Hi, I’m Amanda and Distinctly Floral is my life.
I left a very senior level role in the Finance sector 15 years ago to find an outlet for my creativity and to follow my love of nature and flowers. Having retrained with Jane Packer in London, I tentatively set out on my own as a florist….well I say tentatively as my first job was a full scale wedding in the Lake District! I do love a challenge!
The next challenge was fitting out and opening our beautiful shop in Maidstone from which I met some fabulous people (customers and staff) who are still with me all these years later. After several years, I followed my instinct and closed the shop doors to focus on my first love of weddings and events. Several awards later and nearly 1000 weddings, I am as passionate and focused as ever before.
Distinctly Floral is driven by myself, along with a fabulous team of florists and helpers (human and canine!) whose aim is to ensure that we delight you with your flowers.
Nothing is too small or insignificant to grab our full attention; we are equally as happy sitting talking about flowers, introducing you to flower varieties or sharing pictures with you as actually getting hands-on in the studio. I love the time spent in wedding consultations as it also allows me to indulge in another love…getting to know people. Making a connection, understanding your likes, dislikes and dreams allows me to design flowers that will bring tears to the eyes (in a good way!).
Meeting with you is always exciting and my aim is for you to leave feeling inspired, energised and even more excited about your forthcoming event. To talk more, head over to our Contact Us page
I take inspiration from all around me for my designs as I live and work in the heart of the English Countryside, literally in the middle of fields in the Kent Downs. Being able to truly experience the changing seasons around me on my daily dog walks, it’s hard not to see that natural approach through my work and it is quite evident in many of our images. However, as long as I have beautiful flowers in my hands I am just as happy designing something neat, crisp and contemporary to match your style. I do try wherever possible to be environmentally conscious and to respect nature and you’re not likely therefore to see dyed flowers and diamantes featuring in my designs.
Where possible we try not to use florist’s foam or plastics; it’s not always possible but it is kept to a minimum to ensure nature is respected.
In line with our love of nature and all things horticultural, we have developed a beautiful cutting garden over the last several years, allowing us to bring you truly home grown, local flowers to add to the selection for your special event. We often grow varieties just for you! We also forage grasses, cow parsley, old man’s beard, berries, rosehips, branches and whatever else we can find on our travels with the dogs…if we can drag it home and it is naturally occurring and fits with something we’re working on, we’ll get it for you.
Distinctly Floral is fuelled by passion, creativity, nature….oh and dogs….and possibly gin!
