All about me - Wedding florist Bude

Tamara's Blooms

All About Me - Tammy Betson

I became a florist 10 years ago, training at Merrist Wood, Surrey and Royal Berkshire Colleges.

Since then I have worked in various florists, gaining experience as I went.

My last post was in the House of Flowers in Birmingham, where I worked for an excellent florist who specialised in Weddings. They taught me alot, how to speak to clients and take them through the process of deciding what flowers would most suit each bride, to making up quotes, being organised on the day and most importantly having a satisfied client at the end of thier wedding.

My husbands job brought us back down to Surrey (where I am originally from), I decided that to find another florist as good as the House of Flowers would be a challange, so I set up on my own working from home, in 2006.

I completed a number of weddings in the Dorking area and was able to take on another member of staff on a freelance basis. (she has now taken over Tamaras Blooms in Dorking).

In April 2010 my family and I were given an oportunity to move to Trelay Farm in Bude (www.trelay.org) , which is a community run farm which is striving towards self sufficiency. Here we have the chance to set up our own businesses (my husband is a green wood worker and conservationist as well as an artisit), following the farms ethos by having enviromentally friendly principles and practices. It also allows us to follow our other passions of animal husbandry and vegetable growing. In the future a farm shop will be opened and I hope to set up a small florist shop to expand the business further.

I try to keep my overheads down, thus not having to pass that cost down to my clients, I actually, embarrasingly drive around in an old car with a great big dent in the side, thanks to my husband!!! Working on the farm means I can hire a small space in the barn at a low cost. I rely mainly on my website for advertising, but I also write and visit the vicars at local church's and managers at wedding venues in the hope they will pass on my card to Brides. And of course word of mouth.

As there are a number of Cornish Flower growers in the area and in line with the farms ethos I plan to make my business more enviromentally friendly, by cutting down air miles (as much as possible, oviously some flowers are not available in this country all year) using the local growers and eventually growing some varieties myself. I will also avoid using (where possible) using plastic dishes and celophaine which eventually ends up in landfill. The farm has plans to put solar panels on the barn roof to supply all our own electiricty and also a water collection system.

I have completed a number of weddings successfully (please see client feedback below). I have recently started to use some more of my creative skills, by making jewellery and tiaras, which are affordable yet stylish, and perfect for a wedding on a budget, individually designed. You can view some of my designs on the last page of this website.

My Wedding 1999!

This is myself and my husband on our wedding day!

Client Feedback and Thank you notes

Thank you, thank you, thank you. The flowers for our daughters wedding were absolutely magnificent. The Church looked lovely and the bouquets were beautiful. March 2008

A very sincere thank you for all your hard work in putting all those beautiful flowers together - they all looked stunning and absolutely made the wedding glow. The strelitza's were gorgeous in the tall vases, the cake flowers were beautiful and really on show in the middle and the top table bowls were just right and I may add glorious! Well done. Emmas and the bridesmaids bouquets and the two tree arrangemnts were all hugely admired and commented on, bride and maids looked stunning as they all walked into the big sitting room area. A triumph Tamara, I have no hesitation in recommending you to a friend, you did a splendid job for us all. Emma and Ryan Aug 2008

Just a short note to express our thanks and delight for the flowers you supplied for our daughters wedding on 26 September. Both the Church and reception looked beautiful and the bride and bridemaids bouquets were stunning! We will definately be in touch again when our other daughter gets married in 2010! September 2008

The flowers looked beautiful and also smaelled lovely. So many people commented on them and there were alot of happy girls at the end of the evening, leaving with their own bouquet! Mine was so pretty, I could'nt bring myself to throw it! Many thanks for making the rooms look so amazing and the stairs - the colours were perfect and they really brought alive the rooms. January 2009

Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers that you did for our wedding day. You were really helpful throughout and gave us lots of good advice on colours and types of flowers we could have. Lots of our guests commented on how lovely the flowers were and I would'nt hesitate to recommend your professional and couteous service. June 2009

Thank you so much for supplying the beautiful flowers for our wedding. I did'nt get to speak to you on the day itself but everything was stunning - perfect. We particularly adored the gerberas for the bridesmaids hair and on the cake. All of our guests were very pleased to take home the gerberas from the table, also I have dried my bouquet and its now on our mantelpiece - a very happy memory of a wonderful day. August 2009

Call: 07778 397364

email: tam.betson@fsmail.net

for more details

Pembroke Lodge January 2009

LINKS

www.tamariskaenterprises.co.uk My other website, which is joint with my husband

www.markbetson.com My husbands website - paintings and wood turning