Choosing what sort of cake to eat is difficult enough but having to choose what you should have at your wedding and how it should look, well, that is almost impossible – which is why it is essential to have an experienced, professional, truly artistic designer on hand to guide you through the ruffles, petals, ribbons, gilding and tassels – all of which are possible adornments on your unique wedding cake

So I am delighted to introduce to you, the extraordinarily gifted Ceri from Olofson Design. I met Ceri at a photographic shoot and thinking there would be plenty of great stuff to eat once we had finished, I was very excited about the prospect but when I saw how beautiful the cakes were, I couldn’t bear to tuck in!! 

Each week there will be an interview with someone I think is good at their job, can help you with your wedding and is basically a good person to have around

First up is top wedding and people photographer . . . Fiona Kelly, who can be a wonderfully calming influence on a nervous bride or tongue-tied groom, loves working with natural light and getting to know her clients well enough to allow them to relax in her company, which means she gets brilliant shots and you get a set of great memories

When did you start in this business and what did you do before?

I have been involved in photography for many years in different ways but my first wedding as a paid professional was in 2009. It was a turnaround moment. Before I threw myself into the world of weddings I had worked as a graphic designer and photographic art director for 13 years (read more)

It is so exciting, I can hardly type! This month’s edition of Wedding Flowers magazine features a fabulous shoot that I did last Summer with the supremely creative Helen Carter at Helen Carter Weddings and the snap happy Fiona Kelly

Whilst helping me with some succulent buttonholes for a civil partnership, Helen and I started thinking of other ways we could use these wonderful little plants in, on and around wedding displays

The ideas started coming thick and fast and very soon we had the makings of an excellent storyboard. We roped in Fiona – which wasn’t difficult as she is always up for a creative challenge – and set sail for Epping Forest!  

There were so many ideas floating around, it was quite difficult at first to pin point what we should focus on, but Helen put her creative mind to work and quickly came up with two concepts – rustic and contemporary

We realised that not everyone would ‘get’ the earthy, outdoors feel of the first treatment so Helen put a beautiful twist on the proceedings and went all chic and silvery!

I hope you agree that there is something for everyone here and enjoy looking through the photos

Thanks to Helen and Fiona . . . we girls make a great team

We’ve had gorgeous fragrant sandy toned Roses with Roisin at the beginning of January followed by delicate ivory and pale pink flowers with Becky at the fabulous Dartmouth House

Then it was off to South London with the cool early Spring scented delights of Hyacinths, Narcissi and Snowdrops with Alison in February and today, amid the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in central London, we were back at One Whitehall with Becky’s friend Amy, who chose a gorgeous mix of pinks and ivories highlighted with accents of acid green achieved with our favourite, the glorious Guelder Rose

Next up we have a birthday party at Hampton Court House featuring daffodils and Spring flowers in honour of the Welsh birthday boy and a host of wedding consultations for both this year and next which are coming in thick and fast – some as close as May this year, others for June 2013. Either way we are having a great time and enjoying seeing our happy brides and grooms

Since Valentine’s Day, we have been inundated with requests for consultations, information on our wedding services and firm bookings right up to the Autumn. It is definitely going to be a busy year!

We are off to some new venues this year – the very summery Painshill Park down in Surrey, the glorious and elegant Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge and the beautiful Westwood Park in Essex and lots more

Shooting for the stars . . .

We will also be working with some exciting photographers and wedding planners on styling shoots this Spring – more details to come soon

But for now a little taste of a two part shoot that we did with Helen Carter and Fiona Kelly. This has appeared on both Whimsical Wonderland Weddings inspirational site – yes we were hopping around with excitement  - AND Bride’s Cafe

And now, most heart stopping of all, it will be featured in its entirety in the May/June edition of the must-read Wedding Flowers magazine!

We have similar styling shoots lined up for this year, bringing you all kinds of inspirational wedding, ceremony and reception ideas to take and make your own – we don’t mind really. But if you need a hand bringing any of them to life – you know where we are!

Situated just off  Horseguards Parade, a stone’s throw from both Trafalgar Square and the Thames, it is right next door to the newly refurbished 5 star Royal Horseguards Hotel

One Whitehall is one of the most beautiful venues in town, with a variety of rooms for small intimate weddings and ceremonies for around 50 guests to large, grand Libraries and Suites that can host up to 250 diners seated

For the first time, there will be weddings dresses modelled during the Open Day. The wonderfully talented Naomi Neoh will have some of her new collection available for you to see in the flesh

These dresses are truly amazing and may make you rethink your choice – if you have already made one that is!

We will be dressing the Gladstone Library with some special flower displays to show you how gorgeous the venue can look and hope that you will come to see what we can do

Many rooms work with both traditional or the more contemporary styles of table dressing – there is a dedicated chair cover company able to transform any room with a flick of organza!

If you are still looking for the right venue for your big day, or are not sure you have the right one already, come along between 12pm-4pm next Sunday 4th March and take a look around this unique venue

Contact Laura, One Whitehall’s Wedding Manager who will be delighted to show you what they can do for you

Many thanks to Wild Weddings for the use of some of these shots and to Naomi Neoh for the shot from her website

So if you are looking for a good, reliable, creative, fun photographer to capture the best day of your life, to start with, check this lot out . . . 

Amber and Jon, April 2011 by Anna Rosell taken at One Whitehall Place

info@annarosell.com

James and Yuki, July 2011 by Michael Moody at St Mary’s Paddington

Michael@exquisiteimage.co.uk

Josephine and Rupert, July 2010 by Wild Weddings photography at One Whitehall Place

Tel 07903 411 193

Katharine and Nic, May 2010 by Peachey Photography at The Larder

k.peachey@runbox.com

Nina and Ranan, July 2010 by Tara Lee at One Whitehall Place

info@taraleephotography.co.uk

Lisa and Julian, October 2008 by Nikole Ramsay at The Orangery

nikole@nikoleramsay.com

And I’m planning to showcase some more weddings from 2011 as soon as I get the photos through from those busy, busy togs! Here  is just a taster of what we have been up to . . .

We also had a really busy Christmas with trees, decorations and events all over the place – great fun but very tiring!

We were off to the fabulous Sardo Canale in Camden today for Janine’s birthday party – a very hot affair, hot pink that is! This has to be one of my favourite restaurants so I completely understood why Janine chose it to bring 30 of her closest girls together for a celebratory lunch

We chose cerise pink large headed Columbian Queensberry Roses, gorgeous hot pink Ranunculus and Anenomes and even the humble bright pink Carnation got a look in, made into contemporary domes all set in silver mirrored vases

Janine wanted to be able to hop from one table to another and have a chance to see all her friends during the lunch so we left a space on each of the three long tables for the birthday girl to slip into – one for each course. A brilliantly adaptable idea that could also work for long tables at weddings – in fact I did it at mine!

I asked the wonderful Lisa @ribbonsandtulle to make some neat place card labels which were tied with a hot pink ribbon and finished with a single rose in, you guessed it, hot pink!  

 I think everyone had a great day and I may even pop into Sardo for lunch tomorrow to celebrate . . . well it is Sunday!