When Ed, the florists brother got wed!!!

Seriously, writing this blog entry is tricky......mainly because when I look at the pics, it makes me well up for a good old blub and a smile, because it was one of the best days of my life.

Being a florist is the best job in the world. I get to meet lovely people, work with the most beautiful flowers, and help brides create a day that is so very special to them. It is also a great job, because when your little brother decides to marry the love of his life, you get to give them a wedding present which will be such a lovely part of their day.

Edward and Cathryn (aka 'Mr and Mrs Hall!) met through a friend, a few years ago and I knew is was serious when Ed phoned one day and said 'Sis, I've met this girl'. That was it, those few words, and I knew he'd fallen head over heels. When they got engaged it was no surprise and no sooner had I said 'Congratulations', I asked if they would like their flowers as their wedding present. Thankfully, they said yes, and here are the results!

Laura Coleman Flowers feature in CBBCs 'Beat The Boss'

Laura was very pleased to feature on CBBCs 'Beat The Boss' programme alongside team mates Sandy Lindsay (left in below pic), Founder of Tangerine PR and Jon Leach (centre), Founder and Chief Executive of Winning Pitch. It was a great experience to be involved in, and the 'Big Shots' team won against the 'Bright Sparks' team made up of three youngsters who gave us a real run for our money!

Creating a fashion show for kids was the brief given to us by Saira Khan, and then off we went to fashion college to learn how to spot trends, choreograph a catwalk show and create a mood board. We then interviewed kids to make sure we weren't a mile off the mark with our 'High School Reinvented' theme. The Trafford Centre was our next destination, hitting the high street to identify clothes and meeting the Chief Executive, Events Manager and choreographer to sell in our ideas............

........then that was it. Out of our hands, our fashion show was being created and the next time the team met, it was live on stage!!! Here are some pictures from the show......I look very serious in the first few shots, it's me putting on my 'competitive business' face.......very difficult when you've got the giggles!!

Hope you enjoy!

Laura xx

How Laura Coleman Flowers got onto the World Track Cycling podium!

We are very excited to be able to share with you our journey to getting a place on the World Track Cycling podium. Nope, I haven't trained to be a World Class cyclist ( I fear that I've left that dream a little late) but.....and here's the secret.....we were invited to design and create all eighty one medallist bouquets for the recent UCI World Track Cycling Cup Classics between 30 October and 01 November at the Manchester Velodrome, the home of British Cycling. All the latest info is available from their website http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/.

The start of our podium journey
On meeting with the people behind the organisation of the event, I knew that they were going to let me be creative and come up with something to be proud of....with red as the key colour, who could go wrong! We worked together to come up with a design that would stand out against the vast space of the Velodrome, and exotic red anthurium were the flower of choice. Teamed with a contempory aralia and cantia palm leaf, the design was set to go. As all fashion conscious flower lovers will know, it's all in the detail, so we suggested finishing the design with double satin silver ribbon overlayed with a splash of red, lovely!

Getting the flowers to the Velodrome

In total, 243 anthurium, 81 aralia, 81 cantia palm, 49 metres of silver ribbon and 21 metres of red ribbon were used to create the bouquets.

We created each of the bouquets, then settled them for a good drink overnight before tying on the ribbon and packing them into boxes ready for delivery. These pics show these phases in action.

All loaded up in boxes ready to head to the Velodrome.......

At the Velodrome and ready for the podium!

Here are the flowers ready to be presented to medallists. And below is a series of videos and pictures I took whilst I was there on Saturday 31 October. I was lucky enough to be able to be sat next to someone who explained all the different races to me......you can see how excited I got about this incredibly addictive sport by reading my tweets from the velodrome at www.twitter.com/weloveflowers.

Getting onto the podium, a florists eye view!!!

Team GB in their camp (I guess that's what it's called....)

Victoria Pendleton cycles for silver!



Wendy in Pursuit of Gold!

Kenny, Crampton and Hoy cycling for their medals.

Matt Crampton handing over his flowers.....

Lined up for the final race of the night.

Lizzie goes for (and gets) gold!!!

On the big screen on the podium during the the last Victory Ceromony of the evening.

Right, I'm off to find my bike pump!

Hope you enjoyed ready this little blog entry!

Laura xx

Laura Coleman Flowers celebrate flowers at Manchester Flower Festival

We haven't updated our blog for a while, but thought that you would like to see a couple of pictures from when Laura helped out a friend at the Manchester Flower Festival. The incredible festival of flowers took place in June at Manchester Cathedral where the incredible building was transformed by literally thousands and thousands of stems and lots of people with a passion for flowers.

Laura was lucky enough to be asked by Margaret of St Edmunds Church to help out with the project, which was to decorate the steps of the Military Chapel. Laura's dad and grandads were all in the army, so was more than happy to help as it meant a great deal to be involved, and lets be honest, it was bound to be fun!

Above is as a pic of one side of the floral display that was created. The colours reflected those in a beautiful stained glass window in the chapel, the bands of colour were arranged to be shaped like rays of the sun, the sticks represented lines of soldiers, and the carrots and apples featured alongside flowers to add texture and interest in the display.

Here is a picture of us all (I'm the one in the pink shoes!) having just completed the display, shortly before team St Edmunds headed off for a well earned cup of tea!

Well done everyone, it looked fab!

Laura x

Latest Laura Coleman Flowers creates 'budding' florists!!

Here are some pics taken at the workshop that took place today! We produced some fab bouquets from lilies, eucalyptus, alstromeria and lots of other stems!!
For more information on the workshops we run for people who want to learn the tricks of the trade, click on www.lauracolemanflowers.co.uk/courses . We provide all the flowers and lots of fun, and each workshop costs a maximum of £35 per person :-) Enjoy the pics!
Laura x

Has Laura Coleman Flowers got the Badminton X-Factor!

Last weekend Laura headed to Liverpool on Saturday and Sunday to deliver flowers for the European Badminton Championships. We had a great time working on the event, and here are some behind the scenes pics.

On Saturday we delivered 28 bouquets, and the remaining 28 were delivered on the Sunday, in readiness for the tense final where the England Badminton team were competing.

Picking up the brand colours, the flowers included fuscia pink singapore orchids, bright white anthurium, china grass, strong green aspidistra leaves and gorgeous pink cordyline leaves. It was all wrapped up in lovely lengths of purple and turquoise ribbons! The X-Factors Laura White was also a fan, and was presented with her very own bouquet by the England team on Sunday, when they were crowned silver medallists.

Hope you like all our pics!

Laura x

We've brought spring to Manchester!

We have had great fun designing these spring flower arrangements for an event run by Sweet and Maxwell at The Midland Hotel in Manchester.

Thousands of stems were used to create this beautiful palette of spring colours including 1200 daffodils!

Hope you like the pictures!

Laura x

Finals day at the English National Badminton Champs!

It's finals day at the English National Badminton Champs in Manchester. They've moved the courts to create a single court surrounded by seating, and the medals presentation area has been set up.

The pressure's on for the competitors! Keep up to date with all things badminton at http://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/ !

We have really enjoyed doing the flowers for the event, here they are, still going strong on day three. This time we had a bit more light to take the pics.

Enjoy!

Laura x