Peachy February Wedding at Port Arthur

Peachy February Wedding at Port Arthur

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Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

February is a busy month for weddings here in Tasmania.  I started February 2016 with a gorgeous local wedding, held in the old church at Port Arthur Historic Site.  Its the perfect mix of indoor and outdoor, being a ruin with no roof or windows and a carpet of green grass on the floor.  It has great atmosphere for a wedding ceremony.   

Photo by Alistair Bett c/- Tasman Region

The couple were local to the area and wanted to use local produce and providers for their big day.  Local, seasonal flowers is what we do here with all our flowers grown on the farm or foraged from the local area, so I was thrilled to be involved.

  The colour scheme was peachy, blush, nude colours in the dresses.   The lovely bride was keen on berries and texture, and wanted soft peachy tones while avoiding lots of "green".  

Eucalyptus Crenulata is a gorgeous foliage we grow here.  It has a purplish tinge to the new growth as well as providing that much-loved eucalyptus "blue".  It's new growth had hardened off enough for it not to wilt, so it became my main foliage I used throughout.  I used some beautiful Leucadendron Silver Tree too, that shimmers and creates great highlights in a bouquet.  

Five bridesmaids meant 6 bouquets all up.  They looked great all lined up … 

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

And the continuity of the bouquets really tied the bridal party together with the different styles and colours in their dresses.  

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

Gorgeous!

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

The main flower used in the bouquets is a Leucospermum or Pincushion called Fountain.  They are a summer flowering Pincushion here at Swallows Nest Farm.  They begin flowering in late December and continue through January, February and even March.  

When they first begin to flower, they have a lovely peachy apricot colouring.  As the flowers open more and age, the colour deepens.  I made sure I used the lighter, just opening blooms to give the peachy colouring.  I teamed them up with some Protea Pink Ice.  

You can see some ruby red blackberries peeping out from the foliage.  Blackberries are everywhere in late summer in Tasmania.  They grow along fence lines and beside the road.  I really enjoyed adding them to the design of these bouquets - they added texture, colour, and a definite sense of time and place.  You can also see some creamy peach Buddleia flowers and the beautiful flower spikes of a Clethra that has beautifully fragrant white flowers on apricot tinged stems.

Photograph by Love Jennifer Photography

The bride's bouquet leaning up against the convict-hewn sandstone of the old church at Port Arthur.

For the corsages I used more Eucalyptus Crenulata, blackberries and Clethra flower spikes.  These also had some beautifully textured wattle buds and a silvery white Leucadendron Pisa cone.

The men's corsages had E. Crenulata,  Leucadendron Silver Tree, wattle flowers buds, blackberries and gum nuts.  

One of my favourite things about this wedding was doing the floral crowns for the flower girls.  They were a satisfying combination of silvery blue tea tree, Clethra, wattle flower buds and blackberries.  I loved the combination of colours and the overall texture of the crowns.  I bet they looked cute on the girls too!

The bride wore a half-crown with the same combination of flowers, but with some Eucalyptus Crenulata added.  Blackberries topped it off.

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

Such summery crown, perfect for a summer wedding.

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

They look so happy!  

The reception venue was just down the road from the Port Arthur Historic Site at Port Arthur Lavender.  Its a great venue surrounded by rows of lavender with a great view out across the water.  

Port Arthur Lavender Farm is a great wedding venue!

The tables were decorated with long leafy swags dotted with blackberries, elderberries and other lovely textures, and a splash of colour with a Pincushion.

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

A celebration of summer goodness. 

The cake topper combined E. Crenulata, wattle buds, Clethra, blackberries and a peachy Leucospermum Fountain.

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

What a stunning cake!  

Photography by Love Jennifer Photography

I really enjoyed the challenge of working within a limited colour palette for this summer wedding.

Fresh Summer Natives for a December Wedding

Fresh Summer Natives for a December Wedding

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A December wedding, held at Steeles Island Retreat in Southern Tasmania called for fresh summery natives.  The brides dress was a deep blue and the rough colour scheme of the wedding was blue and yellow.  In terms of colours for the flowers, the bride loved vibrant reds, yellows and deep greens, pincushions and gum nuts.     

Perfect colours for summer natives!  

The larger flowers I used for the bouquets were pincusions in red and orange teamed with orange Banksia Ericifolia.  The dark rich burgundy of summer Safari Sunset Leucadendrons provided contrasting tone.  The lime yellow leucadendrons with the silvery central cones are Leucadendron Pisa and I used gum nuts from Corymbia Ficifolia.

Bright sunshine yellow Kangaroo Paw really brightened up the bouquets.  I also used the last of the Berzelia Button Bush, in its fluffy white flowering stage and, just seen peeping out are some orangey-green cones of Leucadendron Goldstrike with the outer bracts removed.   For the foliage, I used Tasmanian myrtle beech - a gorgeous rich green.  Some flowering Agonis Flexuosa provided beautifully draping foliage as well as little white highlights.  And a lovely last minute find of some acacia in bud really added something special in the way of texture.  

All together, the bouquets made real statement of colour.  I love this fresh summery look.  

The profusion of foliage had a draping effect I really loved, but its difficult to capture in the pictures.  I think these colours would have really popped with the navy blue dress! 

For the boutonnieres I used more gum nuts, teamed with the yellow Kangaroo Paw, L. Safari Sunset and L. Pisa, all backed by some of the myrtle and acacia foliages.  The grooms boutonniere stood out with the addition of some Berzelia.

I love that little touch of texture that the acacia buds provide!  It's the little details that really make wedding flowers special.  

The fresh, vibrant, summery colours of seasonal natives really make an impact.  I hope the bride and groom had a wonderful, memorable day.

Waratah Wedding Bouquets

Waratah Wedding Bouquets

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Waratah season is short and sweet.  They are very much a spring flower.

Swallows Nest Farm Waratah Bouquet

  This year has been unusually warm and the waratah season seemed to fly by more quickly than usual.  Here at Swallows Nest Farm, you can see the first pickable blooms in mid to late September, with October being the high season. Some late flowering varieties keep going until mid December, but due to the warmth, it been a shorter season.  It's made me a bit sad, and so to console myself, I've compiled a little collection of waratah wedding bouquets. 

Flowergirl's bouquet Swallows Nest Farm

Some are my own, and some are ones I've found on my internet travels.  All of them feature the wonderful waratah in different ways and different styles. 

These first two bouquets are from an early October wedding.  The waratah's are just coming into their peak season and are vibrant and fresh.  The colour in these "Shady Lady" variety is really rich.  Teamed with the lipstick boronia it makes for a really colourful statement.

This one is an early spring bouquet from mid September.  The waratah in this bouquet is not fully open and the colour is not as vibrant, but the pink makes for a more subtle look and I love the petals still arching up around the flower.  Pretty and fresh.  

Good Grace and Humour

What a great image!  I love the red and white!  In this wedding the white waratah makes an appearance.  I think it really works!

Good Grace and Humour

Red waratah for the bride and white for the bridesmaids.  Fabulous!

October Waratah Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

From mid October, this bouquet celebrates the waratah in its peak season here in Tasmania.  The first early Tasmanian waratah makes an appearance towards the back left.  The Tasmanian waratah starts in October and peaks in November, usually, with some lingering into December. 

October Waratah Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

 I love this combination of fresh colours celebrating spring.  Simple style to highlight the flowers at their best. 

Spring Native Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

This trio of bouquets is from early October.  Lots of cream and white, with touches of gold from the Dryandra/Banksia Formosa make a great background for the waratahs.

November Native Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

Novermber and the first of the Pincushion proteas have emerged but the waratahs are still going.  I have found that our white waratahs flower a little later than the red, and this means that they can be available for weddings as the weather warms up.  The texture the waratah gives is an important ingredient of the success of this bouquet.  I love playing with colour blends using the white waratahs too.   

White Waratah Spring bouquet, Swallows Nest Farm

This bride's bouquet features a white waratah too, but with a different style and colour scheme.  The theme was "rustic vintage style" in classic pink and soft tones.

White Waratah Spring Wedding Swallows Nest Farm

I love the texture in the bouquet.  A more subtle colour scheme lets you really play with texture.

Tasmanian Waratah bouquet Swallows Nest Farm

November is Tasmanian Waratah month here at Swallows Nest Farm, and a gorgeous bride who loves her Tassie Waratahs chose November for her wedding so she could have one of her favourite flowers as the centrepiece of her bouquet.  Simple, beautiful fresh flowers.

Swallows Nest Farm 

A wedding featuring the Tasmanian waratah couldn't have been held in a more perfect setting.  This classic Tasmanian beach scene with the gorgeous blue of the sea and the characteristic orange lichen on the rocks.  Beautiful!

Waratah and Kangaroo Paw by Good Grace and Humour

I love this dramatic combination of Kargaroo Paw and Waratah.  What a great bouquet!  A truly Australian native wedding bouquet with the waratah as the star.

Field and Coppice Floral Design

I love this joyful bouquet by Field and Coppice Floral Design in the Canberra area.  The rich red waratahs in the centre of the bouquet are just beautiful.  

Field and Coppice Floral Design

This bouquet of waratahs is also by Field and Coppice, but it has a completely different feel.  Its simple, understated and old-world, and just gorgeous!

Waratahs are a stunning spring favourite for weddings. Keep an eye out for them!