Naandi has been immersed in the world of flowers for decades. The last incantation of her business was"Essence" - a name that a lot of locals will recognise. When time came to morph the business purely from floral arrangements to the more exciting and challenging business of event styling, management and coordination, a name change also had to take place.

With the recent passing of both her maternal and paternal grandmothers, Naandi decided to honour them both . . . and Mabel & Grace was born.

With so many brides choosing pale colours for their wedding flowers, you would think that it may become a little uninteresting to create modern floral bouquets and arrangements. Not so! Naandi loves playing and mixing & matching all types of flowers, regardles of colour, believing that "there are way too many gorgeous flowers out there" to ever get bored. Although she does admit to having a soft-spot for tuberoses; "They smell DIVINE and look stunning in unstructured arrangements."

And it's not all ivory and soft pinks, recently Naandi was given the opportunity to create floral arrangements for a wedding at Old Broadwater Farm in deep reds and plum. Naandi used her considerable skills to really set off the deep plums with a mix of foliage in greys and greens. It looks gorgeous!

Naandi's ethos of using what flowers are in season, is supported by her own love of gardening. She regularly loves to use greenery from her own garden. She also grows a specific type of greenery (a trade secret) to use when she can. Sometimes a few bugs get to the leaves in her garden but she makes sure those never make it to her arrangements.

This also brings to mind the cost of flowers at a wedding. Brides obviously have a budget when they are planning their wedding, but a lot of the time people can be shocked at flower prices. Perhaps this comes from a lack of knowledge of the effort and cost it takes to grow fresh flowers and also the real work required to make a beautiful and long lasting bouquet or floral arragement. "I think what people don’t realize is that there is a lot of work that goes in to putting a bouquet together. It’s not as simple as just chucking stems in a bunch. There’s prep, ordering, styling etc. things can take time and become fiddly and we have to also factor in the time." Naandi wants all her clients to be in love with their arrangements and puts considerable effort and love into each creation.

Regardless of choice for your floral needs, Naandi will find the perfect collection of flowers and greenery working with your style and budget. And if your favourite flower is not available or in season? . . . . Naandi says, "I do like to work with all my clients to make sure that they can still have gorgeous flowers and arrangements with slightly altered designs or substitutes". Check out more of Naandi's amazing work on her website.