Wedding flowers are a beautiful way to set the tone at your ceremony and reception - and nothing is more special than finding that perfect bunch of blooms just for you! If you're planning an intimate, luxury wedding celebration, Burgh Island Hotel in Devon should be at the top of your list of venues - especially when it comes to luxurious flowers. With its glamorous setting, picturesque beachfront backdrop, and stunning views across Bigbury Bay, it's hard not to fall in love with this exclusive location. Agatha Christie once lived here, and you can totally tell how she would have been inspired by the dramatic landscape and solitary huge house, cut off from the main land once the tide was in. It was completely atmospheric and I felt a huge sense of history and a weird feeling that so many exciting things had happened here over the years!
Our team of expert florists have sourced some truly inspirational choices to make sure you find the flowers for your dream day – whether they’re one-of-a-kind combinations or natural arrangements inspired by nature’s beauty. In this blog post we'll share our favorite ideas from Andy and Rebecca's recent wedding as well as some tips on choosing your own unique floral designs for any venue. Read on for all the details about Burgh Island Hotel's selection of luxe blooms!
Burgh Island Hotel, a South Devon wedding venue like no other:
Burgh Island Hotel is a stunning location in South Devon, famous for its art deco architecture and cinematic appearance. At The Rose Shed, a renowned wedding florist known for our unique and personalised approach to floral design, we crafted beautiful bouquets, ceremony decorations and centrepieces that matched the grandeur and elegance of the location. Using a colour palette of all white blooms with tropical foliage, this was a serious nod to the style of the 1920s Art Deco hotel that Rebecca and Andy were married in.
I have worked in the floristry industry for twenty years and I have never quite been to a wedding venue like Burgh Island! As wedding florists we tend to set up early on the morning of the wedding, however this wedding depended on arriving to suit the tide times so I drove down from beautiful North Devon, to South Devon the day before. I rang the reception team to let them know I had arrived at the edge of the coast and they swiftly sent a wonderful man over in a Defender who was to guide me onto the island. Basically he said follow me and don't go below 20mph... I did not want to get stuck in the sand with a Transit van full of beautiful wedding flowers! Driving across the beach to the island is such a fun experience and that is just for me, a florist at work... imagine if you had your bags packed full of gorgeous clothes and are excited to spend the weekend there! Driving past the Pilchard Pub and up the tiny curved path, and arriving at the most exquisite Art Deco gates... it really was like being in a film.
Summer Bridal Bouquets:
If you are getting married at Burgh Island Hotel then you have exclusive access for the weekend, so I arrived to excited guests arriving too and the most breathtaking views. One of the standout pieces is the bridal bouquet, which was made with a collection of garden roses, sweet peas and cosmos, I safely put the bouquet in water and left with the wedding co-ordination team so no one could see it! The roses and sweet peas added an stylish and elegant feel to the bouquet, while the cosmos added some texture and movement. The garden foliage brought a natural and organic feel that completed the look. It was the perfect bouquet for a sophisticated and effortless bridal style, and matched Rebecca's beautiful dress perfectly. Rebecca had lots of flower girls to accompany her down the aisle so we made them all dainty flower crowns, secured with trailing silk ribbon. Flower crowns are a simple and natural, yet beautiful way to accessorise flower girls if you are looking for an alternative to a posy bouquet.
Ceremony Flowers at Burgh Island Hotel:
The ceremony views at Burgh Island are out of the world, huge panoramic windows allow the sea views to encompass the whole room, what a view to walk down the aisle too. We created a stylish floral aisle consisting of structured monstera and aspidistra leaves, alongside floaty tropical palm leaves. Alongside the classic 1920s foliage we used pure white anthuriums, white roses and textured flowers such as bridal gladioli and chincherinchee. The floral aisle created a beautiful statement and also provided flexibility with the arrangements as these could be repurposed after the ceremony. To frame the ceremony space. we created two beautiful, impactful floral designs to sit either side, in stunning ceramic white pots. This type of design provides a great amount of flowers without overwhelming the existing view, it is always important to flower to your surroundings!
Table Decorations:
For the centrepieces, we created a mix of tall and low table arrangements to create interest and drama throughout the whole room. The tall table decorations were filled with tropical foliage and elegant clusters of roses, anthuriums and carnations whilst the low arrangements sat in short cylinder glass vases.By incorporating the mix of tall florals and low florals, this created unique tablescapes that elevated the style of the reception. The tall vases were placed inside the bar for the Friday night cocktail party so we utilised the flowers throughout the whole weekend, it made sense to and the flowers complimented everyones black tie and cocktail dresses in a magical way!
Final Thoughts:
Planning a wedding can sometimes initially feel like an overwhelming task, but choosing your wedding flowers should be a fun and exciting experience. Rebecca was so brilliant to work with as we initially had two floral styles that she was undecided between, yet through discussion and moodboard inspiration images we came to a conclusion. We decided that fully embracing the hotel's unique and original Art Deco aesthetic would be the most impactful and fitting to not only the surroundings, but also the Friday night cocktail party and the wedding itself. I thoroughly enjoyed working on something which was a little different to my usual country garden style wedding aesthetic and completely got stuck in creatively to this brief.
I hope these Burgh Island Hotel wedding flowers can provide you with inspiration and ideas on how to style your floral arrangements at your own wedding. By incorporating flowers that are suited to this 1920s feel in an elegant and sophisticated design, you can create a romantic and unique look that matches the beauty of your special day at Burgh Island Hotel. It really is so important to work to your wedding venues aesthetic and embrace it, which is exactly what we did here for Rebecca and Andy. I cannot recommend the staff at Burgh Island enough for how helpful and accommodating they were, absolutely nothing was too much trouble for them! A big thank you to Dan Watkiss for sharing the images. If you are looking for wedding flowers in Devon then I would love to hear from you here!