No Floral Foam Class at Middleton Lodge
It has been a while and although I do really like blogs and I definitely want to keep this one going, time just always gets in the way. But now! I’m planning to get back to sharing lots of images with you, mostly thanks to all your kind words about how my photos lift you up.
Today I’d like to share some - oh it was so hard to choose - photos form a wonderful workshop I photographed at the beginning of March. Middleton Lodge has gone floral foam free and together with the wonderful floral designers Simply By Arrangement and The Wilde they decided to run a class about the techniques and mechanics to create a breathtaking wedding scene without the use of floral foam. I met and photographed the work some amazing florists there and well, taking these images was a dream. A treat, in fact.
What I haven’t done before and it was a first for me, shooting a model! I was so nervous and excited at the same time before the shoot. Luckily, Steph was a professional model and she new exactly what to do. As you’ll see.
Flower arranging with Honeysuckle and Hilda
It’s a very quiet Saturday afternoon in our little Oxfordshire village. It’s snowing. Several times I make my way to the dining room. Not to eat but to admire my floral arrangement and pinch myself! I still cannot believe I made it! How lucky I am to have been able to participate at the flower arranging class given by the super stylish Claire of Honeysuckle and Hilda. Claire organised the class in the ever-so beautiful village of Hambleden. A village I absolutely love and that is not short of cute cottages and rolling hills everywhere you look. It’s only a twenty-minute drive away from where I live and I often go there, especially when the cow parsley covers the churchyard. Now back to March ..
The class was held in the village hall and people came from all parts of England. After everyone introduced themselves, I got a bit intimidated as everyone was a florist with years and years of experience between them. There was a moment (or two) where I wanted to run away and cry but I had my camera with me and that calmed me down, as always. And then I returned to my arrangement and kept working on it. When I arrived at the village hall that morning, I spotted the fritillaria persica and I knew I wanted that flower to be the centre piece of my arrangement. Claire’s signature flower is amaryllis that she always arranges so wonderfully and I almost felt bad I didn’t use that flower but I’m sure she didn’t mind. So yes, fritillaria persica and with many other Spring flowers. The arrangements all turned out so beautifully, as expected, and I was fascinated by how we all made arrangements so different yet quite similar. Clearly the influence of the class and Claire’s style.
Enough of words, I let the photos speak for themselves. There are photos of the class too but I’ll share those with you once Claire has written her blog post about it too.
Also, here’s how all our arrangements looked like. Well, one thing is for sure. I love flowers even more but I’ll stay behind the camera and take photos of them rather than working with them every day.
