Still Smooching after 25 yrs

The Flourist recently was given the opportunity to decorate a home for a 25th anniversary celebration.
What an honor...

The couple in question are lovely - and really that word does not even do justice to all they have achieved in 25 yrs. Sweethearts they were and still are, judging by the jokes, jibes and hugs they still give each other. We were witness to that kiss... WHOA! if thats anything to go by, they must be doing something right ;)
They have lived in several countries, raised two amazing girls...oops i mean ladies, run great careers at different points in their lives, handled ups and downs so gracefully, developed an amazing network of friends in all the places they lived, and still maintained a great family connection with their far flung extended family.

As we were given a free hand to design whatever we want, The Flourist decided to go with a naturally exotic look - We used Heliconias - to be specific the Richmond Red and the pendant Crab Claw. The choice of flowers completely fit the nature of this family - beautiful wild and majestic.

Recognise the hoops?
we wanted to draw attention to the lovely exposed roof in this house, so by hanging the hoops with the heliconias strapped to them, we moved the eye focus above, to take in the architectural beauty of the home. Also as there was going to be lots of family catching up, we did not want tall arrangements hiding faces etc...

So, to complement the hanging pieces, we had low arrangements, once again keeping it simple and natural, this time coupling the monstera leaves with the pendant Crab Claws. They looked amazing, almost like they were growing out of the tables ;)

This is a great way to use these lovely blooms in a natural way without too much manipulation, and you don't need too many to make it look amazing. Beauty in simplicity.

Sneak Peek - photo shoot at GardenAsia

Hi everyone,

Just in case you had not heard, we are now the selected few vendors who have partnered with Extraordinary Weddings (Singapore), an online wedding website for all your wedding planning needs.
So to commemorate this new partnership, The Flourist was roped in for a quirky photo shoot out Kranji Way in a lovely green lung called GardenAsia.

While we wait for the official photos, I thought I would tempt you with some sneak peaks...
the theme was relaxed solemnization, a touch of vintage with bright cheery colours. The fun part was that we used very different flowers than the normal roses et al, which was a welcome change.

I just know you are loving it and are already planning for these colours for your big day! Go for it - this is a perfect example of less is more - the budget can be easily kept low for a set up like this, and is so effective - though I would recommend it for the cosy laid back touch of retro couples.

PSSST!!  by the way Extraordinary Weddings has a promotion for couples planning the knot, with a promotional card filled with discounts and goodies from selected vendors - pick yours up now!!

Red Black and White Drama - is there any other kind....

So this was major - my largest wedding party and in a verrrrry prestigious hotel in Singapore, and for a partner of weddingfavours who have been very kindly sending business my way.... Talk about pressure!

In addition to all that, the hotel had a wedding luncheon on the same day which only ended at 4.30pm - which gave us realistically only 2 hours to set everything including chair sashes and candles and aisles and entrance pieces up - stressed - YOU BET!

I had four little elves this time, and my husband who were very helpful on the day, and put up with my stressed out self and we pulled it off! the ballroom looked fantastic - and the couple walked in decked in white - verry dramatic ;)

So - we had RED chair bows (yup the kind Mini Mouse wears) on every other chair - all chairs were in white, and the table cloths were black. For the centrepieces, we used jars with the wedding card motif on and the wedding favours in the jars. The wedding favours were red pens with a silk flower and feathers on the end. This way once every guest claimed their favour, the jars could be removed in time for the chinese dinner to be served.

(TIP - this is a great way to save on your flower spend - usually for chinese course dinners these table arrangements get removed, so if you are on a budget, try and come up with other ideas for the table centre that you won't feel so bad when it gets removed - get your florist to help ;) )







The couple had in mind roses and cage like arrangements, and so i worked on a style that was in the same vein but with different touches - mainly black feathers, tall willows spray painted in black, lanterns instead of cages etc...

The stage and the entrance pieces were the same, while the aisle were smaller pieces - rattan cage balls with red roses clumped together all over - i loved this effect. It was the first time i had attempted something like this, and was very pleased with the effect.

The two main tables were tall arrangements with roses and other red and black foliage, with beads hanging down - I kept tables simple with candles and minimal petals for a clean look.

There was also a candy table for which the main arrangements was done in feathers, and a few small rose blocks - there was so much candy on offer there was hardly any place for flowers!!!
I was pleased with the effect of this, and pleased we pulled it off in such a short time for set up - complete with a few transport dramas!!
Photos by yours truly ;)

the first sept 18th couple...S&J

So - as you have probably already read in the last post, in a temporary moment of insanity, The Flourist agreed to decorate two weddings in the one day.
One was booked WAAAAAAYYYY in advance all the way from London, and the other was slightly last minute but was a close ex-colleague whom I used to drag to all the ballrooms in the hotels were were auditing to check out the decoration ideas.

The first couple for the day were S&J - they had contracted me to the church wedding, a wedding cake for the luncheon, all the wedding accessories, car decoration and the main table centre-piece for their dinner.

S&J were stunning on the day - not to say they were not stunning otherwise (hole getting bigger here - help!) but really they looked like suave movie stars of yesteryears. S's dress was so unique and beautiful - i have done a lot of weddings and this dress has to be up there in dream dresses category - and J in his suit cut really a dashing figure.
they were so stunning in fact, that for the first time in a departure from my usual philosophy of keeping the couples anonymous, I am putting up a picture of them at the end of the day - now who would not want to get married after this shot!

S&J seem to have been together for longer than most people which is a fantastic achievement in itself if you ask me. Stories I have heard of J paint him to be the cutie pie that all the girls flocked to, but he only had eyes for the husky long haired beauty, S. And their friends and family are amazing - fun loving, supportive and very creative judging by the video that was created for their dinner ;)

The first call was mainly to make their wedding cake for the afternoon of the luncheon after the church wedding. This was going to be my first commercial wedding cake - not counting all the practice sessions and simple one that I have done in the past! Go to www.theflourist.blogspot.com for more stories on this one. I started on the sugar flowers for the cake a month in advance!!! definitely a story you will want to hear.

The theme - red, pink and white.

We did the car the night before - usually my car designs are very simple - mainly because my couples are on a budget and rather than wasting flowers on a car that people see maybe for for 15 minutes, I tend to go for the less is more -
in this case it was quite a BLAM effect with a white car and red ribbons and tulle.

The church pews were meant to have branches but at the last minute, my supplier pulled out - which meant I had to invoke plan B of tall green foliage - I have to say I was a little disappointed with the pews - the lack of time meant I did not have time enough to check them, so they ended looking a little meagre on closer inspection, and I should have used a different ribbon - hmph not pleased. but with the pedestal pieces at the entrance stealing the show, I think everything looked good.

The altar and crucifix pieces stayed at the church, so were done quite simply to keep in line with the budget.

The pedestal pieces at the entrance to the church were huge pieces set in lanterns with tall foliage tipping the height at 7 ft!

The bride's bouquet had a centre cluster of red roses, surrounded by white and red anthuriums. I loved the way it turned out. the bridesmaids were her lovely sisters, and had lovely lisitanthus posies dotted with red hypericum berries. sweet!
The corsages were simple within the red and white colour theme for the groom, groom's men and parents.

The Flourist also provided the centre piece for their evening dinner held at GlenMarie Resort - the original design that the couple wanted had flowers going down the entire length of the support, however given the budget that they wanted to stick to, i compromised with a little gap and flowers are the base. By sheer luck the hotel had thankfully used similar flowers and stands for the aisle so it all looked lovely.

and the bride and groom? just stunningly, happily married!

photos courtesy of Alan from 'photoz' and yours truly

Malaysia Day Nuptials

Red and gold was the order of the day for this lovely couple.

The Flourist met A&G we did in May. They were MOST taken up with the eggplants and the limes that we used in the deco for that wedding, and sought us out for some decoration assistance. 

A&G were getting registered and wanted some simple enhancements for the groom to be's home where the deed was to be done ;)

So, I went a rummaging in my bag of tricks and found these brilliant baubles. Who says they must only be used at christmas time I say! These were really nice ones (none of the gold dust laden ones thank you) and were not being used any longer, and so I adopted them some months ago waiting for the right opportunity to use them - and voila! I thought it would be cool considering the bride was catholic, the groom hindu, and they were being engaged on Malaysia Day! (yes for those of you who are unaware, in addition to the 26 days of holiday Malaysia already has, they fought for yet another!)

The groom's home had these very convenient wooden roof supports that were begging to be adorned - and far be it from The Flourist not to oblige ;) So up they went at the entrance of the home, and there were some hung inside the house.

I also used the large crab claw plant (heliconia). These are loud and big (a little like yours truly) so even if they cost a bit more, we did not have to use very much to achieve maximum impact. (that is a tip just in case you missed it those of you on a budget ;) )

We then did simple table arrangements for the registry table and little extra interest points around the house using mainly chrysanthemums and local blooms.

Unusually I am having trouble with some of the other photos I took, so once I solve it I promise I will bare all. Till then, enjoy these prize shots by Suthesh Nathan budding photographer, soon to be papa, and friend of the groom.

the legend of 9 suns - HKflowershow

This next display was based on a chinese legend about a warrior in the Yao Dynasty who shot down 9 suns, leaving just one to serve the earth and its people. when writing this story I found so many versions -  only one kept me interested...
It goes like this...


Long ago, during the reign of Emperor Yao, Di Jun, the eastern emperor of the sky and his wife Xi He had 10 sons--er, 10 suns. Each day the ten suns would travel with their mother, the goddess Xi He, to the Valley of the Light in the East. There, Xi He would wash her children in the lake and put them in the branches of an enormous mulberry tree called fu-sang.From the tree, only one sun would move off into the sky for a journey of one day, to reach the mount Yen-Tzu in the Far West. Much like a bus driver might tire of the same route after a few centuries, the boys grew bored and decided to take their celestial walk all together.
When Di Jun and Xi He found out, they were horrified to see their 10 sons in the skies. On Earth, crops were drying out, forests were bursting into flames, and the seas were boiling. If the ten suns persisted in their promenade, all living creatures on Earth would die.
To prevent the destruction of the Earth, the emperor Yao asked Di Jun, the father of the ten suns, to persuade his children to appear one at a time. They would not listen to him, so Di Jun sent the archer, Yi, armed with a magic bow and ten arrows to frighten the disobedient suns. However, Yi shot nine suns, only the Sun that we see today remained in the sky. Di Jun was so angry for the death of nine of his children that he condemned Yi to live as an ordinary mortal in the earth.


this display reminded me about why i started doing floristry in the first place - using everyday stuff, or stuff that we used to use everyday before microwaves and electric steamers and fastfood came in to our lives - to create design...
this was my style - IS my style - unfortunately in trying to build a business, sometimes not everyone's vision is the same, and sometimes I have to sacrifice my style for the sake of a happy client somewhat...


and the colours!!! sunset related colours - my favourite kind ;)


i love the use of the traditional steamers here - they have been modified a little and only the shell remains - better here than in the rubbish heap ;)

a - christmas set designing we go

I did my first set design here in singapore - been trying to drum up more business here in singapore, considering this is where I live and this is where my company is set up I would like to do more business here lah.

I got up the courage and wrote to a photographer by the name of Zurina Bryant, and by chance she had a couple of opportunities! so I delved in, and was fortunate to work with her for the cover shot for the December Finder magazine!
It was great fun and I hope we get to work together on more stuff.

thanks for the lovely shots Zurina! these are Zurina's kids in the photos - and I thot I would only choose the best of 5, but they are all so cute, I have decided to add them all here!