177 years ago

If you saw my collection of books on the subject of Queen Victoria, you would probably think- Kate, you really couldn't possibly need another book about Vic- and you might be right. But I just received a belated birthday gift, and guess what?

Julia Baird has written a really insightful, fascinating and easy to digest book about my favourite historical figure. I've been devouring it in recent days, and I just realised as I got to the chapters on Victoria's wedding and marriage to Prince Albert that today, February 10th, I am reading about these events on the 177th anniversary of their wedding. That is of course if my maths is correct...

The Anthropologist and History lover in me adores real life stories and facts much more than fiction, so here's some lovely little tid bits I've learnt.

Victoria was steadfast in her decision to leave the word "obey" in her wedding vows. Baird writes, 'It was not, for her, a call to subservience, but a reminder that she could not, or perhaps would not, dominate the man she married, as she did the rest of her household, her Cabinet, and her millions of subjects.'

The pattern for Victoria's wedding gown was promptly destroyed after the wedding so that it could never be copied. In attempt to boost the struggling lace industry, Victoria commissioned a large amount of hand-made Honiton lace.

Victoria's white gown popularised bridal white. She chose white mostly to show off the delicate lace detail of her gown. White was a rare and costly colour (bleaching had not yet been perfected) for brides. Her colour choice reflected her wealth, and was not a symbol of purity. 

So, cheers to Vicky and Bertie. 

And cheers to great books for holiday reading!

Kate  x

Valentine's Day wrap // The Snail & Petal

I love love, so I love being a florist on Valentine's Day. Shout out to the man who bought his fiancée a stem of ornamental kale because she isn't a 'rose sort of girl'. You're my kind of outside-of-the-box guy. Shout out to the silver fox who came into the shop with his young son to buy his wife a rose, and got each of his little girls a rose too. And a big shout out to Anna at The Snail & Petal for saying goodbye to me with the most scrumptious smelling candle I've ever smelt. Canberra ‪people, if you need flowers, choose The Snail & Petal. My time doing wedding work there was wonderful. Happy Valentine's Day lovers.

Kate  x

Styling and Photograph by Moss & Vine

Candle from The Snail & Petal, Hackett

Small packages

Are most definitely the best packages!

If you are a regular reader of Moss & Vine, firstly thanks, secondly you'll know I've been lusting after the beautiful velvet ring boxes from The Mrs Box for quite some time. You will also know from this post that it was my birthday last month. Some girls drop hints to their men about jewellery. I dropped hints about the vessel jewellery is traditionally presented in. 

I didn't want a ring. 

I wanted a ring box. 

A velvet ring box made from French velvet estimated to be between 40 and 100 years old, just to be precise. He's a switched on man, this man of mine. Actually, I wasn't overly subtle about my desired birthday present. He'd need to be really quite dim not to have grasped my hints outright requests for my very own Mrs Box.

I think it must be the most beautifully tactile object I own. I can't stop looking at it, turning it over in my hands. It is stunning.

If you're getting married, you should put your wedding bands in a Mrs Box for the wedding ceremony.

If you're planning to propose, you should do it with a Mrs Box.

If you already have a cherished ring, you should have a Mrs Box to put it in when it's not on your finger.

Shout out to The Mrs Box for dreaming up and producing such an exquisite thing!

Kate  x

Styling and Photographs by Moss & Vine

'The Gardener' Mrs Box from The Mrs Box

Coastal Wedding

22/11/14

It's a wedding weekend for us! 

It's my favourite kind of wedding too. 

I get to be florist and guest.

My Friday will be filled with bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages and flower crowns,

before a Saturday of 'I do's'.

K xx

Styling and Photographs by Moss & Vine

Ebony + ivory

Friday evening wedding inspiration coming at you! I had a play around with some velvety deep lipstick pink ranunculus and some chincherinchees this afternoon. Chincherinchees is an impossibly fun word to say. CHIN- CHER- IN- CHEES. Try it.

I am rather in love with this dapper striped ribbon.

Ebony and ivory is a classy, timeless look.

K xx

Flowers, Styling and Photographs by Moss & Vine

Spring long weekend x1

We've been doubly blessed in the Australian Capital Territory, we have two long weekends back-to-back. Awesome. The snow has melted on the mountains, more or less, so there was no early morning drive up to Perisher for a day of snowboarding. Instead, I used my time wisely. Kind of. 

I went to Floriade Nightfest with a couple of friends. Floriade is a bit like a flower theme-park. A lolly shop for florists, if you like.

I got a haircut. And had my 'brows done.

I went shopping. A few times. Cabin fever set in about 36 hours into the weekend.

I watched/listened to much of the 2014 Last Night of the Proms.
S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R.

I re-watched Outlander from the beginning in preparation for the mid-season final. 

I bought the (first) Outlander book and am half-way through it.

I went to wander through the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

I've caught up on the laundry.

And I've still got the rest of today to...

read, probably, if i'm being honest.

Also this month:

The annual Bride-to-Be spin off mag Flowers and Wedding Styling was released in September, making me one happy, happy, happy florist. It is a long wait for this beautiful magazine to grace the shelves each year.

I've been obsessing over Lovestar. These vases are genius. So, so effortlessly cool.

My current flower crush is the exceedingly humble chamomile daisy. It must be a Spring thing. These sweet little daisies are the essence of this season.

I've been lusting after beautiful and unusual ribbon.

And thinking about cake styling.

Oh, and of course there was a flower crown for a wedding in there somewhere too. Here is a sneak peek. More to come (hopefully).

K xx

Flowers, styling and photography by Moss & Vine

Here's one I prepared earlier

This Easter long weekend i'll be putting together the wedding flowers for a lovely couple who happen to be my immediate neighbours*.

The bride is beautiful and has great taste. I know this because she has elected to have floral arrangements dominated by white roses. White roses with: white orchids, magnolia foliage with some trailing ivy, and ivy berry for texture. Pure class.

The only left field request is a fully wired trail bouquet (like this one I made previously, pictured above).

Now, why is a fully wired trail bouquet a strange request?

It's nothing to do with the fact tear drop shaped bouquets haven't been truly popular since 1992. Trail bouquets are making their way back into wedding vogue. The under representation of this style is more to do with the cost of the fully wired trail bouquet. Most brides are pretty conscious of the massive cost that their dream day adds up to. That's why the simple dome shaped hand tied bouquet has been staple for a couple of decades now. Simply put, a natural stem bouquet is a cost effective option. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of flowers, and A LOT of time to make a trail bouquet. Meaning, florists charge much more for them.

Sometimes though, the trail bouquet is indeed requested, and it can be a nice change for a seasoned florist (of which, I am not one...yet). The trail bouquet allows for the use of flowers that can be difficult or even impossible to use in a hand tied bouquet. This is because every single bloom in the trail style is cut from it's natural stem and put onto a wire (picture if you will, three dozen roses decapitated, then every single stunning cymbidium orchid flower cut from the stem they share, and the best magnolia leaves plucked from their branches). This allows for the stems to be bent and arranged into place to create the tear drop shape. It makes for a very secure and neat arrangement, and held against the ivory silk, satin and lace of wedding gowns, it looks stunning. But, as you might be beginning to imagine, this is a time consuming arrangement, pretty as it can be.

Now, i'd better get to work on this beautiful wedding.

K xx

*They are lovely neighbours

Sneak peek, 8th March 2014

I'm sleep deprived. My fingers smell of eucalyptus. When I close my eyes I'm seeing nothing but billy buttons, but what a week!

It started at 3.45am on Wednesday morning when I headed off to flower market visit number one. I knew it was worth it when I returned home just after 6am with my haul of Aussie native flowers and foliage and got out of my car to the sounds of a group of kookaburras laughing hysterically.

Friday morning saw a small sleep in, I didn't leave for flower market visit number two until 4.30am. Again, I knew this new creative career path was worth it when after I had resigned myself to not being able to find a second lot of flowering gum to go with Wednesday's purchase... I spotted a bucket brimming with beautiful open pink flowering gum just asking to become bridesmaids bouquets. 

Friday started early and ended late. I eventually got into bed at midnight after constructing a hanging floral centrepiece on site at the wedding venue. Stinking of gum and hands scratched up from chicken wire, my alarm was set for 5.15am for W-E-D-D-I-N-G day. Last minute finishing touches, last minute panic, last minute second guessing. This floristry gig is a wonderful ride. 

Here is a sneak peek. I cannot wait to see the photos from the day. All my thanks go to Georgia, Zoe and Donna for being a dream to create for. What an amazingly kind and warm family.

K xx

A long weekend adventure

My significant other and I are heading out of town this long weekend to attend our first ever engagement party.

We kind of think this is a big deal. We view this engagement like it's the starting whistle to an era that sees more and more of our peers entering into the matrimony club.

Maybe the second half of our 20s will see us at weddings every other weekend? Maybe not all of our friends are the marrying type? Perhaps some will elope?

It's an exciting season in our life.

K xx

Photo by Erin Black
Flowers by Kate Hipwell, Moss & Vine

Flowers, and all the trimmings

 I have recently been doing some work experience, some days in a shop, some days delivering corporate vases, and some days setting up weddings. Amazing! 

On one Monday morning corporate delivery run I actually walked into Gayle Kelly's office to place a couple of vases of hydrangeas on her desk. Her desk! Amazing!

One Saturday morning I squelched through some serious mud in my wellies to deliver flowers to a tent at a polo match. Slightly pretentious, but amazing!

The places that floristry might take you are seemingly endless.

One thing I have discovered about floristry that I hadn't anticipated was the extent to which florists are actually stylists. Wedding work is a perfect example of this. A florist's job doesn't end when the bouquets and buttonholes are made, that's exactly when the real detailed work begins. Florists are generally required to 'bump in'. This involves taking the flowers to the venue. The church, reception, or both. Then they style the set up. It seems to me that the decor the bride and groom have asked for is realised by the florist, not the venue. So table cloths are smoothed, table runners rolled out, centrepieces arranged, vases put in place. Then attention turns to the ceiling. Yes, the ceiling. So far I have been involved in hanging hessian drapes, paper lanterns, glass baubles, tea light candles, and trees! Well, branches to be exact.

That's right. I climbed inside a scissor lift and attached branches to a venue ceiling. Let me tell you, styling is labour intensive. It takes hours to attach things to a ceiling. The flowers are all arranged and made ahead of time, they are the thing that requires the least attention on the day. It is really very surprising how much of the budget goes to flowers and how much is directed to the sourcing + labour involved with the decor. The flowers are not the costly element when you (the bride) want your reception to involve trees on the ceiling above your merry guests.

When we're done, we snap a few quick photos on our phones and high-tail it out of the venue. Sometimes there is a wait time applied to the proceedings, meaning the florist needs to return to the church to remove the flowers from there once the ceremony is complete. And of course the next day brings with it the 'bump out'. The florist will return to undo all of the hard styling work from the previous day. All of this adds up. Like I said, it's labour intensive, and accounts for some of the reason why the wedding industry is a lucrative one.

The talented team behind the above weddings push creativity and hard work out of the stratosphere! They are Pod Floral Design. I'm feeling very grateful and brimming with inspiration from my time learning from them. Here's to many more weddings in 2014.

K xx

Watch this space!

I was recently part of a creative collaboration involving some of the coolest creatives I know. The end result was a beautiful collection of images for my floristry portfolio.

A massive thank you from the depths of my gratitude reserves goes out to Erin Black, the dizzyingly talented photographer, who brought the whole thing together with faultless professionalism. And to the stunning singer songwriter, Sarah Bird, who put her model hat on for the occasion. And while I attempt to conquer technology and get these photographs up on Moss & Vine, here is a tiny sneak peek.

This is a wired posy bouquet of roses and hypericum berry (also known as St John's wort, also known as a noxious weed, and at $10-$12 per bunch wholesale at the markets, it is a rather expensive weed). This design is characterised by the formal and even placements of the flowers and its perfect dome shape. It is 'dressed' with camelia leaves ringing the base of the dome, and a decorative handle bound with a complementary ribbon. It is a popular choice as a wedding posy as it won't lose it's shape. Each flower, leaf and bunch of berry is individually cut from it's natural stem, wired onto an artificial stem, and then taped with special floristry tape. All of the individual elements are taped into this final arrangement.

More images to follow.

K xx

***P.S Erin was also behind the header and footer pics here on Moss & Vine.
Contact her at erin.a.black@gmail.com
You can check out Sarah Bird's music at www.sarahbirdmusic.com
Flowers by Moss & Vine