One hot day in July 2026 I designed flowers for a marquee wedding.

Last summer was a challenging one for florists. The drought made growing flowers very difficult and the heat made keeping them alive once cut just as hard.

I had a wedding booked in July, and generally July is warm and sunny but you can never be sure with the British weather or the current climate. If your a Yorkshire lass like me you will know that early July is when the Great Yorkshire Show takes place, from memory I remember going to the show in the pouring rain and in the boiling sunshine. This year was the second with temperatures reaching 28 degrees celsius!

So how do you deal with flowers in the heat? Its all about preparation.

The wedding was on a Saturday and work started on the Wednesday before. My flower growers started by picking the flowers early morning on the Wednesday, this is the best time to pick, when the flowers have had the whole night to drink and rest in cooler conditions. Then I collected the flowers Wednesday evening after they’ve been resting in a cool dark barn at the flower growers in water. Flowers always need to be rested in water for a few hours before designing with them.

On Thursday, once the flowers were at my studio I prepared them and create the designs that I could prior to the wedding, always keeping the flowers in water and in the cool. This included designs like bouquets, table centrepieces and buttonholes. The buttonhole flowers I like to store in the fridge, as they are small and delicate and like to be kept really cool.

On Friday I went to the marquee to set up the large installations. I was creating a large floral hoop to decorate the centre of the marquee and hang above the bar. This type of design takes time to create so making it the day before was essential, however with the high temperatures I was worried the flowers would wilt so I build the majority of the hoop using the foliage, which is more hardy. It is harder to provide a water source with a hanging installation so I used reusable test tubes which hold water for some of the foliage and then I used some hardier foliage that didn’t require a water source.

On the day of the wedding I started very early adding all the flowers to the hanging hoop installation and providing them with the test tube water sources. I then created 2 large milk churn flower designs to decorate the entrance of the marquee, again filling these with water so that the flowers would stay fresh in there heat.

The marquee looked beautiful with the hanging installation acting as real showstopper, it brought the feeling of the outside inside giving the marquee a real wild and whimsical feel. The milk churns were a warm welcome into the marquee and really celebrated the love and fu of the day.

What made this wedding extra special for me was that the wedding was on the couples family plant nursery, I felt honoured that they chose me to do their wedding flowers when they are such experienced plant growers in Yorkshire. They wanted a florist who celebrated British flowers and produce and had a natural and wild design style so I fitted the brief perfectly.

Another little detail that I loved from this wedding was the Bride’s grandfather who started the plant nursery started off as a Dahlia grower. Although July was a bit early for Dahlias, because of the hot weather a few Dahlias had appeared at the growers field and I was able to include one in the bridal bouquet. This was a really special detail and the family were over there moon when they saw it, I was so glad to be able to add this to their special day.

It was a wonderful wedding and this what’s makes all the hard work worth it.

Marquee by Wills Marquee

Photography by Lily North Photography

A garden wedding that celebrates Yorkshire flowers

Leeds Civic Hall wedding