British Flowers Week: A Mad Tea Party for Alice's 150th

2015 is a year of a few special anniversaries. One of these is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

When I first read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, my favourite chapter was A Mad Tea Party. I loved how conversational and silly it was, I loved the setting and the characters. I didn't want the chapter (or the party) to end. I also loved the meeting with the Queen of Hearts, even though she was terrifying. The Duchess freaked me out though, especially after I saw a television version in the 80s.

Today is Alice's Day - the day that Lewis Carroll first told the story of Wonderland to Alice Liddell, who inspired the books. If you were lucky enough to be in Oxford today, you may have seen the celebrations, including a line up of 150 Alices!

When I did flowers a couple of weeks ago, I had the tea party in mind.

I often do - I bought this Alice cup when I visited a friend in Oxford, and another friend sent me this cake stand from Jersey.

Last month, I got rainbow cake fit for Wonderland, from Brighton cake and ice cream cafe Cloud 9. (This anniversary Mad Hatter cake is quite something though.)

There were "bunny ears" grasses to represent the White Rabbit and the March Hare, and a few strongly-scented red roses to keep the Queen of Hearts happy. There were also chamomile flowers, which I've wanted to grow for years, ever since I learned that they symbolise energy in adversity.

There were jam and marmalade jars, but no mustard.

I have three copies of the book because I love the different covers so much. I'm busy today and tomorrow with a flower stall (come and visit me - it's at the Garden Museum from 10.30!), but will dig out one of my copies and have a read again.

Wherever you're going, I'm going your way

Last autumn, I had the pleasure of doing wedding flowers for a lovely couple, Zula and Jody. They had their wedding in a barge on the River Thames, and it was my kind of wedding – a cool and intimate venue, lots of personal touches, and family and friends helping out. Jody and his friends did a great job of setting up the venue, including an inviting-looking sweetie table and a show-stopping cake table. Jody’s mother brought a lovely tea set with her for me to fill with flowers on the morning, and although it’s a bit of an adrenalin rush, as reception flowers often are, there was such a warm atmosphere and it felt like a privilege to be amongst the good-humoured family, friends and the (surprisingly calm) groom in the exciting few hours before ‘I do’.

Although I spoke to Zula on the phone and through emails to discuss the flowers she wanted, I never got to meet her. Jody and his friends told me what a lovely person she is, and that’s certainly what I thought when I corresponded with her. I was delighted when she sent me photos taken on the day, and I could finally see the beautiful bride whose flowers I had so enjoyed doing!

Here are some photos of Zula and Jody’s big day - the first five are by their photographer and the last seven were hastily taken by me! I wish the couple a long and happy wedded life together. (This post title is from the song Moon River. I had the song in my head every time I looked at photos of this wedding - I guess because it was on a river!)

The remains of the day

I only had two arrangements left over from the weekend – a mass of chrysanthemum heads arranged in floral foam, and a bouquet with different roses, hypercium berries, and aspidistra leaves. I met a friend for lunch earlier this week and gave her the latter – hopefully the flowers will last a couple more days. The chrysanthemums are with me, and they still look brand new.

With the few flowers remaining, I did three little arrangements for me. I re-arranged the teapot using new roses from the garden (spot the Jude the Obscure), I tried to match the colours of the spray roses and hypercium berries with the bright vase from Clermont-Ferrand, and I was delighted to have an excuse to use the Elizabeth Blackadder ‘Poppies’ jug that I’d got in the sale from the Royal Academy of Arts (my favourite gallery in London).