Sarah & Ben at Lunga House

One of my most beautiful weddings of the year. I adored this wedding. Sarah and her beautiful mother, Katie, came to visit me in my flower studio to discuss ideas. I knew from the beginning it was going to be oh so gorgeous! 

Sarah had a carefully prepared scrapbook with her with lots of ideas. Their wedding was going to be in May and she wanted her flowers to reflect the season.

Sarah had chosen a palette of soft pale pinks through to beautiful dusky pinks with a hint of blues and lavenders and some silver-blue greenery and herbs from my garden.

Sarah and Ben chose Lunga House and hoped to get married in the garden. We were going to hang prettily strung jam jars with lace and twine - some with flowers and some with candles - all around the garden, and a sweet kilner jar filled with seasonal blooms to place on the ceremonial table. This is a lovely stone slab paced on top of a very old tree stump, perfect for signing the register.

Unfortunately, the sun did not shine on the day and we even had some snow, but it did not spoil all our plans. We swiftly re-thought and created something just as beautiful indoors. Have a look below and enjoy this wonderful couple and their beautiful wedding.

All flowers conditioned and ready to go to Lunga  for me to work my magic!

Gorgeous dusky pink Astrantia.

The flower room at Lunga. I love to work in this space with gorgeous views to the sea and islands beyond.

Sarah Bernhardt Peonies; one of my very favourites. I love when Peonies are in season.

Dusky pink Waxflower.

Sarah and I making final decisions.

Sarah has a lovely catering business in the Grampians and makes her own preserves. She used her jam jars and tied them all with lace and twine to be used for her table decorations arranged in little groupings and placed vintage teacups and saucers tied with luggage labels for place settings. Very pretty.

Sarah dressing the tables.

Bridesmaids bouquet using Peonies, Astrantia, Nigella, vintage Roses and Eucalyptus.

Sarah's bouquet through a window pane. I loved the antique feel of this photograph.

Bouquets all finished and waiting to be trimmed and ribboned up.

Buttonholes using a Rose, Waxflower and Astrantia.

Setting for the Guest table using different bottles from my old bottle collection.

Beautiful shades of Aqua with pretty Spring flowers.

Ready and waiting .

The very talented Pippa Reid-Foster practising before the ceremony. Hydrangeas and Delphiniums in the corner. This reminds me of a Flemish painting.

Sarah and Ben chose a selection of  delicious cheeses instead of a cake, which looked wonderful and Sarah told me later, tasted wonderful too. I decorated the stack of cheeses with Pansies and Violas in very subtle tones of pinks and purples brushed with hints of gold dust.

Sarah's bouquet was created using Sarah Bernhardt Peonies, Memory Lane Roses, Astrantia, Freesia, Lisianthus, Eucalyptus and Waxflower with a touch of Sweet William.

The happy couple!

Such a beautiful and  joyous couple. 

Thank you both for choosing me to create your wedding flowers. I loved every minute. Every happiness and blessing to you both, Gill xx

Photographs by George John Stewart, except for the last three, which are courtesy of Bill Baillie.

Viv & William at Portavadie Marina

What a lovely wedding this was. Viv and I had a lot of fun planning it. Viv's theme was 'a marrying of the tartans'; Viv's tartan was the Manx, which has a pretty soft blue with a dash of yellow, very suitable for a Spring wedding.
Viv wanted a very natural look bringing the outdoors in and a suggestion of the surrounding sea. The palette she chose was soft lilacs and lavenders, blues and a touch of yellow for Spring along with her tartan.

We filled vases with coloured water and crushed cello to give a wavy feel and and then suspended some shells in.

The weather was kind  and everybody was able to walk to the marquee from the wedding ceremony which was just what Viv and William had hoped for.

All loaded up and heading for the ferry from Tarbert to Portavadie...

Work in progress...

Bouquets are all tied up and ready to deliver. A quick photograph on the decking before taking to Viv and her maids.

One of the favorite aspects of my work is delivering the brides bouquet, always a very special moment.

Congratulations to Viv and William. May they know many happy years together.

Initial 4 images are courtesy of Viv & William; other images by Gill and George Stewart, and all photos were edited by George John Stewart.

Laura & Duncan on The Isle of Gigha (and The Anchor Hotel, Tarbert)

Laura and Duncan live in the beautiful harbour village of Tarbert. They were married on the Island of Gigha, which has a special significance for Laura and then caught the ferry back to the Anchor Hotel in Tarbert for their reception, where a good time of celebrations were had by all.

Some little red berries on the buttonholes to compliment the MacGregor tartan.

Unusually, Laura arrived at the church on her much loved horse! Her maids wore a soft sage green and carried avalanche roses, eucalyptus and some freesia. Laura's bouquet was the same, but larger and had some sparkly pins studded through the roses. Laura was the easiest of brides to work with; she is very organised and has a lovely sunny disposition.

The fishing village of Tarbert - so pretty. The Anchor Hotel can be seen just left of centre, next to the bright yellow frontage.

Laura, wishing you and Duncan every happiness and many blessings in your new married life together. Gill.

Thanks to Laura for the photograph with her bridesmaids.

Lee & Neil at Balinakill Country House

Lee chose a pallette of whites and greens, a cool and sophisticated styling. lees bouquet was a cascade of white phalaenopsis orchids and her bridesmaid ivory roses with some waxflower for softening.

Lee wanted something quirky for Neil's buttonhole, as he is a hunting, fishing and shooting type, I decided to incorporate two fishing flies into his buttonhole; they worked well with the thistles and Lee was delighted. 

We finished all the buttonholes of with some gorgeous tweed that Lee had brought; they looked fantastic with a contemporary Scottish feel.

The weather had been cold and wet but the sun shone on their day and everything looked beautiful. I have never seen Balinakill look so lovely. a fantastic choice for a wedding.