{"id":303,"date":"2018-10-01T08:29:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T08:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland\/?p=303"},"modified":"2018-10-01T08:29:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T08:29:52","slug":"the-power-of-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/highlights\/the-power-of-flowers\/10-2018","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

It all started at St Mary\u2019s and St Augustine\u2019s church for Harriet Fenn, owner of Harriet Floral Design and full time Designer at MM Flowers. \u201cI\u2019d help my mum with the flower arranging at Church,\u201d says Harriet. \u201cParticularly at busy periods such as Christmas and Easter.\u201d After picking up the key skills from various window sill arrangements, the occasional pedestal and even an impressive archway, Harriet found she had a new found passion for flower arranging. \u201cI picked it up again by myself when I joined the local Young Farmers Club,\u201d she says. \u201cI started entering the competitions I ended up getting through to the Young Farmers Nationals at Malvern Three Counties Show,\u201d she says. \u201cI would also do the table arrangements for our Harvest Festivals and Christmas Dinner Parties which would then get auctioned off and the money was donated to charity. It was my friend Lil from Young Farmers who asked me to do her wedding flowers and after that I\u2008handed in my notice at work, says Harriet.\u201d With a taste for floristry, Harriet packed in her career in the world of insurance and began looking into how she could make her passion a full-time career. \u201cI started to do weddings, dinner parties and gift flowers full time but also worked at an event company doing the large arrangements for the Grand Nationals, Lords Cricket, Ascot Racecourse and Jaguar Land Rover,\u201d says Harriet. \u201cIt was great fun going to all of the wedding fairs and I absolutely love doing the flowers for excited brides but I was approached by a recruiter for a great o pportunity with Marks & Spencers.\u201d A year into the role as Junior Designer for Marks & Spencers and Harriet had helped win their fifth Gold Medal for their Floral Market stand at the Chelsea Flower Show and develop exciting new designs for their supermarket range. \u201cI still do the occasional wedding but just in my spare time now,\u201d says Harriet. \u201cI love my job as it\u2019s giving me so much more experience in the commercial world of floristry. I\u2019d love to go over to Kenya and see the our growers in action out there.\u201d The flower industry is extremely fast-paced, the bouquets have to be simple enough to be made on a mass scale but beautiful enough that the shelves are left bare at the end of the day! \u201cIt\u2019s great keeping up with making bouquets at home and for weddings as I can be as creative as I like, there\u2019s no holding me back!\u201d However, the challenge of meeting a specification is part of what makes Harriet\u2019s job so rewarding. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to meeting a bride\u2019s budget, you\u2019re creating a bouquet within a certain price bracket that still matches the correct colour schemes and style,\u201d says Harriet. \u201cAt the moment I\u2019m finding a lot of brides are going for a more relaxed look with lots of greenery and seasonal flowers. Then of course the classic peachy pinks and white roses are still really popular with weddings.\u201d Harriet has done the flowers for lots of farmer\u2019s wedding where wheat has been a strong feature throughout the arrangements. \u201cIf you cut yourself some and hang it to try it can transform something as simple as a button hole into a really personal style statement.\u201d Harriet tends to buy her flowers from the dutch flowers markets, or early trips down to the Covent Garden flower market, but has also been trying her hand at growing flowers for arranging in the garden on the farm. \u201cYou can easily grow cut flowers such as Larkspur, Tulips, Gladiolus, Dianthus, Peonies, Gypsophila and Sunflowers at home,\u201d says Harriet. \u201cIt\u2019s just a case of being really strict with yourself and making sure you water and cut regularly so that you can more than one flower each time.\u201d With flowers, the more you cut them back, the more determined they become to grow back! \u201cI think because I\u2008have a farming background, the growing side of floristry really interests me, it\u2019s amazing how cheap and easy it is to grow your own flowers at home, everyone should try it!\u201d Harriet says her signature style quite possibly developed from a bit of bravery at the start, \u201cYou have to be prepared to take big risks and just go for it with the confidence that it will turn out fabulous at the end,\u201d says Harriet. \u201cI\u2019m quite a creative person so I have a flair for creating unique ideas.\u201d In the future, Harriet is looking forward to the ever-changing environment of the fast-paced environment of MM Flowers and learning as much as she can. \u201cI\u2019d love to go over to Holland to meet our growers,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m also keeping up my own business, it\u2019s great to be able to give brides the flowers for quite possibly one of the biggest moments of their life.\u201d There are lots of great courses in this area if you\u2019d like to try your hand at flower arranging, it\u2019s as sociable as it is rewarding. If you\u2019d prefer to leave it to a professional for now, get in touch with Harriet for bouquets, wedding flowers, Christmas wreaths or flowers for your party or event and she will be able to help. www.harrietfloraldesign.com\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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