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. 

Photoshoots and Brochures

The sunshine may have disappeared - although hopefully only temporarily, but I am still finding it hard to settle down and start and finish one thing, there are so many things happening in the world of Ochre and Ocre at the moment.

The shoot went well with Rachel Spivey last week for our Christmas brochure, and the lovely Lindsey Joyce is putting the finishing touches to the artwork. Lindsey seems to be so multi talented - not only coping with Isabella and Madelaine, (her children not our designs!), but she also seems to work all hours on different graphic design projects. I can't wait to see the finished brochure - a whole 20 pages!! It feels almost like we are launching all over again.

Last night I trekked across to the depths of Northamptonshire - to a very pretty little village called Walgrave, to give a talk to the local WI. It was my first proper talk, so I was quite apprehensive, but the ladies were all very welcoming and soon put me at ease. They seemed to find the Ochre story interesting, and had quite a few questions at the end.It was interesting when I asked for a show of hands to gauge how many people shopped online to see that only a few put their hands up. Hopefully the new brochure will help to expand us into a whole new our customer base.
Next week we are teaming up with Rachel again, this time for a full on Christmas sparkly glamour shoot! (No models but loads of gorgeous table linen!). We are very fortunate that the lovely people at Ettington Park Hotel have allowed us the use of their beautiful chapel. I am really excited as this time we will also have the support of another talented lady - Julia Mitchell. Julia does some really beautiful flower arrangements and will be helping to dress two very different Christmas looks. I met Julia through WIRE, and she has a very similar background career wise to me. It's lovely seeing people taking the risks, and doing a complete career change especially when it works as well as Julia's.
Later on in the year you will be able to see more of Julia's work, and she will also be sharing some of her tips for dressing the perfect dinner table.