Julia Mitchell Distinctive Floral Design

To coincide with the start of our special feature on floral table decoration in next weeks newsletter, I wanted to give you the full background to Julia Mitchell of JM Distinctive Floral design.
I met the lovely Julia through my local WIRE group. Julia did the beautiful flowers for us on our recent shoot at the gorgeous Ettington Park Hotel, but she has dealt with far more illustrious clients than Ochre And Ocre!!

OO: Tell us briefly about your business?

JM: I have a team of florists who are all trained to the same level and we provide 'fabulous flowers for happy occasions'.  I did the whole 'life begins at 40' career change and became a full time florist six years ago.

It can be cold, stressful and exhausting but I love it!!

I have a workshop rather than a retail premises and only provide flowers for weddings and events. No two weeks are the same and no two weddings are the same.

I work mainly within Warwickshire and the Cotswolds but have recently created the designs for some fabulous events at Blenheim Palace. I have also worked at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

which was an amazing experience.

The majority of work so far has been weddings and we create everything from the bouquets and buttonholes to decorating the inside and  outside of a church as well as  stunning table designs. I  only take on one event per day and always deliver and oversee everything myself. I have to make sure that everything is perfect before myself and my team leave a venue. I will never be able to grow my empire as I am a complete control freak!

OO: Any famous clients?

JM: Depends how famous! This year I have created designs for 'Strictly Stars' Anton du Beke  and Erin Boag. They have held several dance breaks at The Wroxall Abbey Estate, and I created the table displays for their Gala Dinner. As a huge Strictly fan myself I did also create a bouquet for Erin so that I could have my photograph taken with them both!

Apart from that lots of prestigious corporate clients but no one really famous.....yet!!

OO: What is your favourite flower to use as a table decoration?

JM: That's a tricky one. It sounds quite boring but I adore roses. They come in so many different colours and sizes now, I never tire of using them. Apart from that my favourite more unusual flower is gloriosa. It's a very delicate flower in a very striking colour combination of bright pink edged in yellow. It expensive but looks great with just a few flower heads floating in a bowl surrounded with candles.

OO: How do you decorate your own table at Christmas time

JM: It depends how busy I’ve been in the run up until Christmas!

I’m actually much more particular about my door wreath than my table as this usually goes up at the beginning of December. For the last couple of years I have used a floral foam ring as the base for

my wreath rather than the traditional moss base. This gives a more contemporary feel and this year I will be using massed hydrangea heads with just a few roses and fresh herbs such as rosemary. It will of course be finished with a large bow and a hint of Christmas sparkle.

Getting back to the table, probably a large hurricane lamp with a circle of flowers around the outside in rich reds and golds.

OO: What should you think about when planning table decorations? Eg height... / fragrance...

JM: I only ever do table centres that are either really low or really tall. So many clients say that they don’t want tall because they have been at events where the flowers are straight in front of you. I just don’t understand why florists create designs like that.

The tall designs that I create are at least 70cm high from the table, they create a real ‘wow’ when guests walk in the room but are totally out of their eye level when they sit down.

If it’s a large room then what’s really ‘on-trend’ at the moment is to have half tall and half low designs. This ensure that you still get the wow as guests walk in but you also have more colours low down when everyone is seated.

I love using fresh herbs in designs, rosemary is a real favourite for both it’s colour and texture. Also this year I created the designs for a marquee wedding that wanted a real ‘country feel’. In addition to the rosemary, I also included mint which looked and smelt amazing.

In the run up to Christmas we will be sharing Julia's tips for different table decorations through our newsletter, and website blog. If you would like to receive a copy of the Ochre And Ocre newsletter just drop an email to customerservice@OchreAndOcre.com and we will add you to our mailing list. 

Autumn Fairs

Ochre And Ocre are about and about a lot over the next few months, attending lots of shopping events and Christmas Fairs. We know nothing beats actually seeing the quality of the product up close, so if you are in the area, it would be great to meet you at one of the shows. Please let us know if you need anymore information regarding location or times of any of these events.

24th September; Macmillan Coffee Morning at Hatton Village Hall, Hatton, Warwickshire

28th September Travelling Souk at Micklefield Hall, Hertfordshire

1st October Worcester Hunt, at Worcester Rugby Club

5th October Travelling Souk at Frome Valley Vineyard, Herefordshire

7th October Travelling Souk at Lyford Grange, Oxfordshire

12th October Travelling Souk at Delbury Hall, near Ludlow, Shropshire

13th October Talk at Kingswood WI, Herefordshire

18th October Travelling Souk at Gunthorpe Hall, Rutland

3-7th November Spirit of Christmas at Olympia

10-11th November Shipston Home Nursing, Warwickshire

15-16th Travelling Souk at Southrop Manor, Gloucestershire

19th November Cotswold House Christmas Shopping Fair, Chipping Campden

20th November The Croft School Christmas Fair, near Stratford

22-23rd November Travelling Souk at North Hidden Farm, Hungerford

27th November Save the Children Christmas Fair, Leamington Town Hall

6th December Charity Lunch & Shopping, Hockley Heath, Warwickshire

We will be taking our new Christmas Gift ranges, along with an edited selection of our Organic Cotton table linen, kitchen textiles, and pure beeswax candles. As space is limited at some events, if you are coming to see us at a particular event, and particularly wanted to see something, or want to get a particular size Organic Cotton table cloth please drop us an email, and we make sure we have it there to show you.

Autumnal Feel

September is a real transitional month -every year there is talk of an Indian summer, and whether it happens or not I don't really mind, because I really love it when the trees start to change colour, and the landscape turns to that lovely soft Ochre palette, and I can finally pull out my long boots and opaque tights!
There have been some fantastic mushroom rings, growing just outside our gate on the common. I'm not brave enough to see if they are edible - they certainly don't look or smell like the field mushrooms we used to eat for breakfast when I was little.

For Ochre And Ocre it's all about prepping for the upcoming shows. Extra dates seem to be added on constantly - we start slowly in September with 2, 6 in October, and 9 in November. I've worked out I have 8 days at home in the office in November! Trying to "guesstimate" likely sales is a dark art, I know I have spoken about before, just how many sets do I need to make up in advance?
It will also be interesting this year to see the response to the new brochure, and whether it brings in a new type of customer, or are we just diluting our existing customer base? 
I'll let you know at the end of the season!