Category Archives: Flowers

Is 2012 the year you are hoping your man will propose?  Fed up of waiting for him to pop the question?  This year you are in luck!

Old legends and history tell us that St Bridget struck a deal with St Patrick to change proposals around, allowing women to propose to men every four years; 29^th February!  It is said that this was to introduce a balance in the roles of both men and women, similar to how a Leap Day balances out the calendar.

So girls, now you have a proposal on your mind, how are you going to do it?  Here are a few ideas:

If you want to make a big proposal get together with your friends or family, cook your man’s favourite meal or book a fancy restaurant and scatter the table with some beautiful natural petals to set the ambience.  After enjoying a wonderful meal, make a dessert and write “will you marry me” around the dessert plate with chocolate – how romantic.

If you would prefer to make the proposal alone, go for a nice walk to calm your nerves, open a bottle of wine when you get home handing your man an envelope.  Set him some tasks to follow to eventually find a ring or message of proposal by asking him to follow a petal path to find clues.

For a more traditional proposal set out a bed of natural petal confetti for you to kneel on and pop the question down on one knee.

Years ago in many countries it was dictated that if a man should refuse a woman’s proposal on February 29^th he has to buy her 12 pairs of gloves.  This was so the woman could hide the embarrassment of not having an engagement ring.  Other traditions dictate that men refusing were expected to pay a penalty such as a gown or money.  If only those traditions still existed!

Get your petals ready now, in time for the 29^th.  Shropshire Petals have a large range of petals for you to choose from, pick and mix online to create your own unique mix of your and your partners’ favourite colours, to make your proposal even more special and memorable.

www.shropshirepetals.com

We were delighted when Andrea Benn got in touch about her wedding in early December at the lovely Ednam House Hotel in nearby Kelso in the Scottish Borders.  Here are a few images from the day showing her wonderland winter wedding style, including the natural Scottish palette of her bouquet and a veritable forest of twiglights!

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

Andrea’s bouquet combined white anenomes, cream roses, freesias and heather in a hand tied posy, finished with pearls and cream lace.  She wore a stunning dress with lace bodice and a fabulous fur wrap.

Andrea wanted to create a sparkling, wintery theme for the dining room with plenty of candles.  Several of the tables were decorated with beech and twisted willow branches and finished off with hanging jars and votives.  We put arrangements of vintage coloured roses at the base of each centrepiece and further candles in stemmed glasses.

Photograph by: Adrian Gould / Borders Photographer

Andrea was keen to use a number of different accessories for the dining tables.  The long oval top table was set with two-tier candelabras.  They contained a mixture of small posies of flowers and candles.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

On other dining tables glass domes were used to hold the bridesmaids bouquets.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

Andrea used pretty frames for her seating plan and we added small posies of flowers to add colour to the table.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

The room was finished off with sets of tall glass vases containing a myriad of twiglights to add warmth and sparkle to the outside of the room.

Adrian Gould / Borders Photographer

We wish Andrea and Iain every happiness in their married lives together.

www.mirrorboxphotography.com

Many thanks to Andrea and Iain (and  Sam at www.mirrorboxphotography.com) for allowing us to use their lovely images.  Also a big thank you Ralph Brooks at The Ednam House Hotel for allowing me to take images of the dining room during the set up.

Natural flower petal confetti is hugely popular with Get Knotted brides, and Shropshire Petals are especially close to my heart, as they come from my home turf! What’s more, they’re offering Get Knotted blog readers a special deal of £65 for two of their lovely Shropshire Boxes (see pic below) if you mention the discount code GN2011 when ordering. This is a special ivory dispensing box with 25 floral embossed confetti cones and 2 litres of delectable natural confetti of your choice. The box is tied with satin ribbon, and makes a great keepsake for wedding memories and photos!

Shropshire Box of natural wedding confetti - special Get Knotted offer of 2 for £65 if you mention discount code GN2011!

They’ve also just launched a new range of exclusive colour confetti cones, which come in white, pink, blue and green, and are embossed with the Shrophire Petals flower, giving a lovely texture to the confetti cone. They’re perfect for any wedding theme, from an English country garden to chic Tiffany blue colour schemes.

Shropshire Petals offer a great pick & mix service, so you can choose colours to fit your own scheme and theme, whether it’s deep red roses, tangy clementines or fragrant lavender. Or you can go for their seasonal mix of the month, such as this ‘raspberry fool’ of hot pink delphinium petals, green hydrangea and yellow rose – so pretty, and would look great decorating your party tables, too! And there’s a special price of £50 for Get Knotted blog readers – just mention the code GN2011.

Shropshire Petals wedding confetti Mix of the Month - Delphinium and Rose/Hydrangea petals, 5 litres for £50 - just mention discount code GN2011!

You’ll also want to check out the Shropshire Petals Fields of Ideas page for inspiration and beautiful photographs of petals used in different imaginative ways – for table settings, as dessert and cake decorations, and as an extra-romantic bath fragrance! Do also look out for the cute presentation and keepsake boxes, handmade confetti cones and wheatsheaf decorations in their their online shop.

It goes without saying that all Shropshire Petals confettis are 100% natural, biodegradable and eco-friendly, and the site gives guidance on how much to order, and various packaging options.

Visit the Shropshire Petals website for more natural confetti ideas.

Lindsey Hunter of Get Knotted is a wedding planner for Scotland and the north of England. She’s the in-house wedding planner for four lovely Scottish wedding venues: Mellerstain House, Aikwood Tower, Hoscote Estate, and the Buccleuch Arms Hotel. For more wedding inspiration, visit our gallery.

Hoscote House near Hawick gave a sunny spring welcome to Alison and Paul for their houseparty weekend wedding in early April. Alison’s family originate from County Durham and Paul’s parents from Birmingham, and relatives came from as far as Berkshire and Somerset to the Scottish Borders for the occasion.

The couple met through work at NG Bailey and Paul proposed on the romantic Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland in May 2009.

Alison was very clear about the sort of look she wanted for her wedding, opting for a wonderful natural bouquet, including lily of the valley, magnolia buds, jasmine, dendrobium orchids, hellebores, beech twigs and a twine handle.  For her table decorations, we used vintage coloured roses, pale pink ranunculus and skimmia in silver teapots, with 19^th century hand-painted cups and saucers surrounding each teapot. Her dress was a Sassi Holford design found at The Bridal Gallery Finedon in Northamptonshire. Sassi Holford also designed the dress worn by Autumn Kelly, Princess Ann’s daughter-in-law, at her wedding in May 2008.

Meldon Catering provided sandwiches and cake for lunch, and then a delicious meal including black pudding and grilled goat’s cheese with sweet chilli dressing, followed by fillet of beef or salmon, and French apple tart. They were also up early on the Sunday to treat guests to a fabulous full Scottish breakfast.

Dominic Ibbotson from Duke Studios in Edinburgh – a VOWS nominee 2010 – was photographer for the day.  He has a great chatty, fun approach and always gets the best out of wedding guests.

Paul and Alison were really thrilled to have their parents and close family relatives with them.  Alison’s 91 year old grandmother, Margaret Howden, really enjoyed herself.  There was a special kiss for her as Alison and Paul walked out of the ceremony.  Margaret was found contentedly crocheting the night away in the conservatory, while the younger guests danced around her during the evening!

Paul’s brother, to whom he is very close, made a very moving speech and was a real support to Paul and guests. Unfortunately, Paul’s mum, Brenda, had a fall and broke her ankle in the gardens.  The weather was beautiful and she was determined for the photographs to continue, so everyone gathered round her for some lovely group shots.  Sadly she missed the meal, as an ambulance took her and her husband, Geoff, to Borders General Hospital. We wish her a speedy recovery.

Alison’s mum, Ruth Howden , did a brilliant job with a lot of the organising, and there were beautiful bouquets to thank mums for all their support.  Arthur, Alison’s dad, looked so proud as they walked into the ceremony.

All the guests had a wonderful time, and everyone loved the fact they there was time to chat over the weekend.

Alison and Paul have just returned from their honeymoon, which included Singapore, Malacca, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi off the mainland coast of north western Malaysia.  They flew via Quantas and were treated to two bottles of champagne on the way and another one on the way back.

Suppliers:
Photographer: Duke Studios
Flowers: Get Knotted
Catering: Meldon Catering
Hair and makeup:  Katherine Milby
Piper:  Anthony Carson
Ceilidh band:  Stuart Anderson

Lindsey Hunter of Get Knotted is a wedding planner for Scotland and the north of England. She’s the in-house wedding planner for four lovely Scottish wedding venues: Mellerstain House, Aikwood Tower, Hoscote Estate, and the Buccleuch Arms Hotel. For more wedding inspiration, visit our gallery.

Hoscote House, one of our favourite our big house wedding venues in the Scottish Borders, was delighted to welcome Niccie and David from Cheshire for their winter wedding celebrations in early February.

These special house-party weddings for up to 40 are wonderfully intimate occasions, with nearest and dearest spending time together over the special celebratory weekend. We were delighted to welcome to Hoscote for the first time Mark Archibald from award-winning Archibald Photography, who provided us with these amazing pictures:

Niccie looked fantastic in a stunning lace Cymbeline dress from Paris which she found at The Wedding Shop in Alderley Edge, and her hair and make  up were created by Katherine Milby.  Get Knotted created the flowers with a vibrant red colour theme.

Julie from Falconry Scotland brought along the beautiful Bonnie the barn owl, who silently swooped in to deliver the wedding rings – always a wonderful moment. And there was a dusting of snow outside on the hills in the beautiful Roberton Valley, just as the clients had wished for (and all part of the service!!!).

We wish David and Niccie every happiness and a wonderful honeymoon to New Zealand later in the year.

Suppliers:
Photographer: Archibald Photography
Cake: The Cake Partnership
Flowers: Get Knotted
Makeup: Katherine Milby
Piper: Roddy McIntyre
Ring Delivery by Owl: Falconry Scotland
Dress: The Wedding Shop in Alderley Edge

Lindsey Hunter of Get Knotted is a wedding planner for Scotland and the north of England. She’s the in-house wedding planner for four lovely Scottish wedding venues: Mellerstain House, Aikwood Tower, Hoscote Estate, and the Buccleuch Arms Hotel. For more wedding inspiration, visit our gallery.