The style of the floral creations at your wedding, says a lot about you and your story, so choosing a florist who understands this, is important! There is something so gracious (and graceful) about flowers and foliage arranged with finesse and an eye to style and the unusual. Roberta and her team at Green and Bloom excel in creating lush, just picked from the garden style arrangements, letting the foliage and flowers speak for themselves, conveying the beauty of nature, but most importantly your style. And with unexpected, interesting flora added to the mix, Green and Bloom always manages to surprise and delight – and that’s what creates the magic!
Where does your love of flowers come from?
I grew up in an outdoors orientated family, with many weekends spent in the family garden with my parents and grandmother, or camping in the countryside. As a young child I was given an allocated space in the garden as my own to grow whatever I desired, and mum would take me on adventures to the nursery to select new blooms for the patch. I had a vivid imagination as a child, and my garden was my happy place.
How would you describe Green and Bloom?
Green and Bloom is a one of a kind events company, specialising in gorgeous show stopping floral creations, and bespoke event styling. Our work features unique custom-made details, with floral creations being a main feature of our event theming.
We offer our clients both floral and or full event styling services, and happy to help with as much or little as they require. We are creators, problem solvers, styling gurus, friends and florists.
We are always up for a challenge, and enjoy nothing more than brainstorming ideas and processes to make our client’s vision a reality.
Image by Jess Marks Photography
What is your floral and design philosophy?
You can never have too many flowers!
Are you known for a particular floral ‘style’?
Romantic, garden styled blooms is what we are best known for. I adore incorporating old world blooms along with more commonly known varieties. Fragrance is an important aspect of our designs, and we always try to incorporate sweetly fragrant blooms along with fresh foliage scents.
Image by Jess Marks Photography
Are old world blooms a backbone of your style? What do you use a lot of?
I adore David Austin Roses, Pansies, Poppies, Geraniums, Hydrangea, Ranunculus, Peonies, and Queen Annes Lace. I also grow a lot of less common flora in my garden that I cannot buy commercially and test new varieties each year. Stems off my Basil plants when in season in Autumn and Spring are quite the talking point, when a whole room smells of the fresh scent of Basil. There are so many unique varieties of roses these days which I use while in full bloom. My favorite varieties being Tamar Roses from Tasmania, and Clustar Grandiflora Roses.
You do use more unusual flowers too – amaranth, twigs, berries and vines. How do these enhance and change an arrangement?
I love variety of texture and tone, and seasonal florist candy like blackberries, hanging amaranths, fig branches, peach blossom, and jasmine vine. The more unusual and intriguing the better. I especially love to use flowers and foliage which are not commonly seen in society. It’s always wonderful to see people’s faces when they have never seen certain flowers or foliage before used within a bouquet or centrepiece.
I notice that you use florals within a colour palette and then place a totally unexpected texture or different coloured flower within the arrangement. How does this change an arrangement?
Colour and tone is such a personal choice and we always try and work alongside our clients to achieve the best colour tones and also variety of texture, to complement their wedding day theming. Sometimes a contrasting tone or texture is all that is needed to create a visually harmonious bouquet.
Do you have any tips for bringing down the cost of flowers other than using bunches of baby’s breath?
As a business we aim to ethically choose Australian grown blooms over imports, and educate our clients on the difference and how important it is to support our Australian growers. Rather than reducing costs by purchasing cheaper substitutes which are usually imported from overseas, we discuss options of re-using your flowers say for example from ceremony to reception, as well as possibly going with smaller sized bouquets and arrangements. Also increasing the quantity of foliage within arrangements can reduce costs significantly. You can further reduce your costs by choosing arrangements that are easy to install and construct onsite. But that being said, if you wanted a magnificent hanging installation at your reception (which is a labour and product intensive outcome) you could think about simplifying decorations on the tables and keeping the installation as a hero piece.
Image by Jess Marks Photography
You create really spectacular overhead installations and ceremony arch décor. What do you love about creating these?
A hanging installation entwined with fresh and fragrant blooms and foliage creates a show-stopping feature to any space. It’s a unique approach which will leave your guests speechless, and wanting to spend the night dancing under the flowers like fairies in a forest.
Please describe your styling and props business – Prop It Pretty.
Our workspace is overflowing with décor, linen and furniture items sourced for our sister company Prop It Pretty. Prop It Pretty is an online hire shop designed for clients who would like to style their event themselves, saving their time, money and sanity, by our team having already made or sourced the bespoke items.
What do you have available?
Linens, Crockery, Cutlery, Glassware, Dessert Table Accessories, Furniture, Vases, and Props.
How have you built up your very lovely collection of hire items?
A lot of the props and decor I started collecting for Green and Bloom over 7 years ago as I would get carried away with offering beautiful vase or décor collections for our clients to complement their blooms. I am conscious of offering different products to what the mainstream hire companies offer, with many of the items being custom made by our team. A few days out of each month I can be found scouring hundreds of op shops, and it makes me happy to think the vast majority of purchased décor is purchased from not-for-profit charities in the community.
Image by Jess Marks Photography
If hiring your props (with no styling package) how do I go about this, and when are they delivered?
Our clients order online, we double check all items are available and then send through an invoice for booking. Prior to an order going out, we carefully wash, and package up each detail and wrap safely for delivery. On delivery we ask that someone is there to receive the items, (however if this is not possible) that there is a secure spot for the items to be left before the client arrives home or at the venue.
If requested, do you provide the whole package – styling as well as flowers?
Yes many of our clients book Green and Bloom for flowers, styling and prop hire. This way they can have peace of mind that the one team is co-ordinating and creating the details on their day. There are often significant savings, both through delivery and installation fees, by having the one business assist with various aspects, rather than contracting out to three or more different companies.
What ‘packages’ do you offer bridal couples?
Sorry we no longer offer set packages as all our orders are custom designed for each couple.
Image by Jess Marks Photography
What is the most enjoyable aspect of providing both the styling and the flowers for a wedding?
To be able to have full quality control over all aspects of the event design and installation. We are a team of perfectionists and near enough is not good enough in my books.
When you’ve finished the flowers and styling for a wedding, what is the last thing you do?
If we have the time we step back and take some snaps of what we’ve created, as it’s usually something we don’t have time to do during the hustle of day. Quite often though were rushing out the door with boxes and rubbish packing down quickly before guests arrive. It’s great when our favorite photographers are onboard as the professional photographer as we can rely on some great sneak peaks on Instagram within a few days.
What do you do to relax, away from work?
Spend time with my two little darlings and husband at the pool or beach, renovating our cottage, vegetable gardening with the chickens, baking, and visiting our favourite cafes. This year I’m planning to take up horse riding in my spare time which I adored throughout my high school years.
Thank you Roberta for sharing your story. Beautiful blooms always bring the wow factor to a wedding – and aren’t these a feast for the eyes? To find out more about Green and Bloom visit the website.
Headshot by Studio Sixty Photography.
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