make your marquee bloom - a florist's advice

Marquees epitomise everything an English summer wedding stands for. They are timeless, elegant and can offer complete flexibility when creating a bespoke space for your wedding day. 

Marquees are a blank canvas and you need to be bold in your decisions when designing their internal decor. What most people forget is the power of flowers and how they literally can turn a simple marquee into something magical and completely unique to you and your wedding.

As a florist I have learnt that there are a few key factors when creating floral designs for a marquee. So here are my top five for your consideration. 

1) High and low
One way to create interest and intrigue is to mix up the height of focal points. To achieve this you need to vary the heights of your table centres throughout from low candle arrangements to high pomander balls. This will create a range of heights and therefore focal points which will force your guests eyes to travel around the room.

2) Swing from the ceiling
Combining the height of your marquee and beautiful floral design can create spectacular focal points. Consider giant flower bombs suspended above your guests or a ceiling covered in suspended blooms. Don't forget you can decorate the tops of traditional marquee poles, create floral chandeliers and set up hanging flower beams perfect for decorations over the top table. 

​3) Bring in the garden
One easy and immediate way to link the inside of the marquee to its outdoor location is to install potted living trees, shrubs and plants. Placing these planted pots around entrances, the bar or even the dance floor will add a level of interest and help distinguish different areas within the marquee. 

4) Budget vs impact
People automatically imagine that creating a visual spectacle with flowers will be costly and I will admit that it can be. But, this is where it is so important to work with your florist and discuss where your budget is best spent. For me this is vital and careful consideration on where you are going to spend your budget will make or break the look of your marquee. For example; do you put a standard and average table decoration on each of your fifteen tables? Or would you be better spending that money on just seven breathtaking table arrangements, which are just so beautiful people can't take their eyes off them? This is where you should work with your florist and let them come up with a number of suggestions for you. 

5) Other than roses
Don't believe that floral design has to be just flowers, you can work with your florist to create alternative designs, which most of the time can spread the budget further. Flower bombs of Autumn foliage can look just as beautiful as one filled with roses! You can create height with vases of bare winter twigs or seasonal table centres with forced bulbs. 

Finally, I truly believe that flowers turn a marquee into something truly magical if used properly. It is always important to coordinate your entire look with lighting, linen, chairs, carpet and draping. This is why I would always suggest that whichever florist you choose, make sure that they work closely with your marquee company so together they can create a final look that is better than you could have ever imagined. 

Thanks to Emma Whicher of Martha and the Meadow, Dorset wedding and event florist for this helpful and inspiring article. ​