini vases and the others were large hurricane vases.
The tall martini vases had an assortment of gerbera, roses, berries and amaryllis with lots of seasonal foliage. We were asked not to add too much over the vase and nothing trailing to keep the tables clean and free for the food to be served.
The large silver based hurricane vases had a large central candle surrounded by a layer of seasonal foliage, holly, spruce, ditto and red berries for a splash of colour.
The ceremony display was a long and low compact design of gerbera, roses and berries with mixed seasonal foliage and this would later be transferred across to the top table for the wedding breakfast.
The Primrose room at Hemswell court waiting for the wedding part.
This venue looks fabulous at any time of year, but the decorations they have at Christmas makes it truly magical.
If you are getting married here and would like to discuss your flowers or if you love gerbera and want to get together on how we can style them to your day please get in touch
to discuss availability in the first instance.
For more inspiration look at labels on the right and scroll for 'Gerbera' or for Venue:Hemswell Court.
Another fabulous wedding here with martini vases is here
All vases were hired from us, we set up on the day and arrive to collect the next morning (where possible) so you don't have any worries on getting items back to us at The Studio
This was a fabulous wedding from last December. The bride wanted to embrace the seasonal colours and loves gerberas, so we combined the two.
The bridal bouquet was a lovely mix of red gerbera, roses and hypericum berries with variegated ditto foliage through and round the flowers.
There is a choice with gerbera, dark or pale centres and these red ones with black centres are certainly striking with the contrast.
Gerbera are our second favourite flower asked for, many florists won't use them, but to me they work really well for bouquets and are a lovely showy flower whatever the colour.
The bouquet stems were wrapped in a lace type ribbon and held with red pearl headed pins.
The single bridesmaid in contrast carried a white bouquet of the same flowers, gerbera, roses and berries but slightly smaller in size.
This was a simple wedding party, no buttonholes just the two bouquets and then beautiful table arrangements for the reception, which is tomorrows post.
If you love gerbera and would like to include them in any part of your wedding designs, do get in touch as we love working with them and have many ideas to inspire you.
Scroll on labels to the right and search 'Gerbera'
In April, we mark Easter and the arrival of new life: the perfect occasion for a colourful flower. With its cheerful appearance, the gerbera is the ideal candidate to make celebrations extra special this month. Consumers can read all about this versatile flower at Funnyhowflowersdothat.co.uk.
Origin of the gerbera The gerbera is an unscented flower which is part of the Asteraceae family. It originates from South Africa, Asia, South America and Tasmania. Some 900 million gerberas a year are produced in the Netherlands with 600 different varieties of colour, shape and size. She’s a very popular lady!
The gerbera’s colours and shapes If you think of gerberas, you think of colour! The gerbera’s basic colours are white, red, yellow, pink, purple, orange and green. The flower is also available bicoloured, multi-coloured, and in various colours derived from basic primary colours. The flower’s beautiful heart can be black or green. In other words: there’s plenty of choice when it comes to colour! The shape is always cheerful: single and double flowered, pom-pom and spider shapes. Have you noticed that when a child draws a flower, it’s always in the shape of a gerbera?
Caring for gerberas
Trim the stem diagonally with a sharp knife.
Use a clean (glass) vase and fill it with approx. 7 cm of tap water at room temperature. Use cut flower food for a mixed bouquet.
Ensure the right ambient temperature (max. 20 °C).
Do not place gerberas in a draught, in full sun or near central heating.
Regularly top the vase up with tap water.
Symbolism of the gerbera The gerbera has no symbolic meaning, but why should that matter? With its colourful and sunny appearance it instantly makes your home a cheerful and welcoming place. Its presence means: you make everything more beautiful!
A few questions we get asked a lot about these gorgeous flowers
Question 1: Gerberas come in all sorts of colours, but how many different colours are there actually?
Gosh, there are so many you can't even count them… Gerberas really do come in hundreds of different colours. They can be single-coloured, but also multi-coloured. The gerbera's heart is also colourful; it can be green or black. The most popular colours are orange, yellow, red, purple, salmon, white, pink and bi-coloured.
Question 2: Gerberas can get quite large. What makes a gerbera 'standard' or 'mini'?
First some background: gerberas are part of the plant family Asteraceae and come in three types. These are: large-flowered varieties (standard gerbera), small-flowered varieties (mini gerbera) and specialties. If a gerbera has a diameter of between 6 and 8 cm, it is classified as a mini gerbera. A standard gerbera ranges between 9.5 and 13cm. There are also gerberas with a diameter of some 15cm, incidentally!
Question 3: My gerberas’ heads are drooping a bit. What can I do?
Let us give you the golden tip for perking them up!
Start by cleaning your vase thoroughly. Use bleach for this.
Put fresh water in the vase, but be careful: too much water is not good, since the stems can then start to rot.
Cut another piece off the bottom of the stems and then return the gerberas to the vase. They will be radiant again soon!
Question 4: Sometimes you see a box of gerberas stored upside down at the florist. Why is that?
Gerberas love light. If the light is coming from the right, they will grow to the right. If the light is coming from the left then… well, you can guess the rest. The end result is bent stems. Upside down in the box the gerberas are unable to grow towards the light. In this way your florist is preventing the gerbera stems from growing crooked. Gerberas with bent stems are difficult to use in bouquets or floral work.
Question 5: With which other flowers do gerberas combine well?
Gerberas like to flirt with Fritillaria meleagris (also known as snake's head fritillary), asparagus, lilacs and roses. Another good combination is gerberas with freesias, chrysanthemums and Chaenomeles japonica. Need more inspiration? Ask your florist for advice on which flowers to use to make your own bouquet, or ask them to create an arrangement for you.
Question 6: In the past you saw gerberas with a wire in the stem. Why do you hardly see that nowadays?
That answer is easy: there’s no need any more! The wire was used to strengthen the stem. Nowadays the quality of gerberas is so good that this is no longer necessary. The gerbera remains nice and straight on its own.
Question 7: Gerberas are often used in bouquets. But can I also use them on their own, and if so how?
It's no surprise that gerberas are often used in bouquets. Their colour and shape simply means that they work well in conjunction with other flowers. But the gerbera is also very beautiful on its own. Try putting together a number of bottles, each containing a single gerbera .... guaranteed to provide a colourful spectacle!
Question 8: Are there gerbera plants?
There certainly are! There are gerbera plants for use both indoors and outdoors. You can even enjoy gerberas in the winter, thanks to the hardy garden gerbera.
Question 9: Can they be used for wedding flowers?
Absolutely!! They are our second most popular flowers (after roses). Many florists won't use them, there is a little bit of snobbery when it comes to these flowers, but we will!! And more importantly we love them!!
If you are looking for a bright and bold flower for your bouquet then gerberas are definitely a great choice. Ask us for more details or book a consultation to go through your options.
With thanks to Flower Council of Holland and Funny How Flowers Do That for content.
Stoke Rockford Hall was the setting for Emily and her groom's wedding.
The ceremony was in the gorgeous orangery, with its full length windows, it is such a light space and with views across the gardens it makes for a fantastic summer venue.
The ceremony table design was a long and low mix of coral and ivory gerbera with the lovely Miss Piggy and ivory roses, gyp and mixed foliage.
This was later transferred to the top table for the wedding breakfast.
On the guest tables Emily had chosen the small candelabras. Ivory candles were set amongst a mix of gerbera and roses in coral and ivory with gyp.
This really is a superb venue. There is so much going on around the room that these small displays work well and are not fighting with the room.
The chairs were to be transferred to the library from the ceremony whilst the photos were being taken.
If you are looking at Stoke Rockford Hall as your wedding venue or are getting wed at another grand venue along these line please get in touch to see how we could style your day.
These candelabras can be hired with or without flowers (candles provided) and can be delivered straight to your venue and collected the next morning or you can collect from The Studio and hire for 3 days and then return them. T&C's apply.
When I first met Emily we talked through what she might like in her bouquet and we went through photos of what she described to me. However on looking through she kept picking out images with gerberas in, these were not in her brief, at all. On further discussion it transpired that other florists had warned her off gerbera as not suitable for weddings and in particular bouquets!! I hear this a lot...... I am here to tell you they work fine. Yes they are not the longest lasting flower out of water (neither are some of the other popular wedding flowers) but treated well (a florist should know) they will last the day out.
They are probably my second biggest ask after roses and I feel they work perfectly well for all your wedding designs.
Emily's bouquet was therefore her favourite flower, gerbera. We did struggle to match the colour, coral can be difficult as there are not the same amount of varieties as say pink but we got there in the end and these were gorgeous blooms.
To support the heads they were given a collar of salal and the heads each had a diamante pin to add sparkle.
The three bridesmaids who wore full length coral dresses carried a mix of ivory and coral gerberas.
All bouquets together
The flower girls carried a single coral gerbera with ivory ribbon trails and with the stems completely wrapped for little hands.
The groomsmen each wore a germini buttonhole with a salal leaf
and the ladies wore a buttonhole of a germane, gyp and mixed foliage.
All our buttonholes are delivered on a board and may be labelled if required. This helps the venue staff when dishing them out to guests.
These photos were kindly given by Emily's photographer Mark Pugh. To see more of his work click here
If you love gerbera and would like them for your wedding flowers please get in touch today to book a consultation. We are always happy to use this gorgeous bloom either on it's own or with others.
The ceremony and reception flowers will be here tomorrow.
