Lukáš: Lately, flowers are winning over superstition. Gone is the historical reason when giving birth after a May wedding was based on the lean pre-spring months. Nowadays, figuratively speaking, the granaries are full all year round, so our wedding season starts in May. Romance is in the air and nature is still fresh. Otherwise, the summer months are still leading the way, which is a bit of a shame - once the high temperatures come and it's thirty degrees in the shade, the wedding party is scalded and it's not pleasant. On the other hand, this May has shown how rainy it can be. It's great for us and our flowers, less so for the brides.   

The weather plays quite a big part in your concept...

Albert: Yes, we only use flowers that we grow and we follow nature. It happens that there is a pause between spring and early summer, or flowers that wouldn't have bloomed together before. The climate is becoming more and more unpredictable and we have a wide range of flowers in the garden to keep things flowering. Every year is a little different in that respect. Most devastating is the long drought, because watering is definitely not the same as rain.

So you can tie in a seasonal flower at any time of year?

Lukáš: There's always something to work with, you can use carrot inflorescences, wormwood semi-evergreens, sage, rosemary and jasmine and a plethora of heath evergreens. Even if a foot of snow falls in the winter, we have a greenhouse where we might have a succulent in bloom, or we can cram in branches of spring trees such as sakura or rhododendrons. We love doing winter weddings. 

How did flowers become your livelihood?

Lukáš: It started in 2012, that's when our friends Hanka and Štěpán approached us about doing wedding floral arrangements, and then we decided to start a delicatessen with all the trimmings. Although I actually tied the very first bouquet for my sister. I was attracted to flowers from a young age, I used to bring them to my mom and I enjoyed having live plants in my home.  

It's every woman's dream to have a man bring her flowers, but I have friends who are lacking in that regard...

Albert: Men shy away from romance, I don't know. But we do have a few husbands come back to us, for whom we did wedding decorations, and they come back for flowers for their wedding anniversary or their birthday.  

Are you only approached by brides wishing for wedding flowers?

Albert: With a few exceptions, yes. We see about fifty percent of both fiancés at the meetings, but otherwise we stick to the cliché that the man's opinion is mostly about the food and the music, and the woman dictates the rest. In Slovakia, for example, there is a tradition that the man arranges the bouquet and the bride should not see it until the ceremony. And if she wants to marry him, she should accept the bouquet. At least that's the way it's come to us.  

Has your work and approach to wedding decoration changed since the first order?

Lukáš: Not really. We're always worried about making it look good. We always leave ourselves enough time because you can't do it under stress. As soon as I'm stressed while tying the bouquet, it starts to slip through my hands and I don't like anything. It takes the right frame of mind. What we can do better compared to the early days is communicating with the bride. We point out right from the start that we are a seasonal florist and need room to improvise. At the same time, it's important to agree on the brief - we send the bride a letter where everything is in black and white, so both parties are confident.  

What are your customers like?

Lukáš: They're not brides who want everything to follow a template. They know our work, they trust us and they are relaxed. Often a woman will come in who already has everything sorted out and booked, knows what the cake and dress will be, but leaves the flowers more or less up to us. We hear: "I know you'll do it beautifully, and I'm looking forward to it." It's a nice moment of surprise. Then we bring it in and the bride is thrilled.  

Are you limited by the time of year or the setting of the wedding?

Lukáš: If the bride wants a peony in November, we have to disappoint her, but it's easy to solve - English roses are still blooming in November and are very similar to peonies. There are brides who want us so much that they book us first and then deal with everything else. I always say that flowers are extremely versatile - they look good in any space. If you do a rustic arrangement in a super-modern gallery, it's not a problem, there's such a nice friction. I don't know what would have to happen for flowers not to work in a space. Especially our natural ones have their charm, unlike the artificially displaced flowers from the plantation, which are perfect in shape but lack nonchalance.  

What does the preparation look like in practical terms?

Lukáš: We will clarify the concept with the bride and show reference photos from similar seasons at our meetings to gauge what might appeal. We agree on the shape of the bouquet, agree on the colour scheme, find out any allergies. Then we like the unknown aspect, not knowing until the last minute exactly what will be in the bouquet. Only when we run out to the garden early in the morning to tie the bouquet, does it become apparent what the universe has in store for us that day. That's when the whole mosaic comes together.  

What if not much is blooming?

Albert: We improvise. It forces us to use material that we wouldn't have thought of, but in the end turns out to be absolutely fantastic.  

Is there anything you don't like to weigh?

Albert: We don't think flowers belong on a car. We've made an exception a few times in the form of a wreath, but we talk everyone out of making a decoration for the car clamped in plastic and arrangement material. The flowers suffer, they get tatty after two miles and it's actually a useless decoration. After all, we grew the flowers and have a relationship with them.  

And what happens to the flowers after the wedding? Flowers are ephemeral beauties..

Lukáš: After the wedding itself, the flowers last, of course, and we're happy that they don't get thrown away. People write us that they still have them in the vase after a week. At one wedding in a mill, where they slept, the next day everyone could tie a flower for themselves and it was a kind of workshop. Those who have more roses in their decorations can dry the petals and use them in food or tea because our roses are organic. 95 per cent of our flowers also decorate the wedding cake.  

As such, dried flowers are one of the wedding trends for 2019. Are you interested in this at work?

Lukáš: Not at all. That's also why we don't follow other florists on social media, but rather look for inspiration in architecture or fine art. And every year we introduce some new flowers to the garden so that it doesn't get stale. We find trends unfortunate and superficial, for people with no imagination. When a colour is trendy and you look at the weddings from that year, they are as similar as eggs to eggs. We don't like that. The trend is you, or you should create it for yourself. 

  Text: Helena Stiessová | Photo: Květinové lahůdkářství Archive