A London florist booked to provide wedding flowers including a bouquet and floral table dressings, found herself in an unusual situation when the wedding was unexpectedly cancelled.

Jessica Lucas, Founder and Creative Director of The Lucas Studio, a floristry wedding and events company, had curated thousands of fresh flowers for a wedding planned in the capital. The event was sadly cancelled hours before the big day due to a family bereavement.

Jessica felt compelled to re-home the flowers and sat up into the small hours researching potential places to donate the flowers and came upon Trinity’s website, calling the hospice at 6:30am in the hope we could help.

When her phone call reached the Inpatient Unit, it was well received as by coincidence, we were in the midst of organising a last-minute wedding to be held onsite.

To accommodate the wishes of a patient who wanted to marry their partner that weekend, the inpatient unit and catering staff pulled together to decorate the Mulberry Room, the stunning conservatory space overlooking Trinity‘s garden. They even arranged photography and a cake. When Jessica called that morning, flowers were the final finishing touches required.

“We found ourselves in a very sad situation when I learned that the night before our couple were due to get married, a significant family member passed away, meaning we would have to postpone their wedding,” said florist Jessica.

“It was a heart-breaking situation, and I promised the bride I would ensure her flowers were used for something meaningful. I couldn’t bear to let them go to waste given their significance. Having been a volunteer in a hospice I know that flowers are always welcome.”

“When I learned Trinity were trying to pull together a last-minute wedding that day, it was quite overwhelming. In the tragedy of our couple, some happiness from the flowers could be brought to another special bride and groom, and it certainly felt there was serendipity at play. Knowing that the Trinity couple, along with the other patients got so much joy from the flowers brought much comfort to us all.”

The flowers included English-grown cosmos, Japanese anemones, phlox and hydrangea. The elegant bridal bouquet was made with stephanotis, lily of the valley and sweet peas.

Nurse Maria Langford, Sister on the Inpatient Unit, was there on the day to help organise the wedding alongside her colleagues. She said:

The whole team was so happy when we found out the wedding could take place for our couple. When I was chatting to our bride-to-be, I asked her what kind of bouquet she would like. It was a spine-tingling moment when the flowers arrived, and we could present her with the bouquet, just as she had wanted.

Organizing special moments such as weddings for our patients is one of the ways the incredible team at Trinity goes over and above every day, making sure that those in our care can make the very best of every moment they have.

The finishing touches to Trinity's bridal party, thanks to Jessica Lucas

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