Amy and Michael's day of self expression, absolute anthems and complete nostalgia
How the elder emos stayed true to themselves
Standing outside the Ritz one night after a gig back in 2024 (it may've been Taking Back Sunday, I can't remember) I bumped into Amy. We used to go to the same handstand classes at my old gym, and she works one of my best friends, but I hadn't seen her in a while. After a bit of a catch up, Amy asked if I'd do her wedding flowers. I was still early days in terms of my floristry, and I'd only just started talking on socials about weddings, so it took me by surprise. I said I'd love to, and to drop me a message and we'd chat. A few weeks passed, and Amy pops up in my DMs, and we met up a few days later to go through ideas. I knew Amy was an elder emo (if you're here and you don't know what that is, here's Urban Dictionary's definition. It was never a phase, mum) so I knew I was going to to love whatever she had planned. Think dark and moody, with pops of pink. The ultimate emo flowers.
Fast forward to May 2025 and the stunning Victoria Baths in Manchester. It was a strange one for me, because my day job is there. I'm one of the Event Coordinators, so a lot of my time is spent working with wedding couples and overseeing their weddings. So to be a supplier was a complete 180 and I got to see it all from the other side.
Designing Amy and Michael's flowers was a lot of fun. Back during our consultation, we talked about using black within the flowers. There aren't any true black flowers, they're either red or purple with concentrated pigmentation. But that makes using them so much more fun. My aim is always to use British flowers wherever I can, and my go to farms are Grown&Made and Full Moon Flora, both in Cheshire. G&M grow an incredible mix of unique and quirky flowers, whilst Full Moon Flora always supplies with me with all the stunning darks every time. I topped up with some other additions, which gave me a huge range of all the darks and all the bolds. For the main focus of the wedding party and ceremony flowers, I went with Pink and Pretty Roses paired with Anemones Bordeaux, with support from Rancunculus Nerone and the most incredible Butterfly Rancunulus Ariadne (one of my favourite flowers). For foliage, I love using dark leaves. They add so much more depth and completely change the feel of the flowers from using just green. My favourite is Physocarpus, so naturally that went in. And I also included Cordaline to give some more bulk to the bridal bouquet (because we want that big, full design). The best bit of the whole thing though, was the Rose Quartz in Amy's bouquet. Three pale pink towers which stood in amongst the stems. I love stones and minerals (I may have a rock tumbler going upstairs) so adding these gave me a lot of joy.
For the wedding breakfast and tables, we switched moods completely. Grown&Made had included some Amazing Parrot Tulips and the most incredible Icelandic Poppies. The colours of both of these are so bright and almost florescent, which gave an opportunity to go into full on party mode. Amy and Michael went with long, banquet styles tables for guests, and I lined them with bud bottles, full of varying heights and shapes to give all the interest as you moved down the tables. If you want to keep things simple but still give impact, bud bottles are the way to go. They may sound simple, but they allow each individual flower to have its moment whilst giving a never ending stream of pure joy.
Amy and Michael decided to scrap a top table and go with a sweetheart one instead. A Sweetheart table is essentially just that, a table for the sweethearts (I actually hate describing it as that, but it basically tells you what you need to know). Weddings are intense, and so many couples have said to me over the years that they hardly get time for each other. It seems strange that this would be the case given its their wedding day, but you'd be suprised. A sweetheart tables gives you the opportunity to be in your own little world whilst everyone is preoccupied with food. And the perfect chance to people watch.
One of the best pieces of advice I can give to help you make the most out of your flowers, is to reuse the ceremony arrangements. It makes the most out of your budge and stops them from sitting in an empty room on their own for the majority of the day. After the ceremony, I moved the two pillar pieces over to the sweetheart table, framing the backdrop Amy and Michael had had made for the day. Along with the bud bottles, it framed the couple perfectly at their table, giving them their own little space to enjoy watching the day they'd created.
Wedding flowers don't have to follow any traditions. They can be whatever you want them to be and be totally reflective of you as a couple. Every aspect of the day represented Amy and Michael perfectly. From the emo staple of pink and black on the tables, to the Biffy Clyro banner in their ceremony, to the wedding photos that showed them off as they are. Everything about it was carefully curated and completely them, and I loved being a part of it.
Other suppliers involved in the day were...
Venue: Victoria Baths, Manchester
Celebrant and MC : That Celebrant Guy
Photographer (photo credits): Photos By Hash
Videographer: Electric Reel Films / Ema Crompton
Ceremony and Drinks Music: Lily Kerbey
DJ: Cam the DJ
Make Up: Rosie Roberts Beauty
Amy's Dress: Lucy Can't Dance
Hair: Natalie Jane
Flower Farms: Grown&Made / Full Moon Flora