Q: When did you first realise you were interested in floral design?

Can you recall what caused the spark?

Lisa: I’ve been interested in styling and décor for as long as I can remember. I’ve been involved in the wedding industry since 2013 in my role as Wedding Manager and have had a huge interest in the work the floral designers do at our venues - I have to admit to spending a bit too much time “helping” with the set up and photographing installations of some the amazing work of other floral designers.

 Kate generously organised for us both to attend an innovative wreath making course for my birthday. Attending the course was really when the penny dropped. The style of teaching and approach really opened my eyes to the opportunities for creativity which I had been searching for. A new aesthetic, relaxed, individually inspired and romantic.

Is there a go-to bit of kit when it comes to creating event flowers?
Your floral design essentials?

Lisa: If you can believe it, cable ties are the best thing you never thought you would need for floral installations - and chicken wire!

Kate: I can’t work without my pair of trusty Sakagen Japanese floral scissors. They are perfect in every way. Woe betide anyone who borrows them and doesn’t bring them back! 

If you could give one piece of advice to a couple planning their special day, what would it be?

Lisa: One thing I say to all couples is to take some time out on the day to just step back and look around to drink it all in and savour a quiet, truly precious moment with your partner and to breathe in everything you’ve created for your day.

Kate: My best bit of advice to couples planning a wedding is to really embrace the season you’ve chosen to get married in. Flowers are so much better in both value and quality when in season.

Kate: I’ve always been interested in design and all things aesthetic. I used to follow my grandmother around when as part of her local flower club she used to decorate the church for harvest festival.  Over the years, I did various flower-arranging courses, but they were very formulaic. Lots of ‘rules’ to follow, arrangements to copy, vessels and flowers chosen by the tutors ready and lined up on the bench. Flower arranging wasn’t treated as an art form which embraced individuality and as such I found it somewhat uninspiring.

I had long enjoyed visiting the beautiful florist shop owned by Zita Elze.  Every morning it would be re-curated and re-styled and packed with the most incredible blooms and greenery. Attending her career change floristry course with Lisa was the light bulb moment for me. We were encouraged to design our own arrangements from the heart, allowing an individual bloom to speak to us and to design with specific individuals or just a mood in mind.

Tell us about the most challenging commission Kate & Kent have experienced?

Both: The toughest commission we have ever had was a charity event where the brief was to create Midsummer Night’s Dream theme.  It sounds like your perfect commission, however, it was held in a 1970’s village hall, with a tiny budget on the hottest day of 2018!  We stepped up and created an ethereal archway and woodland entrance, a central main table with a series of hanging branches and installations over the table and a huge woodland table centre. It was an enormous challenge, but great fun and for a great cause.

What's your favourite season - and/or seasonal flower? Why?

Kate: I’d say Spring is my favourite season, it’s so full of promise and incredible variety, but each season brings its own delights. I love the way that floristry has and is evolving to embrace the interesting, not just the obvious.  Ingredients such as spent seed heads and twisted willow, everything brings its own contribution and designs are more beautiful for having lots of variety.

Lisa: It is hard to pick a favourite: every season has amazing and special flowers and sometimes not the expected ones.  Hellebores in late winter, the wonderful range of tulips, fritillaries and narcissus in spring, through to all the stunning native flowers of early  summer like foxgloves, delphiniums, dahlias and sweet little geums that add a little shot of colour - the list is endless!  It is almost impossible for me to choose one flower but if I was pushed, I would say a big blousy old-fashioned English rose, with a heady musk scent.

What is the best bit of advice you’ve ever been given?

Both: Use your instinct to trust your style; don’t overthink it, just be true to yourself and believe in your value. If you don’t, your clients never will.