02 Jan 2025

2024 Roundup!

Happy New Year! 

Goodbye 2024 and hello 2025! We have such an exciting year ahead that we are bursting to jump straight into, but before we do lets take one last look back at 2024....

2024 was an incredible year for us at Colonnade Florist, and it's not until I take a step back and a look through my camera roll that I can fully appreciate how much we acheived- none of which would have been possible without our amazing clients!

The Wedding Industry Awards National Event

We started the year strong, by getting all dolled up for an event which was essentially the oscards of the wedding industry! As the 2023/2024 winners of The Wedding Industry Awards for the Southeast, we were named finalists for the national awards! We didn't take home the national trophy, but we had the most incredible night, with aerial performances, a live band and so many amazing suppliers to meet and dance with!

We will be attending this years nationals again at the end of the month (more on this below), so wish us luck!!

We Moved Studio!

As many of you know, our business became studio based back in 2019 after making the decision to come off the highstreet. This move was a hard one, but ultimately the best thing for our business as we had more freedom to give our customers the attention they deserve. Our wedding business in particular took off following this move, and we have continued to grow over the last 5 years. 

After 5 years in our beautiful studio, the time came that we needed more space and a more accesible workshop for meetings, collections and deliveries! We found the most perfect workshop in Bells Yew Green, surrounded by sheep farms and the Kent Countryside. 

Our two story workshop has given us a lot more space, which I have gradually been filling with pretty vases and installation equipment (don't tell the boss!)

Charlie Got Engaged!

Some very exciting personal news from the team.

In 2023 boss lady Sharon tied the knot to her wonderful husband Nick, and in 2024 I got engaged to my other half Michael (after only 10 years of nagging). I'm now seeing things from the other side as a bride myself, and despite having lived and breathed all things weddings for many years now, I can honestly say I am overwhelmed! I now have a lot more empathy for my couples, but I am absolutely loving the wedding planning so far and can't wait for more in 2025. 

We are planning on a Christmas 2025 wedding, and I will share any tips or tricks I pick up along the way!

We Had Another Record Breaking Wedding Season!

I know I say this every year, but the 2024 wedding season was truly crazy. Our weddings this year were big, fun, full of colour and each totaly unique to the couple we were creating for! When I look back through the photos now it's absolutely amazing to me how much variation there is between each wedding- and we loved working on every single one!

Summer Centerpiece Workshop

This year The Black Horse on Camden Road hosted us for our summer workshop in their adorable stretch tent beer garden. The team at The Black Horse made us so welcome, with a complimentary prosecco and snack cups for all our attendees! 

We created a garden inspired centerpiece, using a mixture of fresh flowers and plants which could be removed from the arrangement and re-planted. Everyone did amazingly and we had a great time!

We Won The Southeast Wedding Industry Awards For The Second Year Running!

We are still utterly blown away by this one! We have been riding the high of last year's win for the whole of 2024 and were utterly amazed and surprised to have won again this year. 

The Wedding Industry Awards is particularly special for us, as a large portion of the judging is based off votes and feedback from our real couples over the last year. Thank you so much for everyone who took the time to vote for us, you really can't know what it means to us. 

Neither of us were able to attend the event sadly, but I happened to be at a menu tasting event for my own wedding just 15 minutes away from where the awards were being held. When Sharon range me to say we had won, we turned the car around and raced over there to collect the tropy (extremely underdressed for the occasion!)

Because we won our regional event, we are now finalists in the national awards, and get to go to the very fancy award show in london later this month. Just to be a National Finalist is a dream come true, but wish us luck anyway!

We also heard last month that we are through to the finals of The Kent Wedding Awards, with the winner also being announced this month so fingers crossed!

Christmas Workshops

We ran 3 of our popular wreath making workshops this Christmas, with demand for tickets to our night at The Black Horse on Camden Road extremely high! We had such a wonderful time at all 3 events and its always just what we need to get into the festive mood and kickstart Christmas. 

Well done to everyone who joined us! We are hoping to put on more throughout 2025, so keep your eyes on our socials and make sure you're signed up to our newsletter for the latest updates!

And That Brings Us To The End of 2024!

What an incredible, whirlwind of a year that was! We are so grateful to all of you that buy from us, hire us for your special occasions, join us on our workshops, or even just take the time to read our blog posts and follow our social media! Without all of you, we couldn't continue to do the job we love so much. 

Happy New Year! 

From Sharon & Charlie