Wild and Whimsical Wedding at Cowdray House

I LOVE it when I’m challenged to create something unique for a wedding: something that has not been done before at a venue. This is what we creative florists dream of.

We’ve created many, many unique floral events at Cowdray House in Midhurst and last August we added another one to our portfolio.

Our bride, Danica, wore a unique and beautiful embroidered, colourful floral dress and she sent me an image which inspired the colour palette and the flowers.

Here are the wonderful photos by the hugely talented Lily Bungay and Co @lilybungayandco on Instagram

The aisle for the outdoor wedding ceremony

Wedding Ceremony at Cowdray House

Danica’s beautiful embroidered dress

Wedding Banquet at Cowdray House

Danica’s Wedding Bouquet

Table details

Table flowers for the wedding banquet

The Bride and Groom

Sustainable Dinner in January at Cowdray House

This was an absolutely lovely event at Cowdray House on The Cowdray Estate last week.

The event was a familiarisation trip for event planners.

It was a sustainable event and therefore music to my ears of course!

We used British grown flowers of tulips, ranunculus, scented narcissi, catkins, early blossom, snowdrops, camelia and eleagnus from Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Hampshire with a few things from our own garden.

The delightful team from the family run and super sustainable Lettice Events showcased their food and hospitality and Firebird Events provided the lighting.

The photographs are by the very talented Stephanie and Nicole

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Sustainable Dinner at Cowdray House

Wedding Season 2021

We’re nearing the end of wedding season 2021 with just two more weddings to flower this week and next.

It’s been an extraordinary year with so many weddings moved from 2020 but I’m glad to say that we’ve safely delivered everything we planned and it’s been uplifting to see so many of our lovely clients finally get married.

Most of our weddings were at Cowdray House and The Walled Garden at Cowdray which are located 5 minutes away from our flower studio and home.

I’ll post lots more photos when I get the chance but if you can’t wait for that then our Instagram is a good place to look for wedding photos @thisflorallife

This wonderful photo is by David Jenkins Photography

Siobhan and Marinus’s Wedding at Cowdray House captured by DavidJenkinsPhotography.com

Spring Dinner at Cowdray House

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted.

Who knew when I did the flowers for this showcase dinner for Event planners at Cowdray House in Midhurst, West Sussex, that we’d be in lockdown 2 weeks later. Who knew then what lockdown actually meant.

I went to this dinner and it was such a lovely evening. I’m so glad that I did as it was the last dinner that I worked on and, for those of us in the industry, one of the last times we were able to meet and who knows when we’ll have the freedom to bring so many people together again for a wonderful dinner that isn’t socially distanced or outside!

Jacaranda Catering, who are also based in Midhurst, provided the wonderful food and hospitality for the dinner and the team from Nyetimber vineyard in West Sussex treated us to a tasting of three of their award-winning English sparkling wines.

It was a fun evening and a memorable evening and I do hope that there will be many more of these for our industry in the not too distant future.

All photos are by the very lovely and very talented Nicole Haines

The Table at Cowdray House with candelabra and gorgeous sesaonal spring flowers

Nyetimber, camellia’s and jasmine

Dining in Buck Hall, Cowdray House

Spring Florals

Spring Dinner Tablescape

Espresso Martinis which I can vouch were excellent!

Cowdray Goody Bags for guests

A Valentine's Eve Dinner at Cowdray House

Seasonal Camellia Bower

I’m often asked to provide flowers for dinners at Cowdray House and a couple of times of year these dinners are to welcome senior professional wedding and event planners.

One of these recent dinners was on Valentine’s eve and called for a very special scheme to wow the VIP’s in attendance.

We created a bower of British grown pink camellias along the 36ft of table and lined the table with seasonal spring flowers.

The dinner was amazing (I was lucky enough to attend) and the super talented team from Caper and Berry had created some incredible dishes.

The super talented Louise Adby took these gorgeous photos.

Flowers for a Dinner in January at Cowdray House

Happy New Year to you all!

We’ve hit the ground running this year with lots of flowers and bulb planters going out for delivery ,dinners to arrange flowers for and lot’s of wedding quotes, mood boards and plenty of exciting projects in the pipe line.

The photos are from last week’s lovely formal dinner for 16 people at Cowdray House.

White flowers look fresh in January so we chose seasonal ranunculus, paperweight narcissi, hellebores, muscari and ivy.

Sustainable White Wedding at Cowdray House

On last day of August we arranged the flowers for this elegant white wedding for Louise and John.

St Mary’s church, Easebourne, Midhurst was the venue for the ceremony and we dressed the outside with seasonal white flowers and woodland foliage. Inside the church we dressed the windowsills with trailing ivy, candles and clouds of gypsohilla and a large urn of seasonal white flowers with woodland greenery completed the decoration. All of the flowers were arranged into water with no single use plastic floral foam used in the mechanics.

The reception was at beautiful Cowdray House where we decorated the fireplace and the tables with ivy training from candelabra and gorgeous white and neutral shades of roses, seasonal flowers and Louise’s favourite Lily of the Valley.

Pink and White Summer Wedding at Cowdray House

This was a really lovely wedding at Cowdray House at the beginning of August.

It was a seasonal pink and white wedding with lots of gorgeous garden roses and hydrangeas and all made without floral foam just using simple and sustainable mechanics of chicken wire and water - yes even the fireplace flowers!

Buck Hall Banqueting tables for 150

Ceremony Flowers at Cowdray House

Hall flowers of seasonal hydrangea and beech

Fireplace flowers made without floral foam

Downton Abbey Inspired Dinner at Cowdray House

What a pleasure it was working with Caper and Berry at Cowdray House, Cowdray Estate to create this fabulous Downton Abbey inspired gala dinner for a really lovely clients’ 50th Birthday Party last week.

We used garden roses, sweet peas, peonies, jasmine and garden clematis along with an abundance of candles with our golden candelabra and lead crystal candelabra, lead crystal tea light holders and glass candlesticks.

Buck Hall is such a brilliant place for a gala white tie dinner!

Downton Abbey Inspired Dinner

Downton Abbey Inspired Dinner 

English Garden Flowers

English garden flowers  

Tatler Best Wedding Venues in the UK

Tatler have listed Cowdray House as on of their top 11 wedding venues in the UK and one of our weddings from 2016 has been used in the feature photograph.

The photo is by the very talented Nadine Van Biljon

Click here to read the article on Tatler

A Spectacular Autumnal Dinner at Cowdray House with British Flowers

This autumnal dinner at Cowdray House, Cowdray Estate was incredible. Hosted by the fabulous team at Caper and Berry the event was for the leading lights in the wedding and event planning industry, who stayed at Cowdray House overnight.

We used all British grown chrysanthemums from Hampshire and believe me these are nothing like the contrived chrysanthemums you usually find in supermarkets and garages. The colours were truly amazing and they were wayward and natural. We foraged bracken and browning ferns from The Cowdray Estate and used them to dress the candelabra and the fireplace. The result was really beautiful and the planners loved it.

I actually attended the event and the food and service by the incredible team at Caper and Berry was wonderful.

These wonderful photographs of the event are by the super talented Louise Adby

What a magical evening in Midhurst!

Cowdray House Cutting Garden

We are delighted to say that we now have a cutting garden at Cowdray House.

In keeping with our company ethos we don’t use any chemicals, weed killers or sprays and all of our flowers are grown naturally. We grow through a fabulous bio-degradable matting that’s made in the UK and not made of plastic as most are.

A short 5 minute hop from our studio and Home in Midhurst, West Sussex , it’s ideally placed on the Cowdray Estate to enable us to pick flowers and arrange them in our bunches for the Cowdray Farm Shop for the same morning.

We also provide weekly flowers for Cowdray House, the Cowdray Farm Shop Cafe and the Cowdray Golf Club  where we’ll be adding some our our own flowers into the arrangements that we make.

Our weddings and events business will benefit hugely from our cutting garden and we also intend to offer some courses on sustainable flower arranging later in the year at Cowdray House. Do sign up to our newsletter if you’d like to be kept informed about dates.

Dahlia beds at our Cowdray House Cutting Garden

Dinner plate dahalias!

Fabulous burgundy dahlia

January Wedding Flowers at Cowdray House

Hellebores are simply amazing plants, surviving the British winter and continuing to flower in sub zero conditions. I’ve been selling lots of these gorgeous plants all through the winter at The Cowdray Farm Shop and I think I’ve used them in most of my winter events and weddings. 

Well, here they are again in this lovely winter wedding at Cowdray House.

We used plants on the table and cut hellebores in the bouquets tied with jasmine, paperwhite narcissi, white lilac and a sprinkling of floribundas roses.

The floral candelabra, made naturally without floral foam, lined the banqueting table. 

The fire was lit and we dressed the huge stone fireplace with ivy and candles; it was a perfect and romantic small winter wedding.

Archie’s caterers proved the wonderful food and hospitality.   

Hellebores and  ranunculus

Bridal bouquet of hellebores, white lilac, jasmine and floribundas roses

Banquet with floral candelabra of spring flowers

A Christmas Dinner at Cowdray House

This was a very special dinner at Cowdray House in December. 

It was glamorous, festive and fun and in addition to providing the flowers and dressing the Buck Hall for Christmas I actually went to the dinner. 

The food was absolutely sublime and provided by the fabulous Caper and Berry. What a great evening it was! 

Thank you to Cowdray Estate for letting me post these lovely photos of the event taken by a Chris Orange Photography. 

Audi A8 Launch at Cowdray House

Well, we’ve been flat out again since the last event I posted so I’m trying to play catch up again!

This event was very special as it was a dinner for motoring journalists and VIP’s to celebrate the launch of the new Audi A8 in the UK.

We created a large central autumnal tree and decorated the huge fireplace with a garland of autumn leaves and berries. The tables formed a cross shape and were filled with a runner of autumnal flowers, hips and foliage with decorated candelabra to co-ordinate.

I hope you like the photos! 

Winter White Wedding at Cowdray House

Amy and Andrew married at Cowdray House in Midhurst, West Sussex on November 18th 2017.

Candlelight was really important to Amy and Andrew and over 300 candles were used to create this fabulous romantic wedding.  

The ceremony took place in the cathedral like space of Buck Hall and we decorated the huge fireplace with ivy, seasonal greenery and white hydrangea heads. Candles were used on top of the fireplace, in the fireplace and lining the aisle; it looked absolutely stunning and so did the gorgeous Amy.

We stayed on site to turn the room around for the dinner with the caterers, Caper and Berry. The guests retired to the drawing room for canapés and champagne and within an hour the room was transformed with candleabra, white hydrangeas and hundreds of candles along the 108 foot of banqueting tables.

I can’t wait to see the official photos by Hajie as mine came out a little pink for some reason when it actually didn’t look pink!

Buck Hall dressed for the Wedding ceremony

Buck Hall dressed for the wedding dinner 

Macaron tower by Sylvia’s Kitchen

Autumn Dinner at Cowdray House

I really enjoyed creating the house and table flowers for this very special dinner at Cowdray House in October. It's an amazing time of year to be a florist as there is such wonderful material to work with and bringing the outside in as the days grow shorter is always appreciated by the guests.

I designed this dinner to come alive after dark when the candles were lit to create a real 'wow' factor. I used layers of candlelight that would illuminate the flowers, seedheads and grasses and although I didn't manage to photograph the table when the candles are lit I have seen photos that were taken that night; it really did look gorgeous and the feedback after the dinner was fabulous.

The Dining Room at Cowdray House

Hall Flowers at Cowdray House

The dining table flowers

Birthday Banquet at Cowdray House

I realise I've got some serious catching up to do on my blog posts to get everything up to date!  

Back in a June we worked with lovely Mauricio and his team at The Admirable Critchton on a fabulous birthday banquet for their clients who were staying at Cowdray House for the weekend.

The colour theme was rich reds and oranges with an abundance of candlelight and the tables were set in a horseshoe shape around a dance floor. 

As we left Cowdray House a team of actors were rehearsing their steps for the murder mystery game that would be unfolding throughout the evening. The stage looked set for a really fun evening and I understand that the clients had a really fabulous time.

 

Summer Polo Event at Cowdray House

Last Friday I had the pleasure of providing the flowers for a summer polo event at Cowdray House on Cowdray Estate.

Hosted by Cowdray Polo Club with catering by Caper and Berry there were canapés on the lawn followed by a dinner in the dining room of cowdray House.

I brought in some wonderful rhodendendrons from the gardens of Cowdray House and decorated the tables with seasonal peonies, aquilegia, hellebores, lilac to name a few of the ingredients. 

Its always a pleasure working at the fabulous Cowdray House! 

Brainwave Charity Clay Shoot at Cowdray House

The annual fund raising event for the Brainwave charity took place at Cowdray House last week and I provided the seasonal flowers for the delicious lunch which was provided by the wonderful Jacaranda Catering with fabulous wine provided by Nyetimber.