One Flew Over Recently...

This January we have decided to take it easy.  

After a super bizzy last year and everything suggesting we're heading that way again, this month has been dedicated to relaxing, repairing, preparing and even a bit of KonMari-ing. 

It hasn't all been Earl Grey tea and woolly socks in front of Making a Murderer though...

Our weekly flowers have been going out as usual.  

Winter flowers mean fewer delicate and bright blooms but an abundance of hardy foliage and lovely muted tones;

The absurdly beautiful Jess and Cian, who married at The Priory Barn in Hertfordshire last year, were profiled this month on Love My Dress;

Photo: Natalie J Weddings

We took ourselves off to Quill London for a paper flower making workshop, held by the incredible Susan Beech of A Petal Unfolds. 
(Check her out on instagram, you won't believe her flowers aren't real!);

The Oxfordshire wedding of Nicola and Lloyd, our super great mates, was featured on the Rock my Wedding blog;

Photo: Frankee Victoria Photography

A 1960s inspired bridal shoot we were involved in appeared on the Mr & Mrs Unique blog;

Photos: Paola de Paola Weddings

And there was even a trip back up North to take in the idyllic Cheshire countryside;

We've also had a flurry of enquiries from brides and grooms who are using the January downtime to get ahead on the wedding planning.  

So if you are getting married this year, get in touch!

One Flew Over on Wedding Flowers | Ideas and Inspiration

Wedding hairstyles with flowers

 We absolutely love the use of flowers for wedding hair, and in particular the ever-popular flower crown. 

The trend for floral headdresses has seen us making big ones, small ones, bright ones, budded ones and all-foliage ones, and they do all look ace!

It's an easy way to incorporate flowers in to your outfit, and when you do (eventually and inevitably) put your bouquet down, you've still got a little floral joy with you all the while.

Have a chat with your florist and your hairstylist in advance when thinking about real flower crowns for your big day, as there are a few things that will need to be considered - colour, weight, texture and longevity.  

We tend to choose hardier stems that should stay looking fresh, we make them on the day and we'll deliver them in time for your hair stylist to perfectly place. These are not one to DIY on your wedding day, but leave it to the professionals and, we promise, it'll be totally worth it. 

Here are a few of our favourites so far:

Hacker Wedding Photography

Our bride Ellie had a gorgeous plaited up-do, so we made multiple, single floral hair pins to be placed throughout to give the impression of a fresh flower headdress; spray rose, freesias, clematis.

Hacker Wedding Photography

 

All of Ellie's bridesmaids had full flower circlets too, made up of the peach, pastels and blues of the bridal flowers; lisianthus, freesias, spray rose and clematis. 

Claudia Rose Carter

Jo had a full circlet which she wore to start the party, after the ceremony (there was a really elegant veil for that part).  This was made in slightly softer, more pastel tones than her bouquet; freesias, spray rose and wax flower.

Claudia Rose Carter

And her gorgeous flower girl had a slightly simpler crown of pale pinks and creams; lisianthus and spray rose.

Ellie Gillard

Our lovely Sarah had a heavier wedding flower crown, filled with greens and pastels for her wild garden wedding; scabious buds, wax flower, clematis, lisianthus, spray rose, hydrangea and hebe.

 Caro Hutchings 

And gorgeous Romy wore a circlet to be Helen's bridesmaid; freesia, spray rose and lisianthus.

If you want more information about how we do wedding flowers, get in touch! 

Proper Weddings: Jo and Guney

We fell in love with Jo and Guney the moment we met them.  Not only were they megalolz, but it turned out they are about as obsessed with dogs as we are.

They were getting married in July 2015 at Clissold House (our neck of the woods, at the time) and it turned out Guney was mates with an old family friend of Charlie's.

Oh, how it was all meant to be!

When Jo and her mum came to A Most Curious Wedding Fair in March, she had been considering replacing her veil after the ceremony with a crown of cream, white and blush flowers but wasn't quite sure.  Charlie and I were wearing flower crowns at the time and gave one to Jo to try on.  Jo's mum cried tears of pride and joy, Jo welled up, Charlie and I beamed, and the decision was made. 

And of course there had to be a flower crown for their beloved niece.



Jo and Guney wanted a relaxed affair - nothing too 'weddingy'.  Just a big ole party.  

They dreamt of colourful, loose, fun and natural wedding flowers with a wild, unstructured, English Garden look. They didn't want anything too vintage or country kitsch.  

And they loved the idea of lots of foliage to echo the backdrop of the beautiful Clissold Park.

For Jo's bouquet, she asked for a ‘just picked’, natural, loose look of colourful flowers with lots of green foliage.  

She loves peonies, daisies and roses and wanted to include freesias in her bouquet as her they are her mum's favourite. We chose the Mandarin variety for their incredible smell and orange brightness.



We also added purple clematis with it's deep green foliage into the mix for the English Garden feel, as well as astrantia and scabious.

Guney and his fellas had mismatched buttonholes, tied with colourful twine, while the mums had slightly more floral corsages with, of course, freesias.

The staircase and mantlepiece of the beautiful 18th Century mansion were garlanded with a mix of foliage and bright flowers, and jars of peonies, freesia, daisies, clematis and lisianthus decorated the tables.

It looked like the most perfect London - garden wedding, and as Jo and Guney hoped, a cracking knees up!

Photos by the absolutely marvellous, dreamy and super talented Claudia Rose Carter.

And be sure to check out this wedding on the excellent nuptials blog Love My Dress.

Houseplant of the Month: January

Houseplants: like the perfect man... long lasting, great looking and low maintenance.  

What is not to love?  

Which is why the Flower Council of Holland are continuing their Houseplant of the Month Campaign throughout 2016.  Each month they have chosen their favourite Houseplant and given a ton of information on the history and uses of the plant, how to choose a nice healthy one, and how to take proper good care of it.
Check out The Joy of Plants for further information and a whole load of fun and inspiration.

We thought we'd do you all a favour and follow their lead, condensing the info in our own monthly feature.  

In the first part of this year's series...

January : Indoor Trees

Yesterday I spent a good hour sawing the branches off our Christmas tree, just to get it out of the front door.  

We'd got over excited, you see. And bought a massive one.  

It wasn't until the netting was off that we realised we'd gone too far.  And that we'd have to move the sofa and sacrifice opening the window shutters for the rest of the festive period...

Consequently, with the tree now hacked to pieces and ready for composting, the living room feels bare, lifeless. 

The answer? Indoor trees! 
Of a much smaller stature than that pine monster, obviously.

These boys cheer a space right up AND they are air purifying.  Which means you can have a glass of vino while they do the January detoxing for you.  Probably.

There are four main types of indoor tree; Beaucarnea, Dracaena, Polyscias and Pachira.  They are all considered to be 'greenery on a trunk', which is where they store water making them very easy to care for.  Ideal.

Beaucarnea 

The beaucarnea is often referred to as the ponytail palm or the elephant's foot.  It is in fact neither a palm nor an elephant's foot (despite looking a tad like both due to it's thick trunk and splaying, thin leaves), but part of the asparagus family.  

Keep him in a nice light spot out of direct sunlight and let the soil go dry between waterings. 

Dracaena

The leaves of this beauty come in a variety of shapes and colours; green, yellow and gold leaves with tones of pink and red in certain areas.

Keep the dracaena away from cold and draughts and preferably in a nice warm pool of light.  Only water once the soil has dried up.

Polyscias

The polyscias are the most 'tree looking' of the indoor trees, as they grow upwards, with leaves filling out along the length of the trunk.

They prefer shade over direct sunlight, and like to be watered little and often so that their soil remains moist.

Pachira

.

A perfect gift for anyone in January - the pachira is considered in China to bring fortune and happiness to the home and is often called the money tree.  Also referred to as the Malabar chestnut, it's a real good looking tree with it's lovely, fast-growing, hand-like leaves.

Keep out of full sunlight, keep the soil damp and give the leaves a good spray every so often.

New Year. New Aspirations.

2015 was the first full-time year for One Flew Over.  

Previously, we both had other jobs; we raced from our desks to meet brides, we answered emails at midnight and (on more than one occasion) speed conditioned flowers with a toothbrush in our mouths.

In 2015, we said goodbye to working for the man (and incidentally, Jess' stress-related eczema - may this be a lesson to us all...) and One Flew Over became our One True Love.

We had an incredible year.  We laughed more than we ever imagined was possible, we created arrangements and installations we were very proud of, and most importantly, we became committed fans of The Archers.

We also made mistakes, had moments of crippling anxiety and wished we could have done a few things differently.

And so, with all that in mind, we have created our New Year's Aspirations for 2016.  
Because 'resolutions' sound scary and unforgiving...

~~~~~

To remember that courage is more important than success.
And that only our definition of success matters.

To pursue balance. And beauty.
In work and life and everything else.

To stop. And take a deep breath.

Jess gets a bit angry and stressy the day before an event.  Charlie gets nervous and flustered on the day.  

Work, and life, is a lot easier when you know your weaknesses and just take a little moment before they take over you.

To call our mothers back.
Sorry mums...

To find more time for our friends.  

Ok, so it won't be a Friday night, a weekend brunch or a Sunday night pub quiz, but we will make all of you Tuesday evening suppers, if you fancy it?

To use that Woodland Trust membership.
And generally just hang out outside as much as possible.
Hello vitamin D.

  To enjoy being our own bosses.
Because bizniz women really do rule the world, they just have to put up with a few admin duties. 

To support.
Our fellow florists, our clients, our old and new pals, our fellas and our families, and each other. 

And to have a bloody ace year.