Blooming eck, this week has been busy.
On Monday we had a meeting with the lovely ladies at Wedding Flowers magazine in London, to discuss a photoshoot we are doing with them next week. Because of the risk of swine flu, my blooming partner decided that it was best to stay at home in the fresh Kentish air and let me do my stuff in the glitzy London office of Wedding Flowers.
Mark (director) and Caroline (assistant producer) were also there to film the meeting. I arrived at the Blue Fin building with a bouquet from our plot and also a table arrangement, which they had asked us to bring as an example of what we grow. The flowers survived the train journey remarkably well, and Vicky and Andrea were very complimentary, thank goodness. I was worried that they might take one look and call off the photoshoot, or that some creepy crawly might appear out of the petals at just the wrong moment. But all went well and we are due to do the photoshoot next Thursday at the Institute of Contemporary Art in St James’s (?)
The other big deal this week has been preparing for our first farmers’ market in Tunbridge Wells. We spent all morning picking flowers between the most torrential downpours and thunderstorms — before stopping for a picnic in the shed. Masses of family turned up, including some cousins from Oz, so there were about 20 of us in all, and loads of nice grub.
Once we’d refuelled, Bek and I set to, putting the flowers together into luscious bouquets. This took us all afternoon, but the finished result looked rather lovely. We’ve packed them all into the back of the Blooming Green van, with our funky sign, and lots of packaging and will make a very early start in the morning. Am very excited, although curious to see how they will sell.
Other hot news… we had a bouquet order from Oz, to be delivered locally. It’s nice to think that we are having a global effect, despite being a mere tiddler of a business.
Next update, we’ll tell you how the magazine shoot goes… and whether the floristry world is ready for local, English flowers. We seem to be stirring up controversy already!