The Forum Embassy Hill Wedding Flowers

Their story

A Forum Embassy Hill wedding in Constantia, in every colour

Fabulous Flowers & Gifts, the Cape Town florist Josie van Aswegen founded in 1999, did the flowers for Annelot de Waal and Rogier ten Have's wedding at The Forum Embassy Hill in Constantia, Cape Town. Their Forum Embassy Hill wedding came in full colour: a ceremony arch of magenta peonies, red gerberas, roses and blue hydrangea on the lawn, a bridal bouquet of white tulips, and long reception tables lined with single stems in glass. It is one of the real weddings behind our wedding flowers in Cape Town.

Annelot and Rogier asked for a colourful wedding, and The Forum Embassy Hill gave it a green frame: a heritage house at 89 Southern Cross Drive in Bel Ombre, with gardens on the edge of Cecilia Forest and the Table Mountain range behind. The ceremony was held in the garden, the reception in a bright room full of light, and the venue's own wedding coordinator ran the day. Embassy Hill is a short drive from our Claremont florist studio, in the same Southern Suburbs.

I · The brief

Colourful wedding flowers, starting with one email

Annelot found us through someone she trusted. In her words: "I got Fabulous Flowers as a recommendation from a friend." A friend's recommendation is a small thing to carry into a first email, and it does a great deal of work.

That first email went to Josie. "When I emailed Josie, I immediately got a very sweet and kind response, and I could tell she would create exactly what I wanted." Everything that followed was built on that reply.

Annelot and Rogier wanted colour, and plenty of it: flowers in every shade the season could give, rather than a careful palette of two. It is one of the most generous briefs a florist can receive, and one of the hardest to get right, because mixed flowers can look abundant or muddled depending on where it sits and how much of it there is.

So the real work was in placement: deciding where the colour should gather and where it should rest, which piece would carry the loudest moment and which would echo it. A colourful wedding is planned, the same way a quiet one is. It only looks spontaneous at the end.

Annelot describes how Josie handled those conversations better than we could: "Josie would give advice where we needed it but was never pushy about anything if it was not what we wanted." That balance is most of the job: the wedding belongs to the couple, and the florist's work is to make sure what they asked for arrives.

Annelot and Rogier smiling beside the red roses of their ceremony arch at The Forum Embassy Hill in Constantia — Red roses at the edge of the arch

“Nothing I asked was ever too much, and everything was possible.”
Annelot, bride

Annelot holding a white tulip bridal bouquet with long bare stems and white ribbon in the garden at The Forum Embassy Hill — White tulips, stems left long

II · The bouquet

A white tulip bridal bouquet in a wedding of colour

In a wedding built on colour, Annelot carried white. Her bridal bouquet was a hand-tied bunch of white tulips, the stems left long and bare and bound with white ribbon. No greenery collar and no second flower.

Tulips are an honest flower to choose for a bouquet. They keep growing after they are cut and lean towards the light, so a bunch of tulips never looks quite as arranged as roses do. It looks gathered. With the stems left bare, the only green in Annelot's hands was the green of the tulips themselves.

The shape suited her gown, an off-the-shoulder white dress with clean lines. A round, tightly packed bouquet would have argued with it. A loose bunch of long stems, held low, agreed with it.

There is something clever, too, in carrying white flowers into a colourful wedding. Against an arch of magenta and red, a white bouquet becomes the still point, and the eye goes straight to the bride. White has carried its own meaning at weddings for a very long time, which we write about in the symbolism of wedding flowers.

Her bridesmaids wore sage and soft green satin and floral prints, and Rogier wore a navy suit with a white pocket square. One black and white photograph by Ayeh Khalatbari catches Annelot laughing with a bridesmaid, tulips in hand. That is how a bouquet should be held: lightly. If you are deciding on your own, our guide to choosing the right bouquet starts with the dress and the day, not the flower.

III · The garden

A garden ceremony at The Forum Embassy Hill

The ceremony at The Forum Embassy Hill was held in the garden, on the lawn beneath large trees, with the mountain and the forested slopes of Cecilia behind. It is the kind of setting that does half the florist's work before a single stem arrives.

Guests sat on wooden cross-back chairs, and white parasols were set out among them. Children walked down the aisle. A black and white photograph shows them on the grass with the whole garden behind them.

A garden like this already has a great deal of green: lawn, hedges, trees, forest, mountain. In a garden like that, the risk for flowers is losing focus. Scattered arrangements disappear against that much landscape. What a garden ceremony needs is one place for the eye to land.

At Embassy Hill that place was the arch. Everything else in the ceremony stayed simple so that it could do its job: the chairs, the parasols, the open lawn. When the couple stood in front of it, the flowers, the trees and the mountain lined up behind them in one frame.

Petals lay scattered on the grass in front of the arch, red and pink and white. It is a small detail in the photographs, and a lovely one.

Black and white photograph of children walking down the garden aisle at a wedding ceremony at The Forum Embassy Hill, Constantia — Down the aisle on the lawn

Portrait of the bride against magenta peonies, red gerberas, roses and blue hydrangea in the ceremony flower arch at The Forum Embassy Hill — Peonies, gerberas, roses and hydrangea

IV · The arch

A flower arch in every colour, with the mountain behind

The ceremony arch was tall and dense, built up its two sides and across the top until the frame almost disappeared. Deep pink and magenta peonies, red gerberas, red roses with orange and pink roses among them, clouds of blue hydrangea, and oak-leaf greenery reaching out at the edges.

The colours were mixed, not graded. There was no gentle fade from pink to red, no blocks of a single shade. A magenta peony sat beside a blue hydrangea, an orange rose beside a red gerbera. On paper that sounds like chaos. In the garden it read as abundance.

The reason is density. When a flower installation is full enough, the eye stops reading single flowers and starts reading the whole. Mixed colour only looks messy when there are gaps between the colours. Close them, and it looks like a garden at its peak.

The oak-leaf greenery mattered too. It ran through every part of the arch and tied the colours to the trees around the lawn, so the arch looked as if it belonged to the garden rather than having been delivered to it.

Scale was the other decision. An arch on an open lawn, with the Table Mountain range behind it, has to hold its own against a very large view. Ayeh's portraits of Annelot against the peonies, gerberas and hydrangea show it at close range, every flower sharp. The wide photographs show why it needed to be that big.

“Josie would give advice where we needed it but was never pushy about anything if it was not what we wanted.”
Annelot, bride

V · The tables

Single stem wedding table flowers on long tables

The reception was set at long tables dressed in white linen, in a bright room with tall windows, curtains and wooden cross-back chairs, under a canopy of fairy lights. The garden showed through the glass.

Down the middle of every table ran a line of clear glass bud vases and bottles, each holding a single stem or just a few. Red, pink and orange tulips. Red, pink, orange and yellow gerberas. Dark red carnations. Purple lisianthus. Dozens of vessels ran down each table, the colours mixed all along the line.

This is where the colourful brief came indoors, and it came in a different form. The arch made one big statement. The tables broke that statement into many small ones, the same colours at a scale you could sit beside.

Single stems have real advantages at a long table. They stay low, so guests can talk across the table without leaning around a centrepiece. They let light through, which matters in a room with that many windows. And they give every flower its own space: a carnation you would overlook in a mixed bunch becomes something to look at when it stands alone in a glass.

The bottles and bud vases varied in height and shape, which kept the line moving rather than marching. We write more about planning wedding flowers for tables in our journal, but this is the idea we come back to most often for a long table wedding.

Long reception tables with white linen and glass bud vases of single stem tulips, gerbera and carnations at The Forum Embassy Hill, Constantia — Single stems down every table

Annelot and Rogier kiss under a canopy of fairy lights at their evening wedding reception at The Forum Embassy Hill — Under the fairy lights

VI · The evening

An evening reception in Constantia, under fairy lights

As the light went, the fairy-light canopy took over, and coloured lighting washed the room at night. The speeches and the first dance happened under those lights, and Ayeh's black and white photographs of the first dance are among the loveliest of the day.

Earlier, in the garden, there was golden hour. One photograph shows Annelot backlit on the lawn with the trees behind her. There was a confetti exit too, captured in black and white.

Flowers in a room at night do something different from flowers in daylight. Clear glass picks up fairy lights, and bright colour turns softer and warmer. A good table design has to work in both lights, which is one more reason we like single stems in glass.

Annelot's own words are the ones we would like to finish with: "Fabulous Flowers honestly made all my flower dreams come true. Everyone I met at Fabulous Flowers was incredible, and I would recommend them to everyone!"

A florist keeps notes like that. They are why we still love making wedding and event flowers, more than two decades after Josie founded Fabulous Flowers in 1999.

“Fabulous Flowers honestly made all my flower dreams come true.”
Annelot, bride

Annelot holds Rogier's face beneath a colourful flower arch of peonies, roses, red gerberas and hydrangea on the lawn at The Forum Embassy Hill — Beneath the arch, in the garden at Embassy Hill

The bride in front of magenta peonies and red gerberas in the ceremony arch at The Forum Embassy Hill, Constantia

Black and white photograph of the bride laughing with a bridesmaid, white tulip bouquet in hand, Constantia wedding

Wide view of the reception room at The Forum Embassy Hill with long tables of colourful single stem flowers and fairy lights

Close-up of tulips, orange gerbera and a dark red carnation in clear glass bud vases on a wedding reception table at The Forum Embassy Hill

The flowers

Annelot and Rogier's wedding flowers, piece by piece

Bridal bouquet: A hand-tied bunch of white tulips with long, bare stems, bound with white ribbon.
Ceremony flower arch: A tall, dense arch on the lawn of deep pink and magenta peonies, red gerberas, red and pink roses, orange roses and blue hydrangea, with oak-leaf greenery, the colours mixed rather than graded.
Table flowers: A line of clear glass bud vases and bottles down every long table, each with a single stem or a few: red, pink and orange tulips, red, pink, orange and yellow gerberas, dark red carnations and purple lisianthus.

Peony magentaGerbera redRose orangeHydrangea blueTulip whiteOak leaf

In the mix

Bridal bouquet: white tulips, hand-tied with white ribbon; Arch: magenta and deep pink peonies, red gerberas, red, pink and orange roses, pink spray roses, and blue, lilac and pink hydrangea, with oak leaves; Tables: single stems of red, pink and orange tulips, red, pink, orange and yellow gerberas, dark red carnations and purple lisianthus.

Guests on cross-back chairs with white parasols at a garden wedding ceremony at The Forum Embassy Hill, with the mountain behind

The place

The Forum Embassy Hill, Constantia

The Forum Embassy Hill is an award-winning heritage venue at 89 Southern Cross Drive in Bel Ombre, Constantia: a historical residence and former Dutch embassy whose landscaped gardens border Table Mountain's Cecilia Forest. For weddings it offers four indoor spaces, two large garden spaces with 360° views, room for up to 150 guests, four luxury suites and exclusive use of the property for the day and night, with in-house food, bar service, staff and a wedding coordinator.

For a florist, the garden is the headline. Annelot and Rogier married on the lawn beneath large trees with the mountain behind, and that view sets the scale for ceremony flowers. A single strong piece, like their arch, works better here than many small ones, and greenery that echoes the surrounding trees helps it belong.

Inside, the reception room is bright, with tall windows onto the garden, so colour reads beautifully in daylight and the fairy lights take over at night. Low single stems suited it well, keeping sightlines open down long tables. For us the drive is short: Embassy Hill sits in the same Southern Suburbs as our studio, and we deliver flowers across the valley as a Constantia florist.

If you are still comparing Constantia wedding venues and others around the city, our venue guide is a good place to start. Coordination at Embassy Hill is handled by the venue's own team, so agree set-up and clearing times with them well ahead of the day.

FloralsFabulous Flowers & Gifts, Claremont (Josie van Aswegen, since 1999)

PhotographyAyeh Khalatbari

Venue and coordinationThe Forum Embassy Hill

Planning notes

Planning colourful wedding flowers: what this wedding taught us

Let one piece carry the loudest colour
At Embassy Hill the arch held the full mix of peonies, gerberas, roses and hydrangea. Everything else repeated those colours more quietly, which is what kept a very colourful wedding from feeling busy.
Mixed colour needs density
Colours mixed at random look deliberate when the piece is full. Gaps are what make a mix look muddled, so put your colour into fewer, fuller pieces rather than many sparse ones.
Give a colourful day one white thing
Annelot's white tulips were the still point against the arch. A single white element lets the eye rest, and it puts the focus back on the bride.
Use single stems on long tables
Bud vases and bottles of single stems stay low, let light through and turn one big colour story into many small ones. Vary the heights and shapes of the glass so the line moves.
Keep tulips cool until the last moment
Tulips keep growing and bending after they are cut. Keep a tulip bouquet in cool shade until the ceremony and expect the stems to move a little, which is part of their charm.

Gallery

The bridal party among hydrangeas in the garden at The Forum Embassy Hill, Constantia

The bride with bridesmaids in sage and green dresses on the garden steps at The Forum Embassy Hill, Constantia

Black and white photograph of a confetti exit at a wedding at The Forum Embassy Hill, Constantia

Good to know

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Cape Town florist do the flowers for a wedding at The Forum Embassy Hill?

Yes, a Cape Town florist can do the flowers at The Forum Embassy Hill, and Fabulous Flowers & Gifts, a Claremont florist since 1999, did the flowers for Annelot and Rogier's wedding at The Forum Embassy Hill in Constantia: a white tulip bridal bouquet, a ceremony arch on the lawn and single stem table flowers. The venue's own coordinator ran the day, so set-up times are agreed with that team in advance.

How many guests does The Forum Embassy Hill hold for a wedding?

The Forum Embassy Hill hosts weddings of up to 150 guests, according to the venue. It has 4 indoor wedding spaces, 2 large garden spaces with 360° views and 4 luxury suites, and couples have exclusive use of the property for the day and night. Food, bar service and staff are in-house.

Where is The Forum Embassy Hill?

The Forum Embassy Hill is at 89 Southern Cross Drive, Bel Ombre, in Constantia, Cape Town. The former Dutch embassy sits in landscaped gardens bordering Table Mountain's Cecilia Forest, and it is a short drive from the Claremont studio of Fabulous Flowers, the Cape Town florist founded in 1999.

What are single stem wedding table flowers?

Single stem wedding table flowers are individual blooms in small bud vases or bottles, set in a line down the table instead of one large centrepiece. At Annelot and Rogier's Embassy Hill wedding, Fabulous Flowers, florists since 1999, used tulips, gerbera, carnations and lisianthus this way along every long table. They stay low, so guests sitting opposite each other can talk across the table.

Are tulips a good choice for a bridal bouquet in Cape Town?

Tulips are a good choice for a bridal bouquet in Cape Town, and they look their best kept cool until the ceremony. At The Forum Embassy Hill, Annelot carried a hand-tied bunch of white tulips with long, bare stems. Tulips keep growing after they are cut and bend towards light, so a tulip bouquet looks gathered rather than arranged. Fabulous Flowers, a Cape Town florist since 1999, can tell you which months tulips are available.

How do you do a colourful wedding without it looking chaotic?

A colourful wedding looks planned when the colour is concentrated in a few full pieces and repeated in smaller ones. At The Forum Embassy Hill, Fabulous Flowers put the full mix into one dense ceremony arch, echoed it in single stems on the tables, and gave Annelot a white tulip bouquet as the calm centre. Our wedding and event styling starts from that kind of plan.

Which Constantia wedding venues suit a garden ceremony?

The Forum Embassy Hill is one of the Constantia wedding venues best suited to a garden ceremony, with 2 large garden spaces, 360° views and Cecilia Forest on its boundary. Annelot and Rogier married on its lawn beneath large trees with the mountain behind. Our Cape Town venue guide covers more options across the Constantia Valley.

Your wedding

Tell us about your day

If you are dreaming of a wedding in every colour, or of one white bouquet in the middle of it all, tell us about your day. Josie would love to hear from you.

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