Wildstems

Wildstems is a bespoke floral studio specialising in untamed, whimsical and dramatic florals using seasonal botanicals.

03/09/2024

Finally, someone let me live out my pink and red bouquet of dreams… ❤️🩷

For Sarah who married Rob.

The loveliest of palettes for the loveliest of couples.

28/08/2024

Hi Instagram 👋🏻 I don’t really have much to say… other than one week to go… and then I can fall face first into flowers like this again.

05/08/2024

The Still Series #3 🇸🇪

I will always and forever love the wild stems the most.

Especially a roadside verge. The gnarled. The crispy. All the bits that traditional floristry would recoil from. But all I see is untamed beauty… full of movement, overlooked treasures and the unexpected.

This arrangement is everything I love in floral design.

Wildstems. Floral design at the untamed edge. If that wasn’t already my branding, I would be rebranding immediately.

29/07/2024

The Still Series 🇸🇪 #2

Lillies and alliums 🐍 from

25/07/2024

The still series 🇸🇪 #1

Arranging in the calm of Sweden for no one but myself.

With beautiful flowers cut from

Poppies, larkspur, snapdragons and dill.

17/07/2024

For Marta and Fred whose brief was for a relaxed, un-wedding wedding celebration

They wanted to celebrate with the best of the season, in terms of both flowers and food, but didn’t want it to feel too wedding-y… which meant roses were off the menu.

Icelandic poppies and sweet peas filled Marta’s bouquet, and were joined on the table by the absolutely wild allium ‘hair’ (my new favourite) dispersed through ikebana bowls and bud vases.

Thanks to and for the beautiful flowers.

27/04/2024

So if you look really hard, there are some of my flowers in this image. I promise.

I just love this image of Charlotte and Ashley too much not to share.

Happy slightly belated anniversary you lovely people.

Captured by the inimitable 🤍

13/04/2024

Pink cherry blossom. Let me count the ways I love you.

Number 1. Artfully arranged by me in a big vase and beautifully photographed by

17/03/2024

(Wo)man it feels good to get my fingers back to work…

Flowers for my beautiful former bride , who is expecting her first, long awaited baby, and who had a photo shoot to create everlasting images of her beautiful body at this special time… anchored to the time and place by my flowers ✨✨✨

12/03/2024

All the cuttings from the garden…

08/03/2024

I cut my first dark hellebores yesterday and it made me think of this beautiful bride and this dark and moody bouquet and image pretty captured by 🖤

From the archives, but still looking splendid.

flowers
dress
makeup
hair
earrings
silk ribbons

04/03/2024

Cut all the narcissi. Arrange in bowl. The end.

28/02/2024

The narcissi, forsythia and clematis apple blossom giving me all the thrills right now.

I can’t imagine getting married and not clutching a bouquet that evokes the natural landscape of the time and the place…

Flowers are more than just a ‘pretty’ accompaniment to an event. They serve as an anchor for our brains, helping to connect us to a time and a place and serve as a reminder when they re-emerge a year or many years later...

So whilst they are temporary and ephemeral, they are also the perfect ‘souvenir’, returning each year to remind us of what was a special and memorable event.

Photo by

27/02/2024

I haven’t shared a wedding photo in a while… I probably should do that so people know that this is actually my main occupation!

It is my quiet season though, when I am elbows deep in design briefs rather than flower buckets… but it won’t be long… and I have so many beautiful weddings planned this year…

Lovely Lottie captured by

13/01/2024

Three ingredients, one kenzan and the glorious winter light.

The wisteria from my wreath repurposed for a January bowl arrangement.

24/12/2023

An oldie, but the sentiment never gets old.

Merry Christmas one and all 🎄

Photo taken by

23/12/2023

“Is that for our house mummy?”

“I’m afraid not..”

“Is that one for our house mummy?”

“Not this one, no.”

“Is this for our house mummy?”

“Now darling, let me tell you about the cobbler’s children and their shoes…”

😳

Might have to go on a muddy walk to find some dead branches today to appease my children…

15/12/2023

Why it pays to step away and invest in your craft…

When we entered wreathmas I was feeling jaded. Which was a bit heart breaking because wreaths are my first true love in floristry.

So I went on a break, pulled back from the usual wreathmania, wrote off my normal December revenue, and shut myself in the studio to invest time in rediscovering the spark… and I am pleased to report back that I found it 🥰

I think it’s my favourite wreath ever.

To everyone who told me to prune my wild wisteria: she is now tamed.

To everyone feeling in a funk with their creativity: invest in it. Whether that’s by spending time on it, or investing in a course. There are some incredible people out there offering one to ones / courses. Never stop learning.

(Oh and by PURE coincidence 🤷🏼‍♀️ I recently updated the courses and workshops for next year’s or you can book a one to one with me via my website… ahem… listen, a lady’s got to hustle after writing off her normal Christmas revenue… 🤷🏼‍♀️)

09/12/2023

Woman, wreath and wall.

I instinctively started this post as ‘girl, wreath and wall’, but then I realized I’m probably the wrong side of 40 to keep calling myself ‘girl’, even though woman feels far too grown up for me. Plus the three Ws pleased me. I do love a bit of alliteration.

What else should I tell you about myself, seeing as I’m putting myself in the frame. My name is Cissy (hi 👋🏻), I’m a recovering perfectionist (my freelancers might LOL at my use of the word recovering), massive contrarian, exuberant enthusiast (ahhh alliteration again) (and again!) and founder and creative director of Wildstems.

I am naturally drawn to a relaxed, wild aesthetic, with maximum drama and impact. (My personality in a nutshell?!). You want traditional floristry? I am not the florist for you… I like to think of my style as understated luxury, led by the finest ingredients, which, in my experienced opinion, just all happen to be locally grown, no matter the season. You know how the best restaurants use the best seasonal ingredients locally sourced from farmers they know and trust. Well my floral design is like that, only with flowers.

I’ve got 3 kids (8 year old twin girls and a 6 year old son), am half Swedish, lived a decade in Asia where I met my husband, speak Mandarin and have a really irrational love of good lamp design and wreaths (which is what led me into floristry in the first place).

Which circles us nicely back to the other two Ws of this post:
1. this mega wreath I made as a commission for . I was almost tempted not to give it to them as I love it so much. But I am a bit of a traditionalist about my wreaths (I told you I was a contrarian) and need my own one to have evergreens on it… and
2. my beautifully finished wall. She is a thing of beauty and I am obsessed with her. Thanks dad ❤️(see earlier post for context).

03/12/2023

All of the snow and ice is reminding me of this bouquet from last year ✨✨✨

Normal Christmas content will resume shortly. Just keep getting distracted by bouquets of old 🤷🏼‍♀️

30/11/2023

Sorry. Just needed to inject something different into your wreath feed.

You’re welcome.

You may now continue your wreath scrolling. 🤪🌲

24/11/2023

As thoughts inevitably turn to presents at this time of year, I wanted to tell you about my best present this year. Can you see what it is…?

Yes. A new wall.

I genuinely cannot tell you how excited I am about this. Swipe to see me flash my knicker drawer of what my studio looked like last year…

Now I can take photos without shimmying around an unwieldy photo backdrop, I can take wide angled shots, I can quickly snap a photo of something I’m making in the rush of a client deadline without stopping to set up a photo (if it didn’t get photographed it may as well not have happened), and I can hang up large swathes of fabric and spend hours styling perfect shots if I so wish. Ahhh the options are endless.

The wall is still ‘in progress’ and is getting its final coats of paint, but hopefully it will be done in time for some wreath action in the coming week.

Big love to my dad who loves a project as much as me and who ‘gave’ me the wall for my birthday. (I might just note that my birthday is in July though… ahem… 🕰️😉)

12/11/2023

I have the coolest couples.

Georgia + Dima on the hottest day in September punting on the River Cam after getting married

Beautifully captured by

10/11/2023

Those of you who have followed me for a while will know that I have an irrational love of wreaths. They are the reason I got into floristry in the first place… There is something about the meditative process of taking lush emerald - almost glistening - green branches and spiralling them around a willow base to create a piece living artwork. The uniformity of the simple circle juxtaposed against the uniqueness of the tumble and swirl created in each an every wreath. Just writing about it makes me tingle a bit...

Only, over the last few years, I have observed something about that love… we have somehow entered a bit of an unexciting complacency phase. The love and commitment is deep, but we sort of keep sitting on the sofa in our slippers watching Strictly, rather than glamming up, having wild nights out before falling into bed together…

I want the spark back. So, I have decided to spend a season in couple’s therapy, rediscovering the frisson. There are different forms, techniques and materials that I want to explore. I want to embrace the wilder, more undone nature of my floristry style as it has evolved. I want to understand how that can marry with the rhythmic order of a traditional wreath. I can feel it all bubbling under the surface, but I need time and space to foster it.

Which means that my Christmas offering this year is strictly limited… my one workshop is fully booked already… and I am EXCITED by the space that I have chosen to give to my creativity.

So why am I telling you about this when I’m not really ‘selling’ anything? Well, just to let you know what I am and am not doing this festive period - and why…

And if you reeeeaaaallly want a wreath from me, and if you somehow manage to time an email to land in my inbox at a moment when I’m feeling generous and like I’m missing out, then maybe I’ll make you one 😉

02/11/2023

“Autumn is the second spring when every leaf is a flower.” Albert Camus

Thug vine. RIP. From a year ago. Still missing it’s insane chartreuse leaves and duck egg blue berries. It was a complete thug though.

29/10/2023

“I’m so glad I live in a world with Octobers.” L M Montgomery. We couldn’t agree more.

The Autumn Tablescape as part of and a year of tablescapes series.

Gemma and I wanted to capture the richness of Autumn with this tablescape, but - as always for our aesthetic - with a pared back, understated elegance.

The opulence of the jewel tones in the flowers called for tableware and linens that quietly complemented their strong colours, creating a sense of balance, rather than everything noisily vying for your attention.

The playful lines in the flowers toy with this idea of balance - stopping it all feeling too serious and dense, with the odd zinnia breaking the line, popping up to say hi.

Our favourite tablescape yet… but then, autumn is the best time of year for flowers…

Design and concept and
Florals
Styling
Glassware and Tableware

24/10/2023

I know you lot are all going to think I’m sharing this for the insane curls on the cafe au lait. But you’re wrong. It is in celebration of that piece of foliage upfront. My absolute hands down number one foliage at this time of year. Cornus midwinter fire 🔥🔥🔥

Eternally grateful to for introducing it into my life back when we were delivering Isolation Creation buckets in 2020…

If you plant one thing this autumn. In fact. Plant 10.

13/10/2023

Bringing out the big guns for this autumn wedding… I haven’t worked too much with the cafe au laits this season… but they were in force for this one. (Just not on the tables…)

30/09/2023

September in . After my summer hiatus, it has been so lovely to fall deep in to September’s many beautiful flowers, foliages and textures.

Autumn bridal work is often dominated by delicate pale flowers with accents of apricot, rust and burgundy, reflecting the changing tones in the foliage… but I have been waiting for the blue asters to arrive to place them alongside the chartreuse foliage of cornus and wisteria and the soft creaminess of emergent cafe au lait, sweet Natalie and phlox crème brûlée.

I wish I’d managed to capture the pinky lilac streak that you often get in the cafe au lait at this time of year, which set off the asters so perfectly.

Any 2024 autumn brides who fancy this as their wedding palette get in touch, yeah?

29/09/2023

Still here, still deep in my peaches and red obsession…

My demonstration bowl from this week’s Autumn Season at the

Flowers grown by arranged in the perfect flower bowl from

Address

Foxton
CB226RP

Website

http://www.wild-stems.com/

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Videos

This week was the last full flower delivery for @annasflowerfarm and my Year of Flowers customers. Next month will be a selection of our most treasured chrysanthemums and dried elements… but for this month, we filled their buckets with all the gloriousness of autumn - dahlias, chrysanthemums, salvias, rudbeckias, cosmos and a riot of seasonal foliage all grown at @annasflowerfarm and @surmium came to the studio to film my monthly arranging tutorial. Look at those colours. Autumn has whizzed by a blur of events and I don’t feel like I’ve taken a moment to pause and really appreciate all the beautiful material I get to work with, so I’m going to cherish each stem before the frosts and I’ll have this video to look back on once the season is over…

Watch with the sound on… 💚💫 A privilege to set up these ceremonial urns for Laurie and John @caiuscollege to the sound of their choir practicing… There was a food theme to all the arrangements for the wedding, with 13 different herbs for the reception centerpieces…. So I couldn’t resist the urge to use artichokes in the urns… (wishing there was an artichoke emoji right now!). #weddingurns #weddingflorist #britishflowers #seasonalflowers #artichokes #cambridgewedding #nofloralfoam #choirpractice

A bridal and bridesmaid bouquet for Laurie who finally was able to marry John this weekend at a beautiful ceremony @caiuscollege and reception @manorbarn 💫 #bridalbouquet #grownnotflown #slowflowers #seasonalflowers #inspiredbypetals #fieldtovase #excessivelydivertedbyflowers #gatherandcurate #prettyperfectpetals #nofloralfoam #underthefloralspell #cutflowers #britishflowers #weddingflorist #caughtflowerhanded #gatherandcurate #fortheloveofflowers #cambridge #saffronwalden #wildstems

British summer in a bowl… 13 different bowl centerpiece arrangements for this weekend’s wedding, each with its own herb foliage base (this was the top table with lavender). Full of movement, texture and scent and locally grown flowers by @annasflowerfarm, me, @themidnightgarden and roses from @therealflowerco. #weddingflowers #grownnotflown #slowflowers #seasonalflowers #inspiredbypetals #fieldtovase #excessivelydivertedbyflowers #gatherandcurate #prettyperfectpetals #nofloralfoam #cutflowers #britishflowers #weddingflorist #caughtflowerhanded #gatherandcurate #fortheloveofflowers #cambridge #saffronwalden #wildstems