HOT TOPIC Local experts offer stellar advice on wedding dilemmas BLOOMING BEAUTIFUL I’m set to tie the knot next summer, and I’d love to include some of the season’s most beautiful flowers in my bouquet and venue décor. Do you have any suggestions for what I should look for? Summer brides usually have their pick of lovely weather and a wide option of simply stunning blooms. Roses are a bridal staple available year-round in various shades and sizes to embellish bouquets, buttonholes and wedding venues. Choose high-grade flowers for your bouquets, and either colour-block them with filler florals or go for a graduated effect using one to three shades. Pick your favourite colours as there’s no written rule that it has to be white or ivory for brides. Large head dahlias, lilies and peonies are in season only until early June, while hydrangeas, larkspur, lisianthus and astilbe are your other go-to large statement flowers and fillers. For greenery, choose to go with one shade of green with a variety of leaves or use about three to five different types with varying shades to add texture and colour to your displays. Greenery is available yearround, so source plenty to fill up the venue displays and use your large and filler flowers as focal pieces to keep costs down. Have a budget for your flowers, as florals are expensive. Careful planning with your florist will help keep within your budget. Here at Becca Blooms, we tell all our brides to start speaking to us as soon as they have a date and venue booked. That way, we can source and create the most appropriate, cost-effective and impactful floral displays. Rebecca Paulraj | Becca Blooms | https://beccablooms.com PLANNING SOS We’ve just started planning our honeymoon; what advice can you share to help the process? The honeymoon is when you kick back and focus on the two of you while thoughts of seating charts, wedding favours and centrepieces become a distant memory. With a literal world of destinations, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. At Tailored Retreats, it helps to consider some fundamental questions starting with those centred around you as a couple. What do you enjoy doing together, and are there destinations or experiences you both have on your bucket lists? Weddings often reflect the happy couple; the perfect honeymoon should follow suit! Next, think about whether you have set travel dates and departure points or if you have flexibility. Many hotels offer honeymoon benefits for couples travelling within a year of their wedding, and flexibility can mean cost savings as well as a greater choice of destinations, hotels and flights. Finally, agree on your budget. Without an idea of what you want to spend, planning a honeymoon can be exhaustive to no avail. Off the back of these initial questions, a good travel agent can narrow down destinations before working with you to design a tailor-made itinerary for your dream honeymoon. Amisha Patel | Tailored Retreats https://tailoredretreats.com 71 ASK THE EXPERTS
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