why romance doesn’t have to be hard

Of all the referential adjectives that clients bring to me during consultations, ‘romantic’ absolutely has to be one of, if not the, most popular word I hear. In over fifteen years of working with flowers, I’ve found that romance is never bound by numbers - and whether I’m designing luxurious weddings for 300 plus guests, or an intimate celebration to take place on a family property, a classic, effortless, and romantic look is often the order of the day - but sometimes it can be hard to get just right - and this is especially true when it comes to bridal bouquets.

After spending my career crafting hundreds, if not thousands of bouquets across the world, I find it’s often the delicate juxtaposition of beauty and functionality that some floral designers find to be tricky. Too often I see bouquets that struggle to balance heady, classic blooms alongside the necessary lightness - the airiness - that truly romantic bouquets need to succeed.

It’s a tall order, as so often the classically romantic blooms - garden roses and peonies for example - can have large, heavy heads that require support - some additional structure to keep their blowsy heads in place …

This Summer I was beyond delighted to collaborate with David Austin Roses on a series of incredible shoots using their exquisite roses, and on our itinerary was a number of blowsy, classically romantic bouquets. The challenge was how could we do their sensational roses justice, and yet also create a number of loose, romantic, free form bouquets - that were also strong and well built.

Want to know the secret? I thought you’d never ask. Those members of our community who have followed me for a little while might’ve noticed in my first collection of online courses earlier this Summer, we released a popular course - The Classic Bridal Bouquet, and in this course I share my most favourite bridal technique - a completely natural technique - which really is the ultimate secret weapon in the quest to construct the most romantic of bouquets.

Now this technique that I wholeheartedly endorse is:

• Entirely natural

• Uses a material that is incredibly cheap to purchase from wholesalers

• Uses a material that can be purchased all year around from wholesalers

• Contains ZERO plastic elements (hurrah!)

• Is 100% biodegradable (another hurrah!)

• Takes literally seconds to make

• And is probably one of the most versatile, and most loved techniques I could ever possibly share with you

Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Trust me - it isn’t!

All of the bouquets that you see within this post were created in my studio, using the exact technique I teach in my Online Courses at Learn Joseph Massie. This incredibly versatile technique enables you to create bouquets that aren’t tight little balls of blooms - it allows you to create more informal, romantic shapes -without the need to pack your bouquets full of too many blooms or too much material - which as we all know is the easiest way to kill that effortless, romantic look. It’s worth mentioning too that this technique is also one of the most commercial techniques in my floral tool kit, as making this structure takes literally seconds, and can be created in a million different shapes, styles and strengths.

With this secret little technique tucked away in all of the bouquets you see pictured here, I was able to create bouquet after bouquet of light, delicious airy-ness, packed with romance, and of course, aided with the help of the most beautiful David Austin Roses.

If you’ve always struggled to create bouquets like the ones I’ve shared today, this most handy of techniques could really be a game changer for you. Sound interesting? If you’d like to know more, you’ll find our Classic Bridal Bouquet online course right here.

In each course, you’ll receive:

• The Comprehensive Instructional Video so you can learn directly from Joseph as he demonstrates and shares his techniques with you in each lesson.

• The Flower List so you will know exactly what flowers and foliages you'll need to create each design. 

• The Sundries List so you will know exactly what sundry materials you'll need to create each design. 

• The Substitutions Guide so should a flower type be unavailable, you'll be able to switch in another suitable material with ease.

• The Step by Step Guide -perfect to print out and keep handy on your workbench, as you make your design - complete with step by step images.

• The Floral Glossary to provide you with further support when it comes to industry specific vocabulary for both tools. materials and technical terms.

• Life Time Access to your course so you are free to work at your own pace.

• BONUS - You'll receive an invite to join the Joseph Massie Alumni Private Facebook Group - a supportive, welcoming online community of like minded flower lovers. We'd love to meet you!

All the roses you see here were provided by David Austin Roses, and these dreamy collections were shot in Manchester, England, only a few hours away from the famous David Austin Rose Gardens in Albrighton, England. As ever, it was such a pleasure to collaborate with photographer Emma Pilkington. If you’ve fallen in love with the dreamy David Austin Roses in this article and want to know more, do check out their David Austin Wedding & Event Roses, do visit their site here, or lose a few hours on their gorgeous Instagram here too!

Until next time!

Joseph

Ps - if you enjoy this resource, why not sign up to our future Resources below - you’ll be the first to hear all about our future Resources, and as a thank you, we’ve created an exclusive Resource - The Flower Care Guide - packed with my top care and conditioning information, waiting for you too!

Please note, during this PROJECT all team members were provided with, and wore, appropriate PPE, and all team members followed all required COVID-19 precautionary advice, provided by the British Fashion Council. Masks were worn at all times by all parties, except for the model when posing. social distancing was enforced throughout the shoot. inline with current localised lockdown rules, a make-up artist was not present.