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On starting today’s challenge I found that there’s been much debate about fair trade flowers, so before going any further, here’s a Fairtrade Roses Questions and Answers doc from the Fairtrade Foundation which may be of interest…

Currently Fairtrade Roses from two Kenyan farms are available in a number of UK high street retailers including: Asda, John Lewis, Sainsburys and Somerfield.

John Lewis will deliver certified Fairtrade flowers, but cannot guarantee a delivery date. If you want to order flowers for a specific date, you have to buy from the non-Fairtrade list. The same applies to Imogen Stone’s Fairtrade flower delivery service. Arena Flowers can, however, deliver flowers which conform to the Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) standards on a specified date for a small extra charge.

Trying to find a florist who will do wedding displays with fair trade flowers seems to be problematic. So far my search has only found Imogen Stone who is an independent florist that stocks Fairtrade flowers and advertises a wedding service. However, I’ve not been able to confirm if they can use the Fairtrade flowers in the wedding displays…

In the meantime my friend Hannah has looked into finding a fair trade florist willing to do wedding arrangements, but she’s struggled to find one. The best compromise seems to be to find florists who will provide flowers that are sourced according to the Fair Flowers Fair Plants standards and discuss your requirements with them. A list of these florists is available here, although be aware that there are not many outside London or Edinburgh!

Hannah did find one company, Paradise Flowers in Edinburgh, who have just joined the FFP initiative, and were very helpful. They were able to do the flower arrangements for a wedding in Yorkshire, ensuring that all flowers sourced within the EU met the Dutch MPS standards on environmental and social issues and that all flowers sourced elsewhere met the FFP standards. Hannah says: ‘whilst this isn’t a ‘perfect’ solution, it does give you some reassurance when you are buying the flowers for your special day.’

So are there any alternatives?

To begin with, I tried sourcing plants thinking they’d also look lovely in the home after the wedding, and would be a wonderful reminder of the day. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a plant with an official Fairtrade mark on it today. There is however, this white orchid ‘commonly known to represent love, beauty and magnificence’ from the Fair Flowers Fair Plant selection at Arena Flowers

I then wondered about fair trade dried flowers, and managed to find a small selection from Star Beck

I had no luck looking for fair trade silk flowers either, but going on the ‘dressing up’ challenges last week, I was left wondering if it’s possible to approach a silk flower specialist (there’s a number of them advertising on the internet) and ask if they would consider using fair trade fabrics? Or perhaps the dress designers using fair trade fabrics would consider it? Unfortunately time precludes any further investigation today, so please let me know if you have any info on this?

My final idea, while not the most obvious (nor perhaps the most popular) is ‘grow your own.’ With fair trade flower seeds now available at
Fair Play Seeds, Traidcraft, and the Ethical Superstore it is possible, if of course you have the time and resources! I grew our wedding flowers but at the time I hadn’t heard of fair trade seeds, in fact I wonder if they existed then? Currently it seems the selection of fair trade flower seeds available is extremely small, and their suitability for most weddings is doubtful, but maybe they could be included amongst the other flowers?

Today’s challenge has been rather frustrating, but let’s hope tomorrow’s is better – Venue Decorations

Seven challenges down, only another seven to go!
Alex