The Queen’s Royal Florist Shares His Thoughts On Flowers For Royal Family And Royal Weddings

Shane Connolly is known as the floral designer to Queen Elizabeth and the royals, but he is also known as the man behind all of the flowers and bouquets at the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. Connolly said he eschews trends and that the most important thing he needed to remember about the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William was that the bride and groom needed to be happy. Connolly also did all of the flowers for the second wedding of Prince Charles and has learned a lot about doing floral arrangements with a focus on being environmentally friendly.

Floral designer Shane Connolly spoke at length with Town & Country about the discretion of doing the flowers for Queen Elizabeth and the royal family, and what it was like to do the floral arrangements for a big event like the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. Connolly also gave his thoughts about the upcoming wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

Check out some of royal designer Shane Connolly’s nature-inspired floral arrangements.

Connolly explains that he is still amazed that he holds the Royal Warrant as a floral designer to work with the Royal family.

“I am very lucky to have a Royal Warrant of Appointment both to HRH The Prince of Wales and HM The Queen. I often think that it’s extraordinary that a boy who grew up in Northern Ireland could have been so lucky! But with gratitude comes discretion so I cannot really say more about the relationship except to say again how lucky I feel.”

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Shane Connolly says that it doesn’t matter if his clients are the future King and Queen of England or someone unknown, the most important thing about a wedding is that the couple is happy. However, Connolly says as the day approached for Kate Middleton and Prince William to get married he realized how big a deal it would be worldwide.

Shane Connolly Says It’s An Honor To Do The Flowers For The Weddings Of Two Future Kings

“But all I ever want is to please my client… whoever they are. And so I kept on reminding myself that it didn’t matter what the world thought, if the bride and groom were happy that’s all that mattered. They were very happy so it was all fine. The main challenge was making sure no one but me knew the details. I think social media was less common then so it would be much harder to do now!”

Connolly added that doing all of the flowers for the weddings of Kate Middleton and Prince William and Prince Charles and Camilla further committed him in his business to focus on being environmentally friendly. He explains that for both events he was able to use British-grown flowers only. Connolly’s Instagram page has a number of examples of his British-grown floral arrangements.

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Shane Connolly says that he’s “really bad at trends” and thinks that following trends, or adopting what someone else has done for their event, is one of the biggest mistakes that a bride can make.

Shane Connolly Has Following Trends Doesn’t Make For An Original Floral Statement At Your Wedding

“The biggest mistake is not taking the advice of their floral designer! They do know what will work or not and so many brides, drunk with the beauty of Instagram images (many of which are simply styled for a photograph and wouldn’t actually make it down an aisle) feel they want to have everything they have ever seen and liked!”

Revisit the best of Meghan Markle's style https://t.co/qPp4fuxFe3

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) March 9, 2018

Shane Connolly Says He Expects Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Will Put Their Own Mark On Their Wedding

When it comes to the upcoming wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Shane Connolly won’t confirm or deny if he is the floral designer. However, Connolly will say that he thinks the flowers for Markle and Prince Harry will be different than the floral arrangements that were featured at the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. Shane Connolly admits that publicly, not a lot is known about Markle’s taste, but he is certain that Markle and Prince Harry will put their own stamp on the occasion.

“Theirs [Meghan Markle and Prince Harry] isn’t the massive State event the Cambridges’ wedding was. I am sure the couple will bring their own character and style to every aspect of the day and that is as it should be.”