#Blogged | DIY wedding floristry session at Zita Elze Design Academy

In my lastpost I shared photos from my trip to New Covent Garden Flower Market with Zita Elze. Shopping for May wedding flowers was just one part of the amazing journey that Zita and I embarked on, when designing DIY bridal blooms.

Check out my list of May wedding flowersto help create your perfect bouquet.

Being a Saturday wedding we had to work with quite a tight timeline, to keep the flowers looking as fresh and as lovely as possible. We bought them on Tuesday morning and conditioned them as soon as we got back to Zita’s shop. 

On Wednesday, me, my mum and friends arrived at Zita Elze’s Design Academy in Kew Gardens, to learn how to create all of the floral elements I had on my wedding wish list.

I knew from the start that I wanted to include lots of greenery – especially  eucalyptus leaves and foliage of varying shapes and sizes, to bring a rustic, outdoorsy feel into our blank canvas barn space.

In terms of a colour palette, I found myself veering towards coral reds, burnt oranges, apricots, creams, pale pinks and mauve. Zita’s advice when shopping for my flowers was that if it doesn’t make you smile, put it back. Only work with what you truly love.

I’d been obsessing over wax flowers for the whole 18 months spent planning the wedding. I bought a vintage wax flower and orange blossom headdress from eBay for £30, after spotting a model wearing one similar on a stunning bohemian bridal shoot, featuring the incredible Claire Pettibone Sparrow dress. 

My wedding flowers were a whole spectrum of hot-house colours, with textures ranging from delicate and feathery flowers like astilbe, to more structured and shapely ones like kangaroo paw. 

My wedding flowers checklist

• 1 x bridal bouquet
• 1 x bridal headdress
• 4 x bridesmaid bouquets
• 4 x bridesmaid headdresses
• 2 x flower girl headdresses
• 7 x button holes
• 2 x corsages
• Selection of flowers for ceremony and table decorations

The May flowers I chose included snapdragons, daisies, poppies (for sentimental reasons), a mixture of tulips, ranunculus, astrantia, stocks, nigella, thlaspi, sweet peas, jasmine, spray and vuvuzela roses, lilies, orchids, asclepia, peonies, lilac and eucalyptus, which all played a part in my wedding bouquet. 

We selected our floral ingredients from those on display in Zita’s shop, and set to work checking off the list of flower arrangements needed. Zita asked me to choose the blooms for my bridal bouquet first; setting the tone for the other floral elements, such as headdresses, buttonholes and bridesmaid bouquets.

Zita showed us how to place the stems properly so that the bouquet had a good shape. She reminded us to step back every now and again and look at it from all sides to see whether anything was missing.

The party piece in my bridal bouquet was a hot pink peony.

A shot of the flowers for the buttonholes: ranunculus, wax flowers and kangaroo paw (left) and our flowers for the fancier corsages, for the mums: sweet peas, daisies, and astrantia (right). The sweet peas were so fragrant!

After finishing off our bouquets we moved onto learning how to create our own flower crown, which are also known as floral garlands or festival headdresses. 

They are actually much trickier than they look. You need patience and a whole reel of floristry wire and tape to make these beauties. A glass of prosecco helps too…

My bridesmaids and flower girls were all wearing champagne-coloured dresses. We needed something fresh to complement the neutral canvas. 

I decided on a mix of eucalyptus and other greenery, set amongst with daisies, the fern-like foliage of astilbe, peppered with jasmine, decorative astrantia and wax flowers to give the headdresses a natural, timeless feel.

The girls looked stunning modelling their hard work. Each headdress was slightly different, in-keeping with the relaxed nature of our wedding. We didn’t want things to look too uniform or forced. Having such an eclectic mix of flowers definitely helped to add an impact, and also made the decor feel romantic, fun and colourful.

If you’d like to design your own wedding flowers why not take a look at the list of classes on offer at Zita Elze’s Design Academy.

It was the perfect way to spend quality time with your loved ones and get hands on with the creative parts of your wedding. Designing my own wedding flowers was actually one of my favourite parts of our journey. 

If you’ve got any tips for fellow brides-to-be, have a favourite wedding florist or want to ask me a question, please leave a comment below or email me at info@luciekerley.co.uk. You can also tweet me @LucieKerley.

Find out more about Zita’s amazing work at zitaelze.com

>>Take a look at my ‘Love is all you need’ Pinterest board for inspiration<<

>>Read more blog posts about our wedding journey at http://lucieloves.co.uk/tagged/lekxjmgwedding<<

Photography © Lucie Kerley