Project Description

The Fenns

Sydney, Australia

Set in the Southern highlands in NSW, an Aussie girl and a British boy got married. The venue, Summerlees, set in these incredible surroundings, is about as close as you can get to an english country house and garden in the area, and it was spectacular.

Eddie, the bride, and I worked closely together via email to create a natural, elegant and organic vision. The ceremony was held overlooking the rolling hills of the highlands. I was keen not to block the view so created a ‘waterfall’ effect garland as a backdrop from one bough of a tree with garden roses, moss, clouds of babies breath and foliage, made to look as if part of the landscape and growing from the ground up, soft and undulating.

The ballroom was the focal point. Suspensions of olive branch, camellia, asparagus fern and bundles of babies breath and smilex vine, dotted with hanging glass votives created an intimate canopy over the guests as they wined, dined and toasted the happy couple.

Eddie and I had foraged the coastline a few days previously and collected Spinifex, little sculptural star-like grasses and the softest cat-tail grasses with pale pink tips. With these, we created a nest-like sculpture to suspend and add another form to the canopy. I had noticed some tall wild fennel growing on the roadside on the way back from the markets so headed on in with my clippers, being careful to avoid the spiders.

The 2 long tables were dotted with glass vases filled with blooms, light and delicate, the stems playing with scale and height to echo the cloud-like canopy above. Miniature Orchids and Anthurium flowers added another elegant focal point behind the bride and groom. As the sun went down, the shadows and candle light were even more pronounced. It was an honour to do this for them on that amazing day.