Why British flowers for weddings?
If you are excited to be planning your wedding, have you considered using British Flowers? Harriet Mullins of Sweet Peas and Sunflowers gives some reasons why you should.
Gorgeous details for an outdoor wedding table by Sweet Peas and Sunflowers. Photo: Holly Collings
Eco friendly weddings
Are you someone who always remembers their reusable coffee cup? Tries hard to cut down on plastic use? Are careful about your food choices? Are you trying hard to reduce your impact on the earth?
I know lots of us worry about this and try and find ways to tread lightly but many people don’t consider flowers as producers of a larger carbon footprint. Flowers are a treat to ourselves or a gift for others, a way to cheer ourselves up or bring a smile.
However flowers are a big business and therefore have a big impact on the environment. The majority of flowers sold in the UK come from either Holland, or countries like Ethiopia and Kenya. This is why we can have a rose for Valentines Day in February, it’s not a flower that would ever be blooming at that time of year in the UK – even in an unheated polytunnel.
A Dutch Rose is equivilent to 2.437kg of CO2, compared to an outdoor grown snapdragon which comes in at 0.114kg of CO2 per stem. A bouquet of flowers from abroad (based on a supermarket bunch) comes in at 32.252kg of CO2. These figures take into account the heat, lighting and water used as well as fertiliser use and air or road miles. Compare this with the fact that a flight from Paris comes in at 58kg of CO2 and suddenly these flowers seem less innocuous and a lot less joyful.
(Figures from Article ‘The Carbon Footprint of Flowers’ By Rebecca Swinn and Angela Coulton FFTF )
However there is an answer! The market for British grown flowers is rapidly growing (we now have over 1000 Flowers from the Farm members nationwide) and by choosing British grown flowers you’ll dramatically reduce the impact your wedding flowers will have.
There are many Flowers From the Farm members who grow without the use of chemicals and who grow to support their local pollinators and the ecosystem around them.
Freshness, quality and variety
By choosing British Flowers you will have flowers picked only days before your wedding, well hydrated and fresh. You will also have so much more choice, the varieties grown by your local flower farmer will include delicate and unusual blooms which just can’t be shipped accross the world: flowers like beautifully scented sweet peas, delicate cosmos and garden roses which continue to open as you carry your bouquet down the aisle.
Seasonal flowers, picked at their prime capture a moment and will bring movement, scent and quirky stems bringing charisma and charm to your wedding bouquet.
By choosing seasonal flowers, each year when your wedding month comes around, you’ll notice the flowers from your bouquet blooming in gardens all around, the sights and scents of them taking you right back to the day when you got married.
Our flowers change with the seasons, and there are even British flowers available in winter from larger scale growers. If you contact your local flower farmer they will be able to advise you on what may be in flower at the time of your wedding and many of our members are also florists and can guide you through the whole process of organising flowers for your big day. Alternatively, why not ask your chosen florist to source British (and if possible, local ) blooms for you.
Flowers from the Farm holds an annual celebration of flowers and growing, The Flower Farmers Big Weekend, and this is a great opportunity to get out and visit a flower farm near you and see the beauty, charm and sheer variety which grows in our fields across the UK. What could be nicer for your wedding?
Simply beautiful…for weddings that don’t cost the earth. Flowers by Sweet Peas and Sunflowers. Photo: Holly Collings.
