Styling superyacht flowers for a wedding aboard M/Y Sultana

| With thanks to Jardin D’Alice Flowerdesign and Nadia Fry Events & Weddings

 

A superyacht wedding (and onward honeymoon) is a dream for many, offering a ready-made venue with a breath-taking backdrop for the ceremony and wedding breakfast, right through to the evening reception.

wedding yacht

As such, Yachting Pages spoke to Steffen Funfsinn from Jardin D’Alice Flowerdesign and Nadia Fry from Nadia Fry Events & Weddings about a superyacht ‘wedding’ they recently staged aboard M/Y Sultana – a classic 26m Feadship available for charter and events in the Western Mediterranean through Camper & Nicholsons International.

Styling superyacht flowers for a superyacht wedding or event at sea

Steffen said, “I recently worked with Nadia and a number of other local businesses to show how a wedding ceremony could look on board a superyacht, as she found there were few photoshoots available to show how stunning such an event could really be.”

Enlisted as an experienced superyacht florist, Steffen explained the considerations for the flowers for any superyacht wedding or event; he said, “For any and every event such as a yacht wedding, it’s good to respect the style, architecture and colours of the venue, or classic Feadship in our case!

wedding flowers yacht

“To create the ‘wedding’ on board M/Y Sultana, Nadia asked for flowers in the same classic style as the yacht; she wanted garlands with greenery, white and a touch of lilac, and complementary accent colours, so we went to visit the yacht and proposed different options of where to place the flowers to differing ideas of design. As you can see, the result was truly beautiful!

“Small floral arrangements were used to provide fresh accents to enhance the yacht, while larger, imposing arrangements such as the garlands stand on their own, and are instead enhanced by their surroundings.

yacht wedding flower

“When creating the pieces for the ‘big day’, we used all kinds of flowers, as they only had to last 12 hours or so. We created the arrangements in large, stable vases, so that they did not fall over when there was wind or waves. The outside arrangements had short stems to keep them in place, while the interior arrangements could be taller. In the heat of the Mediterranean sun, the air conditioning helped the fresh-cut flowers to last longer than they would have outside in the wind and heat.

“In total there were four flower compositions for the buffet tables and one for the small side table, taking around two hours to create. The flower garlands and decoration around the front of the yacht were created in place taking two of the team a further two hours to complete. The bridal bouquet and the bridesmaid’s poesies were done to match the dresses, taking around 30 minutes each.”

wedding yacht

Nadia said, “The flower arrangement for the event was amazing; Steffen did a great job! My corporate colour is purple, as it’s a very trendy and fresh colour, and as such many of my clients prefer it for their weddings, because it makes a change from classic pink – purple really is the new pink right now! The arrangements lasted well all day; Steffen made a perfect selection and fixed the flowers so they could resist the wind and waves while the yacht was moving from Cannes to Lerins Islands.”

Budgeting for a superyacht wedding

When chartering a stunning superyacht for a wedding at sea, the couple can take advantage of many further first-class services and suppliers beyond florists serving the superyacht industry, such as event planners, caterers and entertainers. The budget for such an event?

bride groom wedding

Steffen explained, “The budget of the flowers and floral decoration for this event would be upwards of €1,000, with the flowers coming from different places. If it’s possible, I always try to work with flowers local to the South of France, so largely Peonies in May and June and then Lavender, Rosemary and Eucalyptus across the other months.

“For this ‘wedding’, we used Eucalyptus, Girofle and Lavender from France, Lathyrus from Italy and Roses and Orchids from Holland.”

Nadia shared that her planning services would then set you back around €2,000. She explained, “Normally wedding planners charge 10% of the total wedding budget for their services, so starting prices to organise such a wedding, including the ceremony itself, a cocktail reception and photoshoot is therefore around the €2,000 mark.

“In our case, the price to charter M/Y Sultana was around €6,000 per day through Camper & Nicholsons, plus 20% VAT and 20% advanced provisioning allowance (APA) – this generally covers extras such as general food and drinks, fuel, berthing costs, customs, communications, etc. If you wanted to charter the yacht for longer - perhaps to make the wedding a weeklong affair or for the onward honeymoon - rates typically increase to €35,000 plus 20% VAT and 20% APA in the months of May, June and September.

“Catering costs for the day would all depend on what the client selects, but a beautiful wedding cake, champagne, caviar and five-piece finger food selection may start at a price of around €50 per person, which is very affordable for such fine food. Our catering was provided by La Fabrique Gourmande, with caviar from Noble Caviar.”

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