The Making of a Floral Marriage Certificate

Part 1: The Brief and the Botanicals

In early June, I received a request for my first ever commission — a truly special moment for me. The request came from a local vicar, who asked me to create a floral-bordered marriage certificate. He wanted something more meaningful than the standard version issued officially, to give couples marrying in a group of local churches a keepsake they could treasure.

The brief was for a large A3 certificate, bordered with a mix of wild and cultivated flowers — symbolic of the Church and of marriage. We also agreed to include flowers that would represent each of the churches in the group. The design would also feature several coats of arms, a marriage seal, the symbol of the worldwide Anglican Communion & the churches across the globe, and a cross at the top.

I was absolutely thrilled to be given this commission. Not only was it an honour to create something that will be used for years to come, but the prospect of designing and painting so many meaningful flowers was genuinely exciting.

Since graduating, I’ve spent much of my first year immersed in technical things — learning Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Canva, and building my website. I reprinted a large stock of my diploma artwork as prints and greetings cards that I've enjoyed selling at fairs, and I’ve also set up beginner workshops (three so far!). But I haven’t had much time to actually paint — the very thing I spent 2.5 years training to do. So I’m truly relishing the opportunity to return to what I love most.

In mid-June, I met with the vicar to finalise the details and discuss the wording that will appear in the centre of the certificate. As my calligraphy skills are a little rusty, my plan is to design the text digitally in Photoshop to ensure it looks neat and legible!

As a bonus, I was given a really interesting tour of one of the churches involved in the project, and of the beautiful vicarage garden — where I even spotted a patch of pyramidal orchids growing!

Pyramid Orchid found in the vicarage garden.

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Floral Symbolism for the Certificate

After some research and reflection, these are the flowers I plan to include — chosen for their symbolism and to represent each church in the benefice:

🌸 To represent each church:

• A church dedicated to St Michael – Michaelmas daisy

• A church named All Saints – Red or pink rose

• A church named St George – Red rose

• Another St Michael church – Michaelmas daisy

• A church dedicated to the Holy Trinity – Three-leaf clover

• A church named St Peter – Cowslip

💐 To symbolise marriage and the Christian Church:

• Red rose – Immortal love and St George

• Daisy – Innocence, purity, and true love

• Honeysuckle – Romance and lasting happiness

• Forget-me-not – Faithfulness and enduring love

• Foxglove – Protection

• Rosemary – Love everlasting

• Cornflower – Hope, love, and loyalty

• Three-leaf clover – The Holy Trinity, faith, hope, and God’s grace

• Olive branch – Peace, prosperity, and the presence of God

• Peony – Love, romance, and affection

• Sweet pea – Loyalty and friendship

• Michaelmas daisy – For the feast of St Michael

• Lavender – Purity

• Bluebell – everlasting love

• Pyramidal orchid – love and strength

• Pennycress – good fortune and protection

• Buttercup – joy and happiness

• Cowslip – The keys of St Peter, the keys of heaven

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First Tasks: Sourcing the Flowers

Luckily, many of the flowers I need are growing in my own garden or wild nearby. Those that aren’t, I’m sourcing through local florists — including The Garden in Oxford’s Covered Market where i visited yesterday. I brought home a beautiful bunch of cornflowers. I have put a few in the fridge to preserve and some on my desk ready for sketching!

sweet peas from my garden that I hope to include in the design

For out-of-season flowers, I’ll rely on books and online references. Thankfully, I’m an avid flower photographer, and I’ve built up quite a reference library in Google Photos over the years.

The challenge is in drawing the flowers accurately to scale without a live specimen in front of me. I’ll be using the RHS website regularly for dimensions, along with some of my go-to reference books.

Tomorrow, I’m planning a visit to Rousham Gardens, where I hope to photograph & measure lots of roses to include on the certificate.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I’ll begin sketching the floral layout and experimenting with the arrangement of coats of arms and symbolic elements.