Fashion-forward, foliage-heavy: Catherine Short Floral Design

Catherine Short’s distinctive style always leaves us swooning - a heady mix of greenery, texture, and effortless romance. Everything she creates is daring but delicate, bold but tender, larger-than-life whilst simultaneously feeling like they perfectly belong. We chatted to her about her style, her inspirations, her process, and her recent trip to Japan too!

Tell us about your business – what do you do? What do you do differently to everyone else?

I’m a wedding florist based in London. I offer a bespoke service for wedding flowers, and encourage my clients to think outside the box! My style tends to be foliage heavy, and modern in feel.

Why & how did you start?

I started my business around 4 years ago, to offer a more personalised bespoke service to wedding flowers. Fed up of hearing and seeing wedding clients copy ideas from Pinterest, or simply pick from a book of a florist's past work, I wanted to offer something far more personal and bespoke. My designs are often influenced by the couple’s story, and their personal tastes, rather than what should be expected or has been done before.

Who or what inspires you?

So much inspires me; it’s impossible to pin down one thing! The usual suspects of fashion and interiors can always be relied upon to provide me with inspiration. Nature too - often the simple things like the way a branch of a tree bends. Travelling also gives me a huge amount of inspiration - this year I travelled around Japan which has been one of my biggest inspirations recently, from the ancient art of Ikebana (which I was lucky enough to take a couple of lessons in) to the way nature is so appreciated and celebrated in Japanese culture.

Talk us through a day at the office/studio/wherever you work from.

No two days are ever the same! From 4am market trips, to client meetings in hipster coffee shops, the variety my job brings is wonderful. Generally, though I can be found working in my studio on clients weddings or events. The short-lived nature of flowers means that the few days before an event, long days and sometimes nights are needed to create everything in time.

What’s your fave part about what you do?

There is no better feeling than standing back and admiring the finished job, and thinking “yeah, I made that” but I also love the journey taken to get there, from a hypothetical idea, through to moodboards and inspiration pictures, backed up with logistics and coordination, I love every step of it.

What are you excited about for your business?

This will sound incredibly cheesy, but every single client fills me with excitement, and I can’t wait to get cracking on each and every brief!

What’s your top advice for couples getting married?

Be honest with your florist about your budget- we are here to help not rip you off!

Go big! A standout statement piece will really get your guests talking. This can also be applied if you are on a tighter budget- creating one amazing floral arrangement will be better than spreading the budget thinly across the whole venue.

Go seasonal, but be prepared to be flexible.

Look outside the wedding world for inspiration.

If you want to see Catherine’s gorgeous florals in person, make sure you grab your tickets for London now!