Farewell 2021
As we wave off 2021 (we can't quite believe it - think
some of us are still processing 2020!) we thought we would take a look back at
some of the highlights from 2021. It may have begun with a lot of uncertainty but we found
reasons to celebrate, and the return of weddings made our year. Seeing newlyweds showered in confetti, and our supplier friends thriving again has
really been fantastic!
Here's just a little snippet of our
2021…
Image Credit: Alex Ford Photography
Awards
We got crowned a Hitched 2020 Couples' Champion
this year. Hitched received hundreds of entries from couples and wedding businesses
so we're absolutely over the moon when Shropshire Petals got selected alongside
19 other fabulous companies. The award was to highlight the amazing acts of kindness
that we all carried out when we went into a lockdown in 2020 - there are some
pretty amazing people out there!
Image credit: Hitched
Our fantastic customer service was also recognised
by Feefo and we got presented the
Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award 2021 as voted by you! This incredible award isn't just any old award,
Feefo gives Platinum Trusted Service awards to businesses that have achieved
the Feefo Gold standard for three consecutive years or more.
The team is constantly listening to your feedback
and improving our service and developing our products to make sure they are the
best they can be.
In September we were delighted to receive news from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that we had been put forward for the Best Confetti Award in their 2021 Vegan
Wedding Awards (a celebration of animal-friendly weddings) and won! This saw us
featured in an exclusive story in Bride Magazine.
Featured In
We've had some wonderful exposure this year, from 'Where
to buy Dried Flowers' in Country Living Magazine, 'The most beautiful flowers
to buy online' in Good House Keeping to a feature of our Letterbox Bouquet in
Glamour UK. We even made it across the pond to America with a beautiful styled
shoot with Sarah Cooper Photography featured in Wedding Chicks.
In July we had a lovely visit from BBC Midlands,
they interviewed Ashley for a lunchtime news special in the flower field where
they discussed the extreme heatwave, our pretty flowers, and business since the
return of weddings. We had lots of fun and Ashley did a smashing job on
telly.
I wonder where you will spot us in 2022?!
Image: Ashley being interviewed by BBC Midlands
Dried Flower Craze Continued
The love for dried flowers is still strong and we
couldn't be happier as we can't get enough of our gorgeous dried blooms. We saw thousands of our dried flower letterbox
bouquets, posies and wreaths delivered all over the UK. To say the run up to Mother's Day in
the Petal Shed was busy making our handmade arrangements would be an understatement. But as always, our wonderful team delivered and its so worth it to see all the lovely images of
our dried flowers in our customers' homes throughout the year.
The popularity of dried flowers for weddings has also grown, with a lot more demand for our Bouquets, Posies, Buttonholes,
and Bunches. We totally get why, the dried flower arrangements can be made long
in advance of the big day, there's no need to
water them and there will be no drooping by the end of the day too. They're
also great if you're a hay fever sufferer too, as there's no pollen to cause
issues on your special day.
Best of all you can keep them as a memento long
after the big day or give them to a loved one to cherish.
Image: Woodland Dried Flower Sheaf
A Wonderful Harvest
For us, a big highlight from this year has been our wonderful flower harvest. With nice
weather and a fabulous team, we managed to
harvest a record-breaking number
of dried flower bunches and we couldn't be prouder of what our hard-working
team achieved.
By
harvesting the petals ourselves, we are able to monitor quality during the entire process. It's also great to produce from within the UK wherever possible, as it reduces air miles, our carbon footprint and promotes our eco-friendly ethos.
Not only is our flower field pretty to look at it
acts as a haven for local wildlife during the summertime. It's always so great to
see how much bees love our flowers, they couldn't
get enough of our Statice this year!
The SP Team Expanded
We welcomed our little dried flower mastermind,
Hannah, to the petal shed in March and Alannah joined the marketing team in April.
In the last few months, we have had Stephanie and Jemma join the dispatch team.
All of these lovely new faces have fitted in wonderfully on the farm! We really
couldn't ask for a more talented, fun and, all-around lovely bunch of people
that we have on the Shropshire Petals team.
The great news is the team is growing once again
and we couldn't be more excited about it. If you fancy a new challenge in 2022, go and peruse our Careers page – we'd love to hear from
you.
Image: Some of the Shropshire Petal team in the 2021 flower field
Weddings Made a Comeback!
The day we all had been waiting for, finally came. We
defiantly celebrated with a shower of our real flower confetti!
After a long hiatus, July saw weddings back in full
swing, which meant a very busy summer in the Petal Shed. From beautiful bespoke mixes created by our lovely
customers to personalised items, we have had some pretty amazing confetti
orders leave the shed this year. It was so lovely to see.
We even got to attend a few weddings ourselves this
year and it was the best feeling. Let's face it there is no better boogie than
on the dance floor of a wedding.
Image: Sean Gallagher Photographer
Brands and Suppliers we worked with
We're so lucky to work with many talented photographers
(too many to name) and gorgeous weddings venues every year and have built some wonderful friendships with these
very incredible individuals (you know who you are). Some of the styled shoots we
got involved in this year have seen us featured in Rock My Wedding, Bridal
Musing Magazine, Boho Weddings, Unique Rebels Union and more!
Image Credit: Alexandria French Photography
We've also had the chance to collaborate with lots of
influential brands in 2021. We may have got a tad excited about our collaboration
with the wonderful Sophie Allport, we have been a fan of this gorgeous company for
a very long time and when we got a chance to select some charming pieces from Sophie's
autumn/winter 2021 home collection for a competition we were delighted. We
loved that the designs were a collaboration with The National Trust and celebrated
Woodlands and Parks. They were perfect alongside our Woodland Dried Flower range
and it made for the most beautiful giveaway inspired by the natural world. We had so much
fun photographing everything together!
It was also amazing to be part of celebrity blogger,
Scarlett London's, magical day back in August. Scarlett had her own bespoke mix
in personalised sachets and also selected our confetti cannons for that extra
wow factor.
Image: Scarlett London captured by Kaye Ford
Back British Farming Day
We were proud to
support the NFU's Back British Farming Day in September.
As a symbol to British farming hundreds of our Shropshire grown wheat
buttonholes were wrapped in British wool and sent out to MP's to wear in the
Houses of Parliament to show their support too.
Lots of our lovely
customers got in touch to say they spotted them on the MP's which was lovely to
hear.
Image: Featuring our lovely Amanda
New Products
January saw the release of our DIY
Bath Bomb and Max Melts Kits, we
wanted to provide a hobby for those of you that were stuck on furlough and to keep
customers busy. The reaction was fantastic and they have continued to be the
perfect birthday treat for loved ones, a great Mother's Day gift for those crafty
mums, and have also been an absolute hit this Christmas.
We also introduced our Woodland Range, which has
been extremely popular for home interiors and weddings. This brand-new collection was inspired by the
natural world, and features, botanical greens, crisp whites and rustic neutral
tones.
What's great about
this timeless collection is that it works with every season too!
Sweet Sixteen
We turned sweet sixteen on the 15th October
and celebrated this wonderful milestone with a journey down memory lane,
listening to lots of wonderful stories from the past and eating lots of our epic
birthday cake made by our very own Helena and Jess.
Not sure if you have noticed from our Instagram but
we have quite a few Mary Berry's in the Shropshire Petals team (Great British Bake
off - watch this space!).
Wedding Shows Returned
October saw us back at our first National Wedding Show after
two years and to say we were excited was an understatement. It was so lovely spreading our love for biodegradable petal confetti, discussing wedding trends, gorgeous colours schemes
and helping couples create bespoke confetti mixes! Some couples told us of how they were on their
third wedding date due to COVID, as much as it was sad to hear everyone was
still so upbeat and excited for the future. They weren't letting anything stop
their big day - it really was good to be back!
We look forward to traveling across the UK in 2022 to
meet all you nearlyweds, keep an eye out for updates regarding where we will
be.
Image: Shropshire Petals Stand at The National Wedding Show, NEC Birmingham
See you in 2022
2022 brings with it lots of exciting
things; we have some pretty epic news about our flower field, fabulous new collaborations
and great new products. But until then, we're keeping our lips well and truly
sealed.
The team can't wait to see more special
confetti moments and what you lovely lot get up to with our dried flowers (we
just love to see your creations).
Image credit: Damien Fulker
We can't thank you enough for your
support over the year - we couldn't do any of this without you.
Wishing you all a very Happy New
Year – see you in 2022!
Love from us all at SP xX
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