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17 May 2013 | Follow the Bride #7: The Stag Do!

As promised here's part 2 of the all important stag do, 

• So Jim, did you have any idea at all what they had in line for you? I had managed to get a few bits of information from the stag party but could not manage to make it all fit together! So basically I had no idea at all! Quite impressive really!

• Where did you go / what did you do?  Well it was based on a Top Gear challenge, 4 of the group had a budget of £300 to buy a car off eBay for the event. So on the Friday morning they all turned up at the farm in what were amazingly quite respectable cars. The first challenge was to decorate the cars to a theme, ranging from a Cow to best of British.  Then the challenge began, our destination was Langholm in Scotland.

The aim of the day was to gain as many points as possible, from getting pictures of your car outside a particular pub to having your picture taken IN Lake Windermere! (It was VERY cold). That evening the scores were collected and of course the Stag’s team didn’t win, penalties were found at every conceivable option. Night one ended in the local town hall with a local Scottish band dancing the night away with the locals.  

The morning of day two was a very steady affair, however some Kayaking in a very cold lake soon sorted us out, I think more time was spent swimming rather than actually kayaking! Followed by a very scenic drive over the hills to our evening destination, Edinburgh. The night was a more normal affair with a few pubs and bars.  Over the whole weekend it was quite remarkable that not even a single bonnet had to be opened on any of the cars!



Jim- aka the landrover nut loves engines and had high expectations for the "serious" stag do! 

• Jason said this was going to be a ‘serious stag do’ did it live up to expectation? It did indeed, however as there were more single than married people in the party the singletons knew that I have a very long memory!
• Less than 2 months to go, are ‘your’ jobs complete yet and have you actually sorted the suits yet?  All of the easy jobs are done, marque, food, band. The two main jobs remaining, the most important one of all is to build the bar, and this will be a surprise, I have a good idea for this one up my sleeve! The other is the one I’m dreading – suits! I have no idea, just simple.
• Apparently “you can’t meet a more relaxed groom.” Getting closer to the day, is this still true?  Well up till now nothing has been a problem as we have been so busy on the farm doing all of the spring work, the next job is to move house then the wedding so I have a few more weeks before I only have the wedding to worry about.

Thanks Jim, sounds an eventful stag do.  Well we've lots to catch up with Jess about now so we'll be back soon with some more Follow the Bride. 

Love as always SP x x 

16 May 2013 | Follow the Bride #6 : Best Man & Stag Do!

Jim's best man Jason popped by early last week.  With the stag do last weekend we thought, what better than a 2 part series, the role of the best man and then Jim's report on the stag do itself.  So here we go:

Part 1: The Best Man!  

• Hi Jason, so how do you know Jim and how did it come about for you to be best man?  I've know Jim since the age of 7 when we met at school, he was always standing on the back of my shoes when walking at school! Jim's good fun but likes to take the mick out of me, he's very level headed and a good reliable friend who would help out with anything.  I've never met a more relaxed groom!  There's actually two Best Men, it's quite common now a days to have two. 

• What's the role of the best man?  I've not been a best man before and now I'm best man for two this year, but that's not been yet either.  I'm sure the main jobs are organising the stag do, giving the best man speech and just being there all day making sure everything runs smoothly.  Besides that weddings in general are more of a girls thing!

• Have you started your speech?  I've not sat down and started it yet, we may have a shared speech but I won't think about it until I put pen to paper, I've loads of stories on Jim but I'll be careful what I say as he'll get me back.  

• What about the first dance, traditionally the best man dances with the head bridesmaid? Yes it's tradition, but I'm 6 ft 2 and she's 4 ft so I'd probably drop her!  

• So, the all important stag do, what have you got planned?  Well Jim said "I don't mind what we do as long as it's got an engine in it."  He's loves engines so it will involve travel and with 16 people involved it will be a challenge to organise it, but this is going to be a "serious" stag do!  People are easy to organise but keeping secrets is hard.  That's all I'm saying as Jim has no idea!  

Join us tomorrow for part 2 where we catch up with Jim for his report of the stag do and his anticipation for the big day! 

Love as always SP x x  

03 May 2013 | Summer Wedding Confetti

What are you up to for the bank holiday? Hope you all have a lovely long weekend. We'll be enjoying the sunshine!  Keeping our fingers crossed for plenty of sunshine and some night time rain, the perfect weather for our beautiful flowers! So what are you up to?  Well, Whether it is a walk with the family...

A gathering with friends... 

Or a fun filled party... 

or doing a spot of confetti shopping... (Maybe our new mix of the month... Summer Wedding Confetti?) 

Whatever you decide to get up to on the bank holiday, have fun!

We will back in on Tuesday so do go ahead and place lots of orders over the weekend as we look forward to coming back to them on Tuesday - all hands to the pump- or should I say kitchen measuring jug- we do like our good old fashioned measuring jugs!  Remember a litre of confetti provides a good 10 handfuls of confetti don't you know.  

Love as always SP x x 

30 Apr 2013 | Confetti Cone Wedding

Well here's a story and a half, I've been at Shropshire Petals for four years now and have yet to actually hold a confetti cone at a wedding! I've been to lots of weddings and there's been a lot of baskets of confetti and organza bags of confetti but this was the first wedding I've been to that had our biggest seller... The Shropshire Box! That's our amazing confetti cone box that everyone loves I just haven't been blessed with the chance to have one.. until Saturday!  

So here's me, Katie, pleased as punch to be able to hold my confetti cone.  Chris and Lou's wedding was amazing, they chose highland fling confetti to go with their purple theme and I also managed to get a few photos too: 

I love this one, Lou looks stunning and so happy, such a natural shot it's gorgeous.  The photographer got lots of confetti shots, I was a little too busy joining in on the confetti fun but still got some good photos. 

Last week we were asked about phrases to go next to the box encouraging people to take cones, here's the one they used, love it!

And after all the confetti had been thrown and the crowds had left to Church onto the reception a pretty scatter of petals was left, just like blossom off the tree, ready to biodegrade back to nature.  

So I enjoyed my first confetti cone experience, i loved the idea of creating a walk way for the bride and groom to walk through as everyone threw their cone high up in the air.  Am I now converted to confetti cones? Well I'm not sure, I do love a basket of petals still for everyone to grab a handful, but for the more organised people of us I think the cones are really simple, straightforward and very VERY... FUN!

Love as always SP x x 

23 Apr 2013 | Wise Words of Wisdom...

We had a nice request yesterday over on Shropshire Petals Facebook page for some confetti phrases, "Can you help me - looking for a poem to put with my confetti for outside the church to say on the photographers Que to throw it. Have you ever come across one?" - Joanne Burns.  Not one to shy away from a challenge we got our thinking caps on...

"Confetti to celebrate our special day, throw up high when the usher's say!"

Thank you to Jacky McKevitt for the fab confetti phrase in her photo.

Well what a fab response we've had from our Facebook fans as they've sent in some beauties:

"After the kiss, be ready for this; the couple will smile as they walk down the aisle. And that is your cue to toss high in the air, these petals of love for this happiest pair!!"  Hayley Cutts 

"To celebrate the bride and groom, let's make the air fill with blooms!" Polly Foster

Anyone for a confetti quote!?  Shakespeare eat your heart out!  (well, I think Hayley and Polly come close, not sure about us here at SP!)

Love as always SP x x

19 Apr 2013 | Business is blooming!

What a week... business is blooming!  I spoke last week about cultivating and drilling, well what a week it has been, more seeds have been sown and as summer beckons we are eagerly anticipating harvest.  I'm currently reminiscing over last year's harvest, with all the wind and the rain it was an awful year but we still managed a stunning supply of petals and even found the perfect day for our photo shoot, I loved it!   

It's really fantastic to be in an industry that merges weddings with the farming community, such a diversified business.  I can't wait to get back in the field again and look at all the beautiful flowers.  They usually start blooming late June ready for picking in July.  This year we've so many colours going in and a whole host of trial colours, it certainly will be THE sight to be seen in the Shropshire countryside.  

Love as always SP x x 

09 Apr 2013 | Shropshire Petals are recruiting!

Graduate Trainee for Sales Administration and Marketing Role 

Shropshire Petals is an expanding farm business involved in the growing, harvesting and sale of natural petal wedding confetti and dried flowers.

Reporting to the General Manager we are looking for a person to carry out a range of duties including website and social media management and analysis, sales performance monitoring, attending wedding fayres and sales promotion. 

Applicant must have strong IT and numeracy skills, confidence, creativity and be very flexible for this hands on role working in a small team.  Joining the team at peak harvest season you will be expected to bring a pair of wellies!

Training and personal development will be encouraged. 

Please send CV and covering letter with current references to: Katie Plant via email only to katie@shropshirepetals.com

Here at Shropshire Petals we are excited to announce that we are looking for a new member to join our team!  With the busy summer harvest and peak wedding season nearly here Shropshire Petals are on the look out for a new member to join us in a full time position.  

So if you're a Facebook and twitter addict, love blogging and keeping up to date with the latest trends whilst still having a head for figures and an eye for detail then send us your CV.  It can get a bit cold in the shed in winter so warm clothes are a must and obviously wellies are important in the summer for all those trips up to the fields.  

If you think you've got what it takes to join us in this exciting role we'd love to meet you.

Love as always SP x x