Mr & Mrs Booth were married in December 2022 at Woodhill Hall, Otterburn, Northumberland, just one week before Christmas and they had snow on the day! Anna has very kindly shared photos and some details about their special day, as well as the flower preserved ceramic pieces I made for them.
“My wedding day was planned to a tee, so personal to me and Ben, a little bit quirky, very emotional and ultimately the most magical day! Difficult to pick a favourite moment, but saying our vows was a beautiful moment, feeling my baby kick during his daddy’s speech (I was 19 weeks pregnant), dancing on a crowded dance floor and singing at the top of my lungs. I wouldn’t change anything specific, although we had a snowy wedding in December and my dress got very soggy, I would probably have been a tad more careful with it!”
Anna’s bouquet was by Diana Kay Florist.
“I saw some dried flowers online, they looked so rustic and I loved the slightly muted colours. We didn’t have a strict colour theme for the wedding as my bridesmaids were in different Autumnal colours, so I just went with the multicoloured bouquet with matching head crown.
My sister worked in the same building at the time and she got me a discount on the flowers. I didn’t know much about Diana Kaye Florist when I chose them but they were superb, great communication and the flowers were so beautiful and smelled amazing.”
How did Anna decide to preserve her wedding flowers?
“I had my bouquet on a shelf for a couple of weeks after the wedding but knew I wanted to do something special with it. I looked at different options and saw the idea on a social media feed, searched online and found Charlotte and a couple of others. I decided I liked the more raw rustic look of Charlotte’s creations and went from there.
I was aware you could preserve flowers, but I wasn’t sure I was going to do it until after the wedding when I realised I couldn’t let them go to waste as I was too attached to them.”
Preserving the Flowers – The Process
Anna’s colourful dried wedding bouquet arrived with me in March, three months after the wedding, and was a joy to work with. Unravelling the bouquet was a delicate procedure. Once the masterpiece was deconstructed, I laid out each individual stem into groups of the same flower so I could see what I had available to work with. Pressing the flowers into soft clay and then peeling them back out is always my favourite part of the process – revealing the beautiful organic skeletons left behind.
After the pieces had been hand built, there were plenty of stems left over so I kept these aside to return back to Anna.
I was able to replicate the colours from the bouquet well. Being large in size, the finished pieces have a real statement piece feel about them. I really enjoyed making these wedding flower preserved ceramics.
Amy & Ben had a large jug and vase made, which are now pride of place on their dining room shelf. They recently moved into a new house and also had a number plaque made that is going to be proudly displayed at the front of their home when their new porch is finished being built.
“I would recommend Charlotte to a friend as the transaction was smooth, she communicated well, and ultimately because I am over the moon with her work! I also requested she return any unused flowers which she did and had clearly taken care to keep them presentable for me.”
Thank you so much Amy, and congratulations to you both again!
