I have news. Two bits of news actually, but you’ll have to wait for one of them. Here’s the first: we are no longer getting married in the garden. (You may, keen reader, remember that one of my gardening New Year’s resolutions was to design the garden precisely because of this event, but it just wasn’t meant to be.)

Due to a multitude of factors we have moved away from Ground Force: Wedding SOS and instead have booked a lovely venue just north of Dundee. It’s nothing fancy, but it has a hall where we can dance, and a garden area for photos and merriment.

So, there is no real need to get the garden in tip-top shape for next year any more (and a good thing too – we recently started working on our kitchen which is no mean feat) but, me being me I have set myself another challenge. (I can practically hear the eyes of people I know rolling as I type that).

Forgive me if I’m boring you with wedding blether – believe me if this wasn’t plant related I’d be boring myself.

The venue is pretty basic, which means there’s a lot of scope in terms of decoration. So my plan is to basically cover everything in fairy lights and plants. We’re going to hire someone for the lights, but when it comes to the plants there’s a few things I want to try.

Obviously we could go all out and have a florist just throw some ivy and roses around the place, and I am fortunate because my mum is a florist, but I don’t really want to burden her with the task of providing the majority of the decorations as well as the bouquet etc.

So here’s what I’m thinking.

1. Plant up perennials now in pots so that they can just grow happily and then on the wedding day just transport them to the venue and dot them around.
2. At some point, sow annuals and then plant in pots as well. These could also be used for button holes/table decorations etc.
3. Attempt to propagate some succulents for wedding favours. I’ve started this already with an echeveria plant. Watch this space.

In terms of what I would actually like to grow? Almost anything that I can actually grow, and whatever will look nice. It would obviously be nice to have a mix of green foliage alongside flowers, but apart from that I’ve not thought too hard about it. (If anyone has any recommendations please let me know).

Ugh, hate to do it but: heart eyed emoji. Image: Green Union

I like the simple look of gypsophila and lavender, and can envision these as table decorations, plus I was thinking about having some gypsophila in my hair. I love white cosmos, and warm to the idea of these in my bouquet and in vases at the venue. It’s likely that I won’t be able to help myself and will end up going for a ‘wild meadow theme’ – AKA just having all the flowers because they all look lovely.

So, my next steps are to monitor the seed-sowing I did a couple of weeks ago, and invest in some bulk perennials and shrubs like lavender that can be planted in autumn.

I know this is all probably more trouble than it’s worth, but I was very inspired after the idea came to my head and  after a quick Google it seems like this isn’t too troublesome. Crikey, even the Guardian has a blog post on how to grow your own wedding flowers. Plus, growing my own decorations means I can get some more experience growing plants from seeds, with the added benefit of planting them in my own garden afterwards! Two birds, one stone my friend.