Church of England Synod Introduces New Flower Guidelines for Churches

In February the Church of England Synod passed the Diocesan Synod Motion introduced by the Diocese of Worcester, encouraging churches and cathedrals to consider creating floral arrangements without floral foam and using UK-grown flowers and foliage.

It caused a wave of anxiety amongst florists thinking that there was going to be a full ban that would extend to all of us.  Luckily this motion does not introduce full bans or rules and is very much for guidance, and is advisory in nature.  The purpose is to guide church flower arrangers and volunteers to think carefully about more sustainable mechanics such as chicken wire, natural mechanics such as twigs, pebbles, sand and moss and better use of vases, jugs and jars for containers. This does not mean that the work of external professional florists will be regulated and very importantly there remains the scope for local discretion within parishes for churches to determine their own approach to the issue.

Many of us are already walking the path towards greater sustainability by changing our mechanics to more environmentally friendly versions of floral foam, chicken wire, moss etc. It is a conversation that I know many florists have already had with churches in their areas. In fact many are offering their free time to introduce church flower arrangers to newer methods moving away from floral foam, so this can be seen as an opportunity to forge stronger ties within the community.

The Church of England Synod motion encourages churches to use seasonally available, UK-grown flowers wherever possible, and has introduced the idea that parishioners can gift material from their gardens or allotments or forage (within the rules) for foliage for church arrangements.  Some churches are even looking at the possibility of growing flowers for their own use.

As a florist I think it is important to understand that this does not prohibit us from using any mechanics or imported flowers within churches for the weddings or funerals that we are contracted to do. It does however mean that we may have to have conversations within our local parishes to communicate that our contracts are with our clients for weddings and funerals, if we are challenged on our choice of materials. As always floristry is as much about communication as it is about flowers and sensitivity and understanding, whilst holding firm to our client’s needs and wishes is paramount.

In my opinion it is understandable, given the church’s net zero targets, that this was going to come under scrutiny, but as a commercial florist I am grateful that common sense prevailed and it has been drawn up as advisory rather than compulsory in nature. The problem I feel will be that many church volunteers are elderly and do the flowers for the company and camaraderie it can bring. To make things hard for them in terms of flower choices and mechanics could be counterproductive and may make some people feel its time to down tools. British flowers, whilst beautiful, are not always easily available everywhere and there are seasons naturally when material is not readily available, so that will present its own challenges.

Going forward I have offered to host a workshop to help the church flower ladies in my town explore new mechanics for their arranging and I myself will be mindful of my chosen mechanics for my weddings this year.  Its going to be a interesting wedding season I feel!

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Viv Bradford trained in West Germany in the late 1980s before returning to the UK, where she has pursued many roles in the industry from running retail premises, teaching floristry, working in wholesale, business coaching florists and running an award-winning studio florist specialising in weddings. Viv also created and runs Facebook group The Floristry Geek for students and those new to the industry which concentrates on educational content.