Anurag and Phillipa's wedding

One sleepy Friday morning in May, my husband and I loaded the car with flowers I had made the night before, and headed to the Southern Highlands for our friend Anurag’s wedding.

The Southern Highlands is about two hours from Sydney. It is stunning at any time of the year, but especially in Autumn when the land glows green and gold, and yellow leaves swirl from field to field.

We arrived in the morning mist. The scent of pine trees perfumed the air and I could not help but feel like we were driving through a watercolour painting.

We delivered the flowers to the lovely bride, Philippa, who I had met only once the weekend before. Anurag and Philippa had been living in London and decided to have their wedding back home in Australia. I was thrilled when Anurag contacted me about doing flowers for his wedding. Philippa and I had communicated solely on Facebook. And even though we had barely met in person, I was already accustomed to her warmth and impeccable taste.

Philippa and Anurag were married on Bendooley Estate under a sky full of blue and sunshine all around.

The wedding festivities carried on till the next day with the Hindu ceremony and evening reception. Philippa entered the tent draped in traditional Indian wedding costume. She wore orange and magenta, a garland of flowers around her neck, bangles to her elbows and a gold hoop nose ring. She looked positively radiant. Like what I imagine a gypsy princess would look like on her wedding day.

After the ceremony, we tucked into a delicious spread of Indian sweets and pastries.

As the sky turned to purple haze and ribbons of pink swirled through the sky, the guests made their way to the Book Barn. We ate and we danced and we danced some more.

We returned home on Sunday afternoon to a dozen dirty vases and a bucket of leftover kumquats. The weekend was over and the tiredness had finally caught up with me, but I could not be happier. I had been reminded just how wonderfully rewarding this flower gig can be. To create something special for someone who truly appreciates each and every carefully picked stem and whose mum, on seeing the wedding bouquet smiles, “I can’t believe this day has come”.

The above photos were taken by the amazingly talented Hilary Cam.