Why choose British-grown wedding flowers?
Kokutan, Devon
Rachel Hoile Photography
A farm shop, not a supermarket
When couples ask me why they might choose British grown wedding flowers, I often describe the difference between a supermarket and a farm shop.
At the supermarket you can buy almost anything, any time of year. It's reliable, it's consistent and it has its place. At a farm shop there's less choice and what's there depends on the week. But it was picked recently, it tastes of something, and you know where it came from.
Flowers are much the same. Around 86% of the cut flowers sold in the UK are imported, most of them through the Dutch flower auctions. The Dutch markets are extraordinary: you can order almost any flower, in any colour, in any month. From a local grower you'll get less choice, but so much else in return.
I want to be honest here. This isn't a piece about imported flowers being bad. I do use them sometimes. Our growing season here is short, and if a couple wants us to do their wedding flowers in January, or needs something no British grower can provide, I'll buy in thoughtfully to fill the gaps. But at Kokutan we always start with what we grow, and here's why.
Why we grow our own
Freshness you can count on. Our flowers are cut a day or two before your wedding and go straight into water. They haven't spent days in boxes, cold stores and lorries, so they open naturally and look their best on the day.
Scent. Many commercial varieties have been bred for size, toughness and long vase life so they survive the journey, and scent was often lost along the way. Because our flowers only travel a few metres, we can grow the most fragrant varieties of: roses, sweet peas, stocks, herbs. Scent is often what guests remember.
Flowers that don't travel. Some of the loveliest wedding flowers are too delicate to ship. Cosmos, sweet peas and garden roses bruise or wilt in transit, so you rarely see them in imported flowers. Grown here, they're at their best.
We pick with your arrangements in mind. Walking the beds, I'm choosing stems for your bouquet and your tables: a curving stem for a cascade, a bud just opening, the exact shade of your palette. You can't do that from an online catalogue.
Perfect for a wild, garden style. Not every stem we grow is perfectly straight and we love that. Curves, twists and seed heads give arrangements movement and make them look as if they've just been gathered from a garden.
A garden full of life. We grow a mix of many different flowers rather than rows of one crop. That mix supports bees, butterflies, birds and the soil itself. Large-scale flower growing is often a monoculture.
No chemicals. We grow without pesticides, fungicides or synthetic fertilisers. Chemicals used to produce flawless flowers for the commercial market can harm wildlife. They can also harm the people who grow, pick and arrange those flowers. Ours are safe to hold, to wear in your hair and to lay on the table beside your food.
Grown, not flown. Flowers grown outdoors, in season and with few miles, have a much smaller carbon footprint than flowers that are air-freighted or grown in heated glasshouses. We also skip refrigeration and plastic packaging.
Rooted in a place and a season. Your flowers will be the flowers of your month, from this wooded valley. Anemones and ranunculus in spring, roses and sweet peas in summer. They carry the season of your wedding in a way imported flowers can't.
Is it right for you?
British-grown flowers suit couples who love the season they're marrying in and are happy to trust their grower with the detail.
If you need a specific flower in an exact shade, out of season, imported flowers may be the better fit, and that's fine. Many couples land somewhere in between. Tell us your colours and the feeling you want, and we'll grow towards it. Where there's a genuine gap, we'll fill it carefully and thoughtfully.
We're planting now for weddings from spring to summer 2027. If you have a date, venue and colour palette in mind, I'd love to hear from you.
[Enquire about your wedding flowers →]
They have a place. They have a season. They have a story.
Warmest