Trends And Tips From Kin House’s Florist, Studio Feverfew

We chat to our in-house florist Nat Robinson, founder of Wiltshire-based Studio Feverfew, about how to style flowers for your own home, and ask for her dos and don’ts when designing wedding florals, including where to spend and where to save.

Tell us a bit about your story and how you became a florist. 

My career started in photography – I spent 10 years working in photography and marketing for M&S. It was an amazing time in my life, but I didn’t get to fully express my creativity. I’ve always been drawn to flowers, nature and the outdoors; my childhood was spent making fairy gardens with my cousins and building treehouses in Cherry blossom trees. In 2020 I began flowering full time and it’s been a joyous journey.

What trends are you seeing in flower arrangements for 2024, and what are your predictions for 2025? 

For the last few years we’ve seen a move away from traditional table set-ups, with clients embracing more immersive and creative dining experiences. By layering different types of florals such as large bowls, Ikebana-style bowls, bud vases and decorative elements like fruit, we can create really fun tablescapes. For example, if you’re having pavlova for dessert you could incorporate little clusters of fruit placed between bud vases to connect the food and table decor.

Couples are continuing to decorate their cakes with mini floral meadows around the base instead of decorating the actual cake. It makes for a beautiful backdrop to your cake cutting pictures, too!

You’re our in-house florist at Kin House, how can flowers enhance different spaces in your home?

You don’t have to fill a large vase with flowers to create a statement! A series of bud vases on the kitchen table filled with flowers from my garden or found on walks are always my favourite way to enhance a week-night dinner. Drying flowers such as alliums and hydrangea are also a gorgeous way to decorate your home, they’re most impactful en masse in vases. A few arrangements dotted around can really bring a home together and create a sense of life within a space.

Seasonality and using British-grown flowers are becoming increasingly important in our clients’ schemes. How can we consider the environment when choosing flowers for an event? 

Using British-grown flowers is incredibly important to me. From May to October I don’t import flowers to keep the carbon footprint of my business as low as possible. Seasonality and using locally-grown flowers is of course environmentally important, but by using British blooms for a wedding it means you’re anchoring the event to a real moment in time. A wider variety of flowers are available from British growers than Dutch wholesalers, and they’re also a product of the great British weather and I think it’s so special that your wedding can be a real celebration of that. You’ll never be able to get the exact same flowers again the following year, some will be earlier, some will be later – all thanks to the weather – which means the flowers on your day are really unique and special to you.

What colour combinations and textures are you drawn to at the moment? 

I love yellows… soft, pale, buttery yellows with delicate pops of peach. I’m really drawn to the frothy and frilly textures in the late spring and early summer; from garden roses, foxgloves, cow parsley, lilac, daisies and sweetpeas. They’re such a joyous sight after a long and rather soggy winter!

A lot of my couples this year are opting for dark pops throughout their decor. From white and blush florals with dark burgundy candles, to darker pops of rich maroon pink against a soft palette of pale pink and yellow florals.

What are your favourites places at Kin House to create flower displays? 

Each week I love creating an arrangement in the large vase that sits in The Heath Room, I am often rummaging around the woodlands to find fun and interesting branches of foliage to really fill that space.

For weddings, I enjoy the challenge of creating large installations at the top of the aisle in the Garden House. It’s always so fun to create something magical there. We recently made an extra large spring floral arch, which stayed in place overnight with our couple using it as the backdrop to their brunch the next morning. Later this year, I have the super exciting challenge of covering the beams in Kilvert Hall which I’m really looking forward to!

When thinking about a wedding floral scheme, what are your top tips on where to spend and where to save? 

The first question I always ask my clients during their consultation is “talk me through your day; what part of the day is the most important to you?” If a couple are real foodies, I would encourage they spend most of their budget on the reception space and tables. If they love a good night out, then let’s focus on doing something really special in Kilvert Bar. I would always suggest couples use their budget where they want the lasting memories and photographs. After your wedding day, the photographs will be a gorgeous reminder of the day so it’s important to consider how they want those images to look. If they want a statement piece framing them as they exchange their vows, then that’s where we should invest the budget, and equally if they want to be surrounded by florals during their speeches, then we can go heavy on the reception décor.

Moveable pieces are a winner too; meadows running down the aisle can be re-used to frame the bar and stage, or a pair of large urns framing the ceremony space can be re-used in Kilvert Hall during dinner.

As sweet as they are, my suggestion of where to save is always with flower girl florals. They look terribly sweet in a floral crown but nine times out of 10 it’s on the floor after 15 minutes. Go for a basket of fresh petals they can throw instead, it’s interactive and gives them a job to do which will make them feel included in your day.

Instagram @studiofeverfew

Website studiofeverfew.com