British Grown Flowers For A Celebration Of Autumn At Nancarrow Farm

In October last year, I attended a course with several of our wonderful recommended suppliers that was centred around flowers and feasting, specifically making the most of British produce. Forage and Feast was hosted by the magical Nancarrow Farm, with stylish ladies The Garden Gate Flower Company guiding us through the florals (all grown at their family farm). We celebrated the bounty of the late summer food and floral harvest, decorated the incredible new ceremony space at Nancarrow, The Rusty Barn, and ate a rather large amount of delicious cake. Here are the styled images from the course, if you'd like to see. Coming soon will be a behind the scenes, so you can get a real idea of what planning and styling a wedding at Nancarrow would be like and see how The Garden Gate Flower Company work. Gorgeous images come from the lovely Ross Talling, whose atmospheric, unobtrusive style we love and the dreamy, swoon inducing super 8 film comes from equally lovely Caroline and Chris at Baxter and Ted.

{Beautiful Autumn Wedding Bouquets // Fall Wedding Bouquets}

L-R: Bouquets by The Garden Gate Flower Company // 3acre Blooms // Frog Prince Events // Grace Alexander Flowers // Recipe For Flowers // Lucy Hunter // Dom i Kwaity // Flowers by Eve // Flowers Grown by The Garden Gate Flower Company

Nancarrow Farm

Nancarrow Farm is a truly one-of-a-kind venue. Set in the heart of Cornwall, you travel down the driveway and come over the brow of a hill to a magical place, completely secluded, which views of the Cornish countryside as far as the eyes can see. The barn space for your reception is the most gorgeous blank canvas, the chunky oak frames just scream to be covered in flowers and twinkling lights, there's lots of on site accommodation for guests, including bell tents and a stunning Bridal suite complete with log burner. Their newest space, The Rusty Barn, intended to be used for wedding ceremonies, provides an intimate space with real character. It's earthy and a little bit ramshackle, but that's just how I like things. When we'd filled the space with florals, wooden chairs and candles, it was breathtaking. If anyone is planning a wedding in Cornwall - Nancarrow is simply sublime.

The Flowers

I'd admired Becca and Maz's work for a while, so was very excited to meet them in person and see their cutting garden and greenhouse - which is the stuff of florists' dreams. Even in early October, the roses, dahlias and cosmos were still out in force, but with that gorgeous slightly tired, end of season softness that just creates the most amazing floral look. If you favour natural seasonal blooms, then you can't really get much more authentic than The Garden Gate Flower Company, so do get in touch if you like their style. Becca at The Garden Gate Flower Company: Autumn is the best time of year for flowers in our part of the country. The mellow dying days of summer give way to crisp cold mornings, ethereal mists and if you are lucky, balmy afternoons where the sun uses the last of its strength to keep the chill of winter at bay. Forage & Feast was created as an opportunity for our students to visit our cutting garden at the end of a busy flower season, to take stock of their own floral year and to make new plans for the year ahead. Allowing students to forage along our farm hedges and gather the last of the dahlias and roses, the vibe of this course was very much a time to slow down and enjoy flowers for themselves. Run as a small group we were able to focus on individual needs and as this event was based around feasting everyone relished in sharing experiences of the industry around large platters of food! It was lovely to for us to share our wedding techniques, overcoming large scale arrangements in high winds and we all feel we all left Nancarrow with a new group of friends in the floral industry.

The Inspiration & Styling

The bounty of an English harvest - an abundance of blooms, foliage and food. The colour palette was drawn directly from the flowers growing in the garden. Soft, dusky pinks, deep burgundy, burnt orange and the richness of evergreen. The styling followed the same idea, with dark floral, stationery embellished with gold from Quints Of Jersey, hand died silk ribbon from Lancaster and Cornish and a soft, romantic Bridal beauty look by Capella. The wonderful Marc Wallace provided a smart, Autumnal look in a soft brown checked tweed, which paired with a grey overcoat was perfect for a Fall wedding at Nancarrow.

The Forage & Feast Course

The course was attended by a fabulous group of people who really clicked. I'd highly recommend each and everyone as a supplier for your big day. It was wonderful to watch the creativity unfold and everyone learned so much from each other. In the next feature I'll introduce you to the lovely florists who helped to make The Rusty Barn and the Feast Night look so fabulous. If you're thinking of attending a course like this, I'd throughly recommend Garden Gate's classes - the next one is based around Spring Florals, at the end of March.