February Wedding at Saffire Freycinet

Milton Gan Photography

Last February, I was privileged to provide flowers for a special wedding at Saffire Freycinet.  Saffire is an amazing luxury resort on the Freycinet Peninsula on the East Coast of Tasmania. 

Saffire Freycinet

With spectacular views and amazing architecture, Saffire is a very special place.  

Saffire Freycinet

My lovely bride and groom had planned their day to a tee, and it really was a treat to be involved.   

The ceremony took place on the private beach at Saffire, looking across the water at the Hazards mountains.  Such a special spot!  

Setting up was a challenge due to the tides, but with everyone on deck to help, we made it in time.

Decorations for the ceremony included chair decorations, and flowers to decorate the arch.

I loved the chair decorations, using Brunia, Silver Tree, Banksias, and lots of foliage, with navy ribbon to match the bridesmaids dresses.

The boardwalk heading down to the beach was dotted with little signs, with floral decorations.

I loved the details for the ceremony.  

There were flowers for the drinks table at the ceremony.

Milton Gan Photography

The stunning photographs by Milton Gan show how everything looked, all set up.  So beautiful!

Milton Gan Photography

All the details!

Milton Gan Photography

And beautiful signage by Ashdown + Bee

For the bouquets, the colours were kept low key.  There were lots of silvery greens, with Silver Tree foliage, Risdon Peppermint foliage, Irish Juniper, and Banksia foliage. Each bouquet also had some Lambs Ears - such beautiful soft foliage which seemed to contrast so well with the spiky zig-zag Banksia leaves. 

The bride's bouquet featured Banksia Baxterii at the front (Birdsnest Banksia), Banksia Speciosa to the left of it,  a shimmering Silver Tree cone next to it, and Brunia Albiflora at the top of the picture.  A creamy white Protea Repens was also used.  

The bridesmaids bouquets were similar, but without the Banksia Speciosa and Protea Repens.  Leucadendron Pisa, a green leuco with silvery white cones was used throughout the arrangements for the wedding.  There were also touches of blue with Sea Holly.  Special creamy white Hydrangea Paniculata were used in each of the bouquets too.  And you can see other details like Nigella pods, white Hypericum berries, and poppy pods.  Lots of wonderful textures!

Simple boutonnieres for the men using the zig-zag Banksia leaves, Lambs Ears, Sea Holly and Hypericum.

Milton Gan Photography

What a dress!

Milton Gan Photography

Milton Gan Photography

Milton Gan Photography

So elegant!

Milton Gan Photography

There were boutonnieres for the dads too. 

Milton Gan Photography

I really loved these bouquets.

Milton Gan Photography

The reception was held inside the amazing central building at Saffire.  The view across the landscape is amazing.  

Table decorations for the centre of each table carried on the limited colour palette.  Brunia, Banksia, Leucadendrons, native foliage and Peppermint gum, with little splashes of blue from the Sea Holly.

Each centrepiece had lichen covered twigs to bring the landscape inside.

For the bridal table, a runner with more of the same ingredients. 

It looks a bit different in the flower shed, the day before!  

And then when it's in its place - ah!

Milton Gan Photography

Each place setting had a navy napkin.

And on each plate, the name of the guest with a little floral flourish!  

A Pisa Leucadendron with its silver cone, and a zig zag Banksia leaf - they really do grow like that.  We didn't sit and cut them all out!

Milton Gan Photography

Glimpses of the landsacpe through the glass as the sun began to set - so beautiful!

And finally the cake - a beautiful simple semi-naked cake by Cake Chaos with just a few floral touches.

It really was a treat to be involved in this beautiful wedding.  I enjoyed every minute of it!

Make sure you have a look at the amazing video by Light Noise Films, which shows more of the Tasmanian landscape and this special day.  Thanks to the lovely couple for choosing me to be involved. 

JK + Rachel // Saffire Freycinet Wedding // Tasmania from Light Noise Films on Vimeo.

Floral Crowns and Flowers for Hair

Wearing flowers in your hair is not a new idea - its probably been around as long as there have been flowers, and people to enjoy them!  But the "flower crown" has become a very popular addition to wedding flower orders over recent years, so I thought I'd do a little collection of some of them.  They can be tricky to make, but when they work, they're fabulous!  The crown above was made for a gorgeous bride who wanted red, white and blue, with the flowers heavier at the back.  The red was provided by some early autumn Silvan Red Leucadendrons, and some smaller Banksia Occidentalis.  Blue came from the blue of the Eucalyptus Cordata leaves, and some deconstructed blue hydrangea.  Flowering gum in white, and a sprinkling of Wax Flowers added touches of white.  

Photography by Inside the Frame

It worked!

Photography by Inside the Frame

The heavier flowers at the back weren't attached to the actual crown, but were pinned in so that they would sit at the right angle.

An asymmetrical crown is really flattering, with the flowers being heavier on one side than the other.  This crown was made with silvery leafed tea tree in flower.  

Added to the left hand side was some Eucalyptus Crenulata foliage, pink Kangaroo Paw, pink flowering gum and a gum nut, to tie in with the bouquet.

Photography by Sarah Williams

I think it worked beautifully.

For a brightly coloured summer wedding in January, the bride wanted a crown to match her bouquet with pink and orange tones.

Flowering gum in a rich orange, pink kangaroo paw, myrtle beech foliage and geraldton wax flower were combined into her crown.

Photography by Looks Like This

With the gorgeous brunette hair, the colours looked wonderful.

For an autumn wedding at Port Arthur, the bride wanted something leafy with yellow tones to match the grooms yellow tie. 

Photography by Fred and Hannah

The bride looked amazing!

For this early April wedding the colour theme was burgundy.  I added rich red leucadendrons to the front of the crown, mixed in with Cootamundra wattle foliage in bud, peppermint gum foliage, and some lemon-scented tea tree which made the whole thing smell delicious.

Picture by Kristy L Photography

Such a stunning wedding!

Flower crowns are often chosen for flower girls or children.  For this little crown, worn by a little girl for her first birthday photo shoot, I wove thryptomene, myrtle beech foliage and little sprigs of Berzelia. 

The ribbon is mostly for show.  I make crowns to be slightly adjustable so they fit the head perfectly, but adding a ribbon is usually just for the effect.

I love the way the textures and colours combine in a crown.  This one had to be petite, for such a sweet little head.

Photograph by Astrid Simone Photography

What a little cutie!

You can see the difference in texture depending on the ingredients used.  For the one in the above photo, made for a flower girl, I added berries and wattle buds to flowering tea tree foliage.  

Photography by Love Jennifer

For the same wedding, the bride wore a half crown.  Half crowns can be a great way to work some flowers into a hairstyle that doesn't suit a full crown.  They can either be made on a hair comb/slide, or they can simply be a wired piece that is attached with pins.

For this bride, the berries were a particular request and we blended them with some interesting foliage and textured elements.  This half-crown was a simple wire piece, pinned into the hair style.

Photography by Love Jennifer

It looked gorgeous!

Another half crown made on a hair comb combined silvery blue-green foliages, white and red.  This half crown used a comb to anchor it to the hair, so all the foliage and flowers were attached to the comb. 

I find that metal combs make the best bases for floral combs.  They are bendable if they need to be, and are less fragile.  This cute comb was embellished with pale pink flowering gum, tea tree and wax flower.

Its always so lovely to see how it sits in the hair.  

Hair combs can be more flamboyant and asymetrical too.  This one for a February wedding with pinks and lots of foliage used coral fern, gum leaves, gum buds and bright pink flowering gum.  

I also used some deconstructed Brunia Albiflora to match the bouquets.

Island 26 Photography

It was great to get photos of the hair dresser doing his thing!  

Island 26 Photography

And the flowers sitting so well in that hairstyle - gorgeous!

Another comb, this time for the back of the hair.  The pink and red tones mirrored the bride's bouquet,  using banksia, hydrangea, hebe, pittosporum and wax flower.  

Great contrast with that luscious dark hair!

A silvery, leafy comb with peppermint gum, brunia albiflora, flowering gum and buds, wax flower and leucadenron cones.

Photography by Acoma

It was worn by the mother of the bride, instead of a corsage.  What a great idea!

Another comb, using wax flwoer, leucadendron pisa, cedar, peppermint gum and echinops, for a symetrical design,

I loved the beautiful colours in this spring flower comb.  The main flower is a Tasmanian Waratah, surrounded by purple Isopogon, creamy Leucadendron Discolour, peppermint gum foliage, leucadendron cones and Berzelia.

This simple comb has a row of Leucadendron Jubilee Crown cones topped with tea tree and rice flower.

The simplest of all are some small picks of flowers on wires, which can be woven into a hairstyle for a scattered effect. 

There are so many possibilities for hair flowers - I hope these have sparked your imagination.