Why Choose DIY Wedding & Event Flowers From A Local Flower Farm
- Maria
- Aug 8
- 11 min read
Getting married or have an event in Bath, Wells, or Frome and the surrounding areas? Do you fancy filling your day with beauty created by yourself, your family and friends?
DIY wedding and event flowers can be a wonderfully joyful, personal, and deeply satisfying experience. But sadly creating your own event flowers can also feel overwhelming, especially if the flowers arrive tired, over-processed, or nothing like the colours you imagined.
This is where locally grown flowers make a real difference. Buying from a local flower farm means fresh from the farm, seasonal stems full of character and gorgeous scents. For a wedding or event that feels natural rather than overly polished, locally grown flowers are hard to beat.
Our flowers suit relaxed country weddings, festivals, wildflower themes, garden marquees, village halls, barns, chapels, registry offices, and family celebrations at home. They also suit individuals who are conscious of the environmental impact of the imported flower industry, who want to be hands-on with their special day, but need flowers that are easy to work with and chosen for the British season.
Local flowers bring the season into your wedding
Buy locally grown and / or British flowers, and you will find you can have an array of beautiful blooms and delicate varieties that aren't available from the big importers. Think beautifully scented sweet peas, cosmos, dinner plate dahlias and delicate umbellifers!
Seasonal flowers have a quality that imported flowers often lack. Locally grown seasonal flowers look like and do belong to the time of year. A May wedding with foxgloves, ranunculus, geums, cow parsley-style fillers, and fresh green foliage has a very different feeling from an August wedding full of dahlias, zinnias, scabious, cosmos and airy grasses.
Fresh flowers raised on our lovely Somerset soil, on the edge of the Mendips, are grown in harmony with nature and the changing seasons offering a broad palette of delights:
Season | Typical flower mood | Good DIY uses |
Spring | Soft, fresh, delicate | Bud vases, bridal bouquets, small table bowls |
Early summer | Romantic, scented, full | Bouquets, urns, pew ends, jam jar flowers |
High summer | Abundant, colourful, loose | Table flowers, statement buckets, meadow-style displays |
Early autumn | Rich, textured, warm | Larger arrangements, dried details, deep-toned bouquets |
The flowers you receive for your DIY flower arrangements will always depend on the weather and the grower’s current crop, which is absolutely part of the charm. Locally grown British flowers are not picked from a catalogue or chosen by scrolling through a website in the same way as imported stems. They are chosen from what is thriving in the flower field and looking wonderful at the time of your wedding or event.
That can sound risky, but it often leads to better results. A flower farmer knows what is at its peak that week. They personally select stems that will hold well for different environments, colours that sit beautifully together, and foliage that gives shape without fuss.
For DIY wedding and event flowers, this is so important. You are not just buying ingredients, you are buying ingredients that will suit your special day.
Farm fresh stems make DIY floristry easier
When flowers travel long distances, they often pass through several stages before reaching the final arrangement. They may be cut, cooled, packed, transported, unpacked, stored, and handled again before they even reach a florist or wholesaler.
Local flowers have a much shorter journey. Flower farmers cut in the cool early hours or evening as the sun goes down, no more than 24 hours before the collection or delivery day. That gives them an amazing head start in freshness compared to imported flowers.
This flower freshness helps in practical ways:
Stems are often more hydrated and responsive.
Flowers may open more naturally over the wedding weekend.
Foliage will look more vivacious and less flat.
More delicate varieties like sweet peas, cosmos, larger dahlias and umbellifers can be used because they do not need to cope with long transport.
There is less need for heavy packaging and environmentally impactful plastics.
For DIY wedding and event flowers, fresh stems from your local flower farm are so much more forgiving. If you are arranging flowers the day before, you want to know they have been conditioned properly. You want foliage that holds its shape, flowers that still look alive after a night in a cool, dark room.
This is especially helpful if you are making several simple arrangements rather than one formal display. For example:
Jam jars or bud vases delicately placed along tables
Vase arrangements that can be used at the ceremony and reception
Buckets of flowers or urn arrangements for a marquee or church entrance
Simple hand-tied bouquets for the bridesmaids
Posies or flower crowns for the flower girls
Buttonholes made with herbs, seed heads, or sturdy blooms
Cake flowers, if your cake maker is happy to place them safely
Local stems have movement and whimsy, they curve, lean, flutter, and vary slightly from one another. That makes DIY arrangements look unique and intentional, even when they are simple.
Somerset grown flowers suit relaxed, countryside weddings and events
Somerset has a famously strong rural character. Our flower farm in Stratton-on-the-Fosse straddles the ancient Roman road, the Fosse Way (A367). It is surrounded by fields, country lanes, beautiful historic buildings built from Bath stone and views shaped by the wider Somerset countryside. We are situated close to the local towns of Midsomer Norton, Shepton Mallet and Frome, as well as the beautiful cities of Bath and Wells.
Flowers grown in this area of Somerset often feel especially suitable for weddings that lean into a natural, gathered-from-the-garden style, or festival / wildflower themes (thanks to the famous Glastonbury Festival being just down the road!)
Naturally gathered styles does not mean messy or unfinished. It means soft edges, varied textures, and arrangements that are full of character and whimsy and most importantly, look alive!
Local flower farms often grow varieties that are not always easy to find through standard wholesale routes due to transportation difficulties. This may include scented sweet peas, beautiful English garden roses, cosmos, nigella, larkspur, cornflowers, annual phlox, ammi, achillea, herbs, grasses, seed heads, and don't forget the interesting foliage from our British native trees and shrubs.
These types of flowers and foliage work beautifully for DIY styling because they already have personality.
A few stems of scented foliage in an arrangement can change a whole table. A single dahlia in a bud vase can carry a colour theme. Airy fillers can make an arrangement look full without needing dozens of expensive focal flowers.
For a Somerset wedding, locally grown flowers can also help the flowers feel connected to the setting. If the venue is a barn, orchard, meadow, garden, church, or family home, imported tropical flowers may look impressive, but they may not feel quite right. Seasonal British flowers often sit more naturally in the room.
That sense of place is one of the strongest reasons to choose flowers from your local flower farm. The flowers become part of the story of the day.
Buying direct from your local flower farm gives you useful guidance
One of the best parts of buying from a local flower farm is the chance to speak to someone who knows and has lovingly grown the flowers from seed to stem.
A flower farmer can usually advise on what will be ready around your date, which flowers last well out of water, which ones need extra care, and how many buckets you might need for the kind of arrangements you want to make.
That advice is valuable if you are planning your own DIY flowers.
You might know that you want soft pinks, cream, apricot, and blue. The grower can translate that into flowers that are likely to be available at the time of your wedding or event. You might think you need lots of large blooms, when what you really need is a balance of focal flowers, fillers, foliage, and textural interest.
A good DIY flower order often includes:
Focal flowers for impact and colour
Supporting flowers to add volume
Airy fillers to soften the arrangement
Foliage to create shape
Texture from seed heads, herbs, grasses, or smaller flowers
This mix makes arranging so much easier. Without foliage and fillers, DIY flower arrangements can look sparse. Without focal flowers, they can lack presence. The right balance helps even simple arrangements feel considered.
Many flower farms offer DIY buckets, pick-your-own sessions, workshops, or pre-ordered mixed seasonal flowers. Others may provide flowers by colour palette. The exact service will vary, so it is best to ask as early as possible and be clear about what you want to make.
For example, a couple planning ten long tables, a bouquet, and a welcome arrangement will need a different order from someone planning a few bud vases and a flower crown. The more specific the plan, the easier it is for the grower to guide the order.
Locally grown flowers can be a more thoughtful environmental choice
Flowers are a natural product, but the flower trade is not always low-impact. The majority of flowers sold in the UK are imported. They may be grown under heated glass, flown long distances, or wrapped heavily for transport.
Local flowers reduce this journey and environmental impact massively. They are grown closer to where they will be used, often in open fields or polytunnels, and they usually need less packaging. Many flower farmers only use recyclable packing and no single use plastics. British flower farms also tend to work with the seasons rather than trying to produce every flower all year round.
This does not mean every local flower has the same footprint, and it does not mean imported flowers are always wrong. But for a wedding where the aim is to reduce waste and choose more carefully, locally grown flowers are a very good choice.
Choosing locally grown flowers also encourages a different mindset. Instead of ordering a fixed flower list regardless of season, you choose a colour mood and trust what is growing well. This tends to reduce pressure and waste.
There are other huge benefits too:
Fewer flower miles
Less plastic packaging in many cases
More compostable material
Support for local growers and rural skills
More use of seasonal foliage, herbs, and garden-style stems
Less reliance on chemically dyed or heavily processed flowers
If you are already choosing to support local businesses for food, hiring nearby suppliers, or using second-hand decor, locally grown wedding flowers sits naturally alongside those decisions. Read more about our sustainability promise here: https://www.mendipflowers.co.uk/sustainability
DIY flowers can be a budget friendly option
Wedding flowers vary widely in cost because different approaches require different levels of labour, design, travel, installation, and skill. A full-service event florist creates, transports, sets up, and often clears away designs. That is skilled work and is priced accordingly.
DIY flowers are different. You take on alot of the creative work yourself. This can help your budget go further, and is especially good for more informal arrangements.
Buying buckets of flowers from a local flower farm can be a practical middle ground. You still get beautiful, fresh, carefully grown flowers, but you arrange them yourself with help from friends or family.
DIY flower buckets works especially well for:
Bud vases
Jam jars
Informal table centre pieces
Small milk churns or entrance arrangements
Loose flowers for a cake table
Simple bouquets for a relaxed wedding party
It may not be the best choice for every design. Large hanging installations, arches, large urns, foam-free mechanics, staircase designs, or highly structured bouquets need experience. If those are central to your wedding, an event florist is always the better option.
But, if the aim is a generous, seasonal, informal look, DIY flowers can be both beautiful and achievable.
The key is to keep the designs simple. Repeated small arrangements are easier than one huge showpiece. A single colour palette makes the whole room feel tied together. Plenty of foliage helps fill space. Matching vessels bring order, even when the flowers are loose and natural.
How to plan DIY wedding flowers with a local flower farm
Good planning makes all the difference. The flowers are perishable, the timing matters, and the week of a wedding is rarely quiet. It is always best to contact flower farms as early as possible, especially if you need many buckets of flowers or have a particular colour palette in mind. Cut-flowers take a long time to grow and a lot of time
to nurture, so many months notice (or even a year!) rather than weeks is always best.
Start by deciding what you would like to make. Write a simple list of arrangements. Include the number of tables, the size of the venue, the wedding party flowers, and any areas that need decorating.
Then choose the mood rather than exact flowers. A useful brief might be:
Soft garden colours with cream, blush, apricot, and pale blue
Bright summer colours with coral, pink, yellow, and purple
Natural whites and greens with herbs and grasses
Rich late-summer tones with burgundy, copper, peach, and cream
This gives the grower room to choose the best stems available.
Next, think about logistics.
You will need:
Clean buckets
A cool, shaded space for storage
Sharp snips or secateurs
Clean vases or jars
Time to strip leaves below the waterline
Fresh water
Labels for arrangements if several people are helping
Transport boxes or crates for moving finished pieces
Conditioning is one of the most overlooked parts of DIY flowers. Once flowers are collected, they need to be kept cool and hydrated. Leaves below the waterline should be removed, as they can dirty the water. Vases should be clean. Flower keep best away from direct sun, radiators, and fruit bowls.
Plan the arranging session carefully. The day before the wedding usually works for many table flowers, but delicate items such as buttonholes may need more careful timing. Remember to ask the flower farm which stems are best for each arrangement use.
It is also wise to do a small practice arrangement before the wedding week. This helps you understand how many stems fit in each jar, how long arranging takes, and what style feels natural in your hands.
Local flowers make the day feel more personal
There is something quietly special about knowing where your wedding flowers came from. They were not anonymous stems from a box. They grew in nearby (in our case Somerset) soil, have been through the same weather leading up to the wedding, cut by someone who knows the field and understands the crop grown.
This give your flowers a story.
Your guests may not know the variety names, but they often notice scent, texture, and freshness. The will notice the flowers look as if they belong in the room and they will notice when tables feel warm, generous, and full of life.
Locally grown flowers also make lovely memories after the day. Some stems can be pressed, dried, or saved in a small keepsake arrangement. Seed heads, grasses, lavender, strawflowers, and herbs can dry especially well, depending on what is available.
There is no need for every flower to last forever. Part of the beauty of seasonal flowers is that they are fleeting. They mark one weekend, one event, one season, one place.
Choosing Somerset grown flowers is a practical as well as a beautiful decision
Locally grown flowers are not only a romantic choice, they are practical. They are fresher, more seasonal, often less wasteful, and well suited to DIY arrangements. They give you access to flowers with movement, scent, and texture. They also give your wedding a stronger connection to the place and time of year.
For a couple planning DIY wedding flowers, that combination matters. You need stems that look good, last well, and do not require professional-level arranging to feel beautiful.
Choosing flowers from a flower farm in Somerset means working with the season rather than forcing against it. It means trusting what is growing well. It means creating wedding flowers that feel natural, personal, and full of life.
The best next step is simple: gather your vase numbers, choose a colour mood, and speak to a local grower as early as possile. A thoughtful flower plan will make the wedding week calmer, and the flowers will feel all the more special because they came from close to home.
Our own Somerset flower farm, set in the village of Stratton-on-the-Fosse is now taking bookings for DIY wedding flowers for 2027 weddings and event dates. We are always happy to have a chat about your requirements and welcome pre-arranged visits to the flower farm.
For more information on what we offer have a look at our DIY wedding and events page.
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