Who is Hannah Martin?
Did you know that George Michael’s favourite flower was a peony and Madonna loves Sweet Avalanche roses?
Well I did! Because I’ve been very lucky to have provided these flowers for both these people during my career as a florist! Believe me, I’ve seen it all…from providing 3D floral My Little Ponies for a child’s birthday party which also had a petting zoo (…in Knightsbridge!) to a fully white wedding where all the food was pure white (think cauliflower puree and milk ice cream) and the flowers had to match using white orchids in pristine white vases as table centres. Anything is possible!
I started learning how to be a florist at Moyses Stevens in Berkeley Square, I was employed as a driver but I picked up a few skills on the side when I wasn’t delivering flowers across London. I then moved to their flagship store on Sloane Street, where I was taken under the wing of wonderful John (he made Princess Diana’s wedding bouquet don’t you know!) who taught me how to make beautiful bows and the importance of taking your time to perfect your arrangements before they made their way to the lucky recipients. I LOVED being a part of the buzz at this store, you never knew who was going to walk in and what they were looking for.
As I started to learn more about the industry, there was only one florist where I wanted to work next. McQueens. They were THE florist at that time and word on the street was that they needed to increase their team so I was off! It was like a baptism of fire!! There were so many people and everyone was so talented and the vibe was completely different to that at the more sedate Moyses Stevens. We were based in Old Street (before it became uber trendy) and we started ridiculously early in the morning to get all the contract vases out to their destinations across London. It was exciting and edgy and I had to step up to survive amongst all the personalities around the workbench.
I quickly progressed up the ranks and it didn’t take long before I was asked to head up the Weddings & Events department and to create a new team who’s sole responsibility was to meet clients and supply flowers for their wedding or event. We worked across the UK and abroad on exciting, creative projects with some amazing clients, luxury brands and celebrities! It was brilliant but exhausting and hard work, working eighteen hour days on many occasions without a day off for weeks. We became a tight knit family, a unit, spending more time together as a team than we did with our loved ones at home. We knew what each other’s favourite lunch was, all their family members, what made them tick and what film made them cry…absolutely everything! But it wasn’t sustainable or healthy, and one by one we experienced burn out. My burn out came in February 2012.
I knew I had to leave McQueens for my health and also for the good of my marriage!! So one day, after meeting friends for brunch in Walton-on-Thames I walked back home along the river path and noticed that one of the units at the Old Boatyard was ‘To Let’. The landlord was literally hanging the To Let sign on the door at the time, so I asked him how much and I paid him the deposit immediately! It was meant to be. I had bought a Citroen HY Van (the old ones that sell crepes on the South Bank!) and I had a workshop now so I just had to get some clients…Hannah Martin Flowers was born!
Ironically, speaking of ‘born’, I soon became pregnant with my first child and Harry was born in January 2013…it was all happening at once!
I was busy, people came and chose me to be their wedding florist and clients from my time at McQueens moved across (sssh!) and it was soon very apparent that I needed help. Thank goodness that one day Priscille walked in and offered to help! She’s still with me today and we sometimes have to take a breath and look at all our achievements!
Harry arrived and became a permanent member of the team straight away, coming with us on installations and to meetings (I remember meeting THE Jo Malone once with Harry in his car seat!).
Years went by, we did around 80 weddings a year and we ran workshops to teach people how to make Christmas wreaths, terrariums, hand tieds, and we explored other avenues like having a shop or a market stall but we kept the workshop (well we moved to the bigger one next door) although I sold the van and replaced it with one that was more reliable and suited to a busy business.
Another team member joined the family too, little Flo came in March 2018 and she’s a definite candidate for a florist job when she gets a bit bigger! She loves playing with the flowers and coming to the venues to set everything up, I love that she’s so creative and her favourite flower is a hydrangea…pink of course!
So now we’ve been in business for almost twelve years and we’re still as busy as we’ve ever been. We had a chat recently about how many weddings we think we’ve done over those years and we estimated the total number would definitely exceed one thousand which amazes me and makes me so proud of everything.
What’s next for HMF? More of the same I guess?! Build on what we’ve achieved and work with lots of amazing suppliers in beautiful venues across the UK and abroad maybe? Whatever we do, we’ll do it surrounded by gorgeous flowers.
