EP71 - ALTERNATIVE FLORAL DESIGNER - Chloë Draper

Chloë aka The Copper Cacti is a floral designer from Benfleet, then Hungary, then Southminster, then the final destination of Braintree. She has been obsessed with cacti since she could walk. Cacti is the plural of cactus btw. Chloë looks to be more sustainable in her business, and makes beautiful geometric terrarium centrepieces for weddings, that can live on beyond the special day. Terraria are like mini greenhouses - they can have a mini ecosystem within them, growing their own little world. Layering and the amount of water are very important. Ferns love a terrarium. Terraria can almost live forever. Desert-style cacti terrariums are open systems. Chloë will sometimes add fun little figures sometimes, like Bulbasaur, or Ewoks. These mini worlds are amazing to watch as they grow and develop. Desert terraria need a little more care, occasional misting, but they do thrive on neglect, not over watering. Cacti are not native to Essex - shock! But Chloë grows them and propagates them from cuttings. Adelle thinks all florists are gangsters. Chloë doesn’t do any traditional wedding like white roses, she wants people to get more individual, creative and emo. Chloë will now call her autobiography Me, Myself and Cacti. Chloë made dinosaurs for a dinosaur themed wedding, and added audio roar buttons to them. Chloë talks about the ‘booby cactus’. What would Chloë do for a Little Shop of Horrors wedding? Planning a Viking themed centrepiece. Chloë stays in contact with her couples after building a strong relationship with them planning their wedding flowers. Chloë often works on the same weddings as previous podcast guest Lucy Can’t Dance - like the Wedding Avengers. She loves asymmetry and individuality in plants. Convincing people to trust the creative process. The Copper Cacti started accidentally after Chloë had a mental breakdown and was signed off work, she started making terraria, and ended up with so many she had to sell some… The things you don’t see coming, bring you the most joy. A background in cheffing and catering gave transferable creative skills to Chloë when she started her floristry company. Chloë taught herself floristry from YouTube and having the eye. Building a supportive creative network. Are AI mock-ups making floristry briefs impossible? Pinterest and other sites are full of impossible AI floristry mock-ups that end up on wedding vision boards. Sustainability is important with weddings, to cut waste, and allow the centrepieces and spirit of the wedding to live on afterwards. Guests can take them home. Chloë calls herself a ‘sweaty little flower mechanic’ - her Instagram and social media presence is very honest, unhinged and relatable - perfect marketing. Anthurium flowers look like willies on a plate. 

Multi-award winning Adelle (not that one) is back to co-host.

The Copper Cacti

The Copper Cacti on Instagram

Are You Creative? recorded by Adam at Lawker Media, Chelmsford, ESSEX
With live sound mixing by Kate Bishop

Edited by Nick Hearne
Artwork by Alpaca Antenna

Don't forget to like, subscribe, share and all the good stuff.

Follow our Instagram for latest news and behind the scenes photos 

Send comments, questions, or suggestions for fascinating creative people in Essex give us a shout on our Instagram

Thanks to NGDA for their support

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Let's hear Chloe. You want to hear me? God, no one wants to hear this voice. Jesus.

Nick 0:05

Come on. Can you put can you put have you got any filters to put on Chloe's voice? Can we put can we can we can we put Chloe through a vocoder?

SPEAKER_04 0:11

I have had a chest infection, so my voice is isn't even back yet. I've been like this for five weeks.

Nick 0:17

Okay, well we'll wipe the mic down afterwards for our next guest.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

I'm not contagious, I promise, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

It's not malaria. Well, I was gonna guess that she was a sex phone worker.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

Oh, do you know what? I'd love that.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

You've got to guess what?

SPEAKER_04 0:29

I know.

Nick 0:29

Um so I mean you might recognise Adele from buses.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

What the back called.

Nick 0:36

Not on the buses, not on the buses.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

I was wondering where this is.

Nick 0:40

So Adele was the face of pride.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Oh, amazing. That might be it then. Yeah.

Nick 0:45

Rear of the Year 2024.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Oh, congratulations.

Nick 0:49

No, not this button.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Not this button, though.

Nick 0:52

But Adele is Adele is award-winning and award-winning game.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Multi-award-winning.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

Yeah. Get the multi-in, babe. Get the multi- in.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

There's no point winning more than one and just saying award winning.

Nick 1:03

I'll I'll tell you what, if tonight's going to be an awards arms race, you're probably in the wrong company. That's true. That's true. Because me and Chloe have also have also got a few awards. We've got a few. Oh, hang on, I've got two right here.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

Oh, look at you. I love I love those.

Nick 1:17

Um best look at that. Best podcast 2026.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Love that.

Nick 1:21

Yeah, Adele, you can touch that as well because you were you were involved in the podcast. I love it. Sorry, can't touch this one because this is the Community Spirit Award 2026. Wow. That I won for Costa to Costa, raising £5,000 for Chelmsford Food Bank by visiting every Costa Coffee on foot in one day.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Oh my goodness, that's mission.

Nick 1:42

£29 miles with my husky dogs and my sledge.

SPEAKER_04 1:45

How many costas is that?

Nick 1:47

How many costas?

SPEAKER_04 1:48

Yeah.

Nick 1:48

It is. I can't remember now. I think it was £34 costum.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Or Costa eye Costa, yeah.

Nick 1:54

£34 Costa eye. That's a lot. Um it's a lot. And do you know they opened three more than the next week?

SPEAKER_04 2:00

Stop it.

Nick 2:01

And I think if they'd if they'd opened those three before it, it would have finished me off. I would I would That's mental. My feet were all my feet were stumps.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

How can one city have that many costas?

Nick 2:10

That's crazy as that is insane. That is the question.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

It is a good question.

Nick 2:14

I did not even cross the A12 into Broomfield. I didn't go to No, sorry, into Borham. I didn't go to Broomfield Hospital and I didn't go to Gallywood because I was apart from that. There's one in Gallywood. Oh mate, they're everywhere. Costa eye. We've we're full we're full costa eye.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

They're like chlamydia. They go everywhere.

Nick 2:32

Leah, Costa is like chlamydia.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Imagine reading a new tagline. Costa like chlamydia gets everything.

Nick 2:39

And also, it burns.

unknown 2:40

It burns.

Nick 2:42

Golding. What happens? What happens when you get can you just throw yogurt? Oh, is that fresh? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

I've never had chlamydiums, so I don't know what you do with that. That takes that takes the uh extra cream a bit too far.

Nick 2:53

Extra cream, yeah. Is that frothy? Super frothy. Welcome back to Are You Creative Podcast, the podcast about creativity in Essex, where people come in if they're creative in Essex or they're from Essex and live somewhere else. Doesn't matter. I mean the rules are there, they'll be grey, right? And and we are here in Law Comedia Studios in Chelmsford, one of one of Essex's top three cities. And um It's a very hot Thursday night, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Oh, it's offensively hot, yeah. Hang on, you're not Sagator.

Nick 3:26

Oh well I've got my co-host Adele is here instead of Sagator. Now it's brutally hot this week, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

It's offensively hot.

Nick 3:35

Why is it so different?

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Why why why'd you get so hot? Well, I'm on the hormones all the time, so I'm hot anyway. That's it, yeah. So it's a mega hormone heat thing. Yes, when there's like hotter outside, yeah. Oh, if you cut me open, it's just fire. What like a steam engine? Yeah, like literally I'm just fire inside, and then I'm just melting all the time, and I'm I'm struggling and and dying. So, how do you cope? You've been working in a peddling pool all week or something? No, just um lots of enthusiasm and um getting up and just trying not to die. Can do stuff. That's literally my how I get a jazz hands every day. Every day, yeah. But it's the most we can ask for just trying not to die every day, isn't it?

Nick 4:14

That's literally what I do, try not to die. Amazing. And we've got a special guest. Don't tell us what you do yet, but your name is Chloe. And maybe you shouldn't even say what your work name is because that might give like way too much clue.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

It probably will. Now, Chloe. Yes.

Nick 4:28

You from Essex? I've got to check your passport.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

I am from Essex. Where? Where? What originally? Do you want a backstory? Yeah, come on. Okay, so originally I'm from Benfleet. Yeah.

Nick 4:37

I moved to the Viking stronghold of Benfleet.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

Yeah, and then I moved to Hungary.

Nick 4:41

That's not in Essex.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

I know, that's not in Essex. And then I moved to Southminster. And now I reside in Braintree.

Nick 4:49

Chloe? Yes. Are you creative?

SPEAKER_04 4:51

I am creative.

Nick 4:52

Is it yes or no answer?

SPEAKER_04 4:53

Yes.

Nick 4:55

Let's try again. Chloe, are you creative?

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Yes.

Nick 5:01

Okay, that's good, because we have to kick you out otherwise. Now, we are gonna get to the best bit ever because Adele. It's your favourite bit, isn't it? I'd love to. You are gonna guess, using your words and and externalising your thought processes, what Chloe does.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Okay, right. Chloe, I'm gonna ask you a few questions.

SPEAKER_04 5:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Okay. How did you get here today?

SPEAKER_04 5:23

In my van.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

In your van. Okay. Uh I think Chloe is a florist.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

This is what happens when the co-host turns up late.

Sangita 5:33

I knew I was gonna get in. Such a change.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

I was like, well, she's gotta be, it's gotta be a florist. And I wasn't even looking, I was just wandering in. I thought I thought, oh, that's a lovely little van. And did you follow the trail of petals between the van into the studio? No, yeah. And then literally as I walked in, I heard you say, Don't tell her. And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, and I just thought, well, it definitely gotta be. I've never seen that before. So Chloe, Chloe is the copper cacti.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

That is me, I am the copper cacti.

Nick 5:58

Love that. Why where's the name come from? Where's copper cacti from?

SPEAKER_04 6:01

So my uh floral design business is predominantly using succulents, cacti, and air plants. And I have been obsessed with cacti since I was, you know, probably walking. So um for me, I wanted to do floral design very differently and something that was unique and sustainable. And with the amount of cacti I have at my home, um, it all just kind of fitted in together. And it sounds ridiculous, but copper is one of my favourite colours. I love the colour of copper.

Nick 6:30

Let's just uh cacti. Cacti. Right, just in case you don't know, listeners, in case that's the plural of cactus. It's cactuses. Oh, thank god you see. It's cactus. I wasn't 100% sure. No, it's cactuses, it's it's not a poo down your on the front of your shirt.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

First of all, she's talking about cats wearing ties. Cat ties. And they're cut.

Nick 6:49

They're really heavy.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Really heavy, they hang on.

Nick 6:51

And conductive. Don't let your cat out on a lightning storm when they're got when they've got a cover cat tie on. So you so you only deal with cacti?

SPEAKER_04 6:58

No, not only, but it is like the the main kind of um selling point, I suppose, of my my business and what I do. Um, because especially with people wanting to look for things that are more sustainable and uh things that they can keep. So uh the thing that I'm most well known for is I make these beautiful geometric uh terrarium centrepieces.

Nick 7:19

Oh, a terrarium, hang on, that's another complicated word.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

That's another complicated way.

Nick 7:23

Come on, explain a terrarium.

SPEAKER_04 7:24

So a terrarium um it derives from wardium boxes from the Edwardian times, which is where botanists uh used to go abroad to um very exotic countries and bring back houseplants and cacti and succulents, and they used to put them in these glass, like mini greenhouses, and they were called Wardium boxes.

Nick 7:42

Well happened, an Edwardian Wardium box. Yes. Oh god, it's too complicated. What what was it from someone called Ward?

SPEAKER_04 7:49

I don't actually know. Isn't it bad? I don't know that bitch. Ian Ward said. We'll just say, yeah, Ian Ward. It was Ian Ward.

Nick 7:57

Yeah, and in the Edwardium, Ian Ward from the Edwardiums.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

So and then it kind of morphed into what we now now know as terrariums. So um terrarium, please. Use terrarium.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

What's a terrarium?

SPEAKER_04 8:10

So a terrarium is um it can be two diff different things. So, like with Wardium boxes, you have your ecosystem terrariums, which is where it's a glass bottle or a glass vessel, and it has an enclosed lid and it performs its own ecosystem within in within it. So you don't need to feed it, water it, anything like that. It just grows its own little world.

Nick 8:31

Um and then you have so called you have to start off with a little bit of water in it.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

You do, yes. And it's really important to get the layer in right. So it has in it uh things like horticultural charcoal, um, you have to have like a layer of moss to keep it like damp inside.

Nick 8:45

We've got layers, we've got a layer of charcoal, right? This is we've got our strata, right? We've got our layer of charcoal, we've got our layer of moss, we've got our our little bit of moisture. What else?

SPEAKER_04 8:53

Yeah, at the bottom you have a layer of gravel, so that allows the drainage, and then you plant in your plants. So, for example, you could put ferns in particular, love being in ecosystem terrariums and closed off with no oxygen. Yep, you pop the cork in or the lid on, like you can make them in kilner jars or glass bottles, and the idea is that the condensation within it goes through all the um all the layers to cleanse it, and then it um evaporates, it goes back to the top, and it waters itself.

Nick 9:18

So, how long could one live for?

SPEAKER_04 9:20

Forever.

Nick 9:20

What like a tardigrave?

SPEAKER_04 9:22

Yeah, there's actually a guy, you'll probably find him like TikTok or the internet. I swear he's had one for about eighty years.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Really?

SPEAKER_04 9:28

Yeah, I mean I've had mine. He's 80.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

80. 80. How old is this guy?

SPEAKER_04 9:33

Oh, I mean, he must be a hundred.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Oh I got it. But he's lying to you. He's lying. No way you had to find it.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

I mean, I've I've got three in my house and I've had them for 10 years.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:43

Like caught, never watered, incredible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

So they're basically plants that you don't need to do anything with.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Perfect kind of plant. And it's like a pet you don't have to look after.

Nick 9:53

I can just neglect them. Yeah. So don't they go manky though if you don't do them right?

SPEAKER_04 9:57

It depends. So if you put them in the wrong position, so for example, they don't like direct sunlight because they'll get like that. Because they're vampires. Yeah, exactly. They are like twilight. They just sparkles.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

They just turn into fire and ash.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

They just burn.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

They're like little mogwise. Yeah, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

Um so it is about having the right place to put them, um, but you literally just don't do anything with them. That's what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

So they're picky about whether they've got a lot.

SPEAKER_04 10:23

They are a little bit picky about the amount of sunlight.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

I mean, they do over they overreact.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Yeah, they they're such drama queens. Such drama queens.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yes. My kind of plant.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

And then you have like the other stuff. Hang on, wait a second. Yes.

Nick 10:35

I think your job is pretty much just Animal Crossing.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

So you're you're I've never played it, so I wasn't.

Nick 10:42

Oh, you're doing Animal Crossing, you make little gardens and you plant them, and then you're like, then they grow, and then you've got to be you've got to look after them a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 10:47

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Nick 10:48

And then someone comes around and judges them and gives you a rating.

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Yeah, that's how I got my awards.

Nick 10:54

Oh, that's so nice. Little Animal Isabel from Animal Crossing, the Island Committee came over and said, like a dog, and then just gave you like five stars, and that's your award.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Yeah, sounds good to me.

Nick 11:02

I love it. Yeah. Have you ever put like Sylvanian families in or anything like that?

SPEAKER_04 11:10

Yeah, so um, with the other style of terrarium I do, um, which is the cacti succulent one, that one has to be open because you have to miss them. Um, I did a wedding last year and it was a Pokemon-themed wedding. Yes. So we had these geometric ball-shaped terrariums for Torterra! Yeah, so we put all the little figures in there. Yes. Amongst all the cacti, the succulents, the moss. It was epic, it was so good.

Nick 11:31

Pseudo Wudo is my favourite Pokemon.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Oh, I'm a Bulbasaur girl.

Nick 11:35

Are you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Of course, because it's plant.

Nick 11:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Venusaur, I don't like Venusaur so much.

SPEAKER_04 11:41

No, Bulbasaur's elite. Yeah, definitely.

Nick 11:43

I like Pseudo Widow because he's got the shimmy, it's a tree. But also the name's really good, like pseudo-wood, pseudo-wood, like wood, pseudo-wood, oh. Oh, sorry, I'm explaining too.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

Have you gone off on a tangent?

Nick 11:54

Yeah. Um, I was just gonna say because my friend Gary, who is actually our first ever guest, he's got a terrarium in his house and he's got ewoks in it.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

I love that. They look really cool.

Nick 12:03

Yeah, real ewoks, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

Walking around.

Nick 12:06

And um yeah, no, he's got real little ewok Star Wars toys, Ken Kenna Star Wars toys in there, and it's like it looks just like um Endor.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

Yeah, exactly. It's really good. Because you just leave it all to kind of go overgrown and become very like uh foot jungly, and it's it's just so beautiful. And as long as like the glass is relatively clear and you can look inside, it's so just incredible to watch the fact that you've created this own little world of your own, and it's yeah, I loved it.

Nick 12:34

Do you ever build in traps though? Like if the stormtroopers come like little little little bits of mossy locks that can swing down.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

It's really important, yeah. You gotta help the ewes.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

Yeah, of course, naturally.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

The ewoks never need help.

SPEAKER_04 12:47

Oh, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

They never need help. They didn't really, did they? They did most of the stuff. The most important part of Star Wars. They are.

Nick 13:00

There's two types of terraria.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

Oh, so you have your ecosystem one, and then you have your desert style. So your desert style terrarium is your one that you have to keep open because when you're planting desert style plants in there, you need to be able to mist them. Um so that's where you plant your cacti, your succulents, your air plants, that kind of thing.

Nick 13:16

Oh, that's where you get really excited. That's where you get your name. That's your that's your desert, you're in the desert. Yes, desert. You're gonna take POTA and do that.

SPEAKER_04 13:22

Yeah, 100%.

Nick 13:23

Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's for every commission. Every commission. Get a pipe out. Always exciting. So they they need some they need some care.

SPEAKER_04 13:33

They do need some care, but I always say to people that um the thing is with cactics, what you find is people will give them too much love. Yeah, I think because they are so reminiscent of flowers, you think that they need the same kind of care. But Ashley, kind of like me, they thrive on neglect. So, like, you know, treat them like you mean to keep them keen. I love it. Absolutely. So I always say, um, in the winter, for example, from November to February, March, you could completely ignore them. They don't need any water. Treat you like a tortoise. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, that's exactly right.

Nick 14:08

Can you just put it in a box and put it in your shed?

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Yeah, why not?

Nick 14:11

They're like little trauma plants.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

They are, yeah, exactly.

Nick 14:15

They've all got trauma.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

They love me both.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Just leave me there to suffer. Exactly.

Nick 14:21

I'm gonna get an NSPCC, like uh National Society of Protection for Cruelty to Cacti.

SPEAKER_04 14:26

I love it.

Nick 14:26

Yeah, they're gonna come in and they're gonna start rescuing these cacti.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

Oh god, they're gonna come raid my home, aren't they? Oh, imagine that.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

I'll see that on the on Look East.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

Being handcuffed and led outside the cacti being led out.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yeah, I'll treat it like this. Oh, a little cute cacti.

Nick 14:39

Cacti have human rights.

SPEAKER_04 14:41

They do. They do have human rights.

Nick 14:43

I mean, they're pretty good at defending themselves.

SPEAKER_04 14:46

Yes.

Nick 14:46

I saw a Sahuaro cactus in uh Arizona.

SPEAKER_04 14:50

Oh nice. You know, the big ones that have like the look like the arms.

Nick 14:53

The cartoon ones. Yeah, yeah, the cartoon ones are about 100 years old.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

Yeah, that's what my logo is basically. They are spikes. Cacti facts. Mmm.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Are they not like just full of water or something?

SPEAKER_04 15:05

Yes, so if you are lost in the desert and you are looking for water, you could cut one open and they've got prickles on them, haven't they?

SPEAKER_00 15:12

So they're like, you get away from my water.

SPEAKER_04 15:14

Exactly. They're very water, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

You've got to work for this.

SPEAKER_04 15:16

You've got to injure yourself before you can help you save yourself, basically.

Nick 15:20

Oh, but you can if you injure yourself, snap an aloe vera, get some of the um cactus juice and rub it on. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Aloe is so good for that.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Oh, so they want to hurt you but save you at the same time. It's called gaslighting it.

Nick 15:33

It's so terrible. Cowboys used to fall off their horses onto aloe vera and they'd get stabbed and die.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Yeah, because they are really sharp at the end.

Nick 15:41

And and then and they still couldn't like snap it off and just rub it on.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Oh, I'm dying, but I don't feel like I'm dying.

Nick 15:46

Oh, but my wound feels so soft.

SPEAKER_04 15:49

Oh, it feels so soft and it's a little bit more than a surface wound, that though, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

They're still laying there, they're like, Oh, I'm dying, Greg. But look how I got my skin. Take my skin, touch my skin.

Nick 15:59

Deep moisturizing all the way through. Yeah, oh, I'm not gonna die of sunburn, just bleed to death.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

Exactly. Impaling.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

If I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go with good skin.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

Yes, absolutely. So the other way to go.

Nick 16:14

Are there any native cacti to Essex? Or are these are all imported? Where do you get your cacti?

SPEAKER_04 16:19

So um I buy quite a lot of them from Holland because ironically, Holland actually grow a lot of cacti succulents.

Nick 16:26

Yeah. But I also grow a lot of plants. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

Amongst many, many things.

Nick 16:30

They're very good at growing things, I love them.

SPEAKER_04 16:34

Yeah. Other things. But no, I actually grow quite a lot of them myself as well. Really?

Nick 16:39

So yeah, so would you take little little um what do you call cuttings? Yeah, exactly. You plant it.

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Because like with succulents, um, if you lose one of the leaves, you can put it on your window lid for a couple of weeks. It will automatically grow roots, you don't have to touch it, you don't have to do anything with it, and it'll grow roots, you pop it in a bit of cacti succulent soil, and you'll have a whole new plant within a year.

Nick 16:58

Have you got like a cactus? You know that people are like, oh, all sourdough is from the same sourdough thing, you know, like you're keeping your thing alive. Yes. Have you got uh is there a cactus there, someone called Dave or something somewhere or where people are getting little bits of Dave and they're growing grain.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

Oh, 100%, yeah. I mean, I've I'm I'm not gonna lie, I've done it too. But you often see people walking around like BQ and like stealing the succulent leaves, taking it home and growing them.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

I'm gonna go to BQ sweet.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

Dig around, have a look at the little like petals and grab grabs. Do you know what?

Nick 17:25

That that's what that's literally what finished off Home Base. What was the buyers? They went bankrupt because none was bank succulents anymore.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Yeah, they're just stealing all the petals.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

I'm so I just don't even notice these things. I would never notice someone picking up. I just thought, oh, that's being nice, it's just like clearly.

SPEAKER_04 17:41

But I see it all the time, all the time.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

It's really funny. So basically, cacti are just like spreading across at one cacti to another cacti, creating more taking over.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Yeah, it's like houseplants as well, like um with Monsteras and begonias and um calatheas.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Oh, what's a begonia?

SPEAKER_04 17:58

A begonia, so um their leaves are kind of like frilly on the outsides, but they come in the most beautiful colours. Yeah, um, and you can get house begonias and garden begonias, but it's the same kind of premise in that you could take a little cutting of a leaf, um, you could either propagate it in water or soil, and you can grow a whole new plant just from that leaf cutting.

Nick 18:20

Incredible, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 18:21

It's just like the circle of life. I love it.

Nick 18:24

This is really good. It almost like you wouldn't think that gardeners were like criminals, right? But like every every gardener I know, they're like, Oh, I was doing the State the Home Garden this week. Took a little cutting. Yeah, took a little cutting, and then you go around the garden, they'll say, Oh, see that one, yeah. I got that one from um Buckingham Palace's garden, I got that one from the Yeah, but also don't forget, gardening is always like connected to gangsters.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Is it? Because if you've ever seen Lockstock and Two Smoking Bowels, you know, they work in like a flower shop. You see the football factory, he works in a flower shop. That's not it's a it's a marijuana farm. No, yeah, but no, but he works as a florist and stuff. And that kind of it's a front, isn't it? I think I watched the gentleman. I think they all watched it.

SPEAKER_04 19:04

What I can say is that all florists are money launderers.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Well you what are you really here for? I don't know, I'm not actually a guest host. I'm an undercover policeman. There is there is a concept.

Nick 19:14

There's a concentrate in Chelmsford. I'm not gonna name it, but if you go to one end of the greenhouse, it does start to smell a bit funky.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

Oh secrets are being let out to die.

Nick 19:24

I'm not giving away the location of that one.

SPEAKER_04 19:26

Probably best, yeah. You don't want the uh the 5-I knocking on your door.

Nick 19:30

Right, let's i cops. What you specialise in though is making floral displays and things for weddings, right?

Sangita 19:39

Yes.

Nick 19:40

So you're not just like any florist, you're like the dream florist that people come through with crazy ideas and you make them come true.

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Basically, yeah, I don't do anything traditional. Like my idea of hell on earth is a white rose wedding with gypsophilia. I can't think of anything worse than that for me personally.

Nick 19:55

Do people have white roses at weddings? Yeah, of course. It's a bit puff daddy, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 19:58

Oh my god, white rose weddings, uh especially no offense to Essex, I love Essex, I'm an Essex girl through and through. But in Essex in particular, white rose weddings are still like really up there.

Nick 20:08

White white flowers mean death in other cultures, though, don't they? That's true, yeah. So I wouldn't have that.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

I wouldn't know it's not my taste, but I mean I my taste is obviously very eccentric and very out there in a little bit of emo.

Nick 20:19

Yeah, flowers that can kill your guests.

SPEAKER_04 20:20

Yes, exactly. Yeah, definitely.

Nick 20:22

Emo, I love that emo as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Flowers must have spikes.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Can I have a begonia with it?

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Yeah, absolutely. 100%, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

What would you do? What would you do for me?

SPEAKER_04 20:31

A whole like bouquet of begonias, big displays, like you could do arches covered in begonias, centre pieces. And the nice thing is that at the end of it, you could get your guests to take them away. And they if as long as they look after them, they can propagate them. Propagate them, keep them forever, turn them on. It's it's all sustainable.

Nick 20:48

Can I just stop you here? Because I feel like Adele's getting a free consultation. Oh, you you charge people for this.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

I do normally.

Nick 20:55

I'm not even getting married. So what what right? You will not believe this, but the cup the copper cacti is fully booked until about 2028, I believe, isn't it? You you're like, no, no more bookings for October 2027.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

Only for October 2027. You know how long away that is. I know.

Nick 21:12

I mean it might be it won't be now if you're listening to this in two years' time, but like we are a year and a half away from then. And people already booking you. Yeah. Are you feeling stressed already? I'll be like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

Do you know what? I don't feel stressed with my job because it is my dream. It's it's everything that I wanted it to be, and it's mine. Like I've built this from the ground up. It's just been me, myself, and I putting in a lot of legwork and me, myself, and cacti. Me, myself and cacti, exactly.

Nick 21:40

Done. Give us a that was beautiful. That's what I'm gonna call my my business.

SPEAKER_04 21:45

You're there.

Nick 21:47

Me, myself, and cacti, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:49

I've still my autobiography.

Nick 21:50

We've got um, yeah, we've we've got availability in October 2027, by the way, everyone. You shouldn't call that that would be such a good autobiography. That word, wouldn't it? Yeah, I'd. Love it. Anyway, let's carry on. So hang on. You're super busy. I am. If Adele's having a consultation now, what are you going to do for Adele and when can you do it?

SPEAKER_04 22:10

So I do have availability still for 2027 and I've already started taking bookies for 2028. This year I'm I can take some more weddings if there is anybody, but they'd have to be, you know, pretty snappy and quick on it.

Nick 22:23

Do they have to pass like a test? Do you like you're like, yeah, I don't fancy that one? And these people are cool, I'm gonna squeeze them into October 2027.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

Do you know what? I'm really lucky in the fact that I don't get many traditional couples. I get the people that understand what it is that I'm trying to create and what I'm trying to achieve. Um so I don't get many people come to me and go, I want an all-white rose wedding. I want people I have people that come to me and say, Right, we want a gothic wedding, we want a Pokemon wedding, we want a dinosaur wedding, you know? So I have the people that come to me and go, We want a begonia wedding. Yeah, I want to put my personality into our day, and I'm like, I'm your girl. That's that's the best.

Nick 22:59

I think, you know, I'll tell you about my wedding in a minute. But the wedding is the only one time in your life when you get all your mates together and you can have a party, you can make it whatever you want.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Exactly.

Nick 23:09

And you and almost you want to make it really interesting and memorable, not like, oh, everyone wore morning suits and we had like chairs with bows on the back.

SPEAKER_04 23:16

It's like I don't want to be like repeating something that someone's already done. So even though I've done a Pokemon wedding, if someone came up to me and said, We want a Pokemon wedding, I'd do it completely different.

Nick 23:26

What, like a full life-size Torterra with animatronics? Why not? The bride could ride down the aisle.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Yeah, absolutely. I did a dinosaur wedding a couple of years ago. So I made these big dinosaurs and I planted them full of cacti and succulents and put raw buttons in their chest. So when they pressed the raw buttons and they were the centre pieces. That's amazing!

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 23:46

Yeah, little mini dinosaurs like plastic toy ones, sprayed them gold, put them in the hair pieces in the bridesmaids' displays.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

You are you are spreading so much joy.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

That's what I want. I'm loving it. I want people to look at my stuff and smile.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

I'll be honest. I can I be honest. I'm not a gardener and I'm not a fan of plants per se.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

But you're making me really like a plant. Oh. You're making me really like these plants. I like these. Yeah, you're right. I don't like these boring plants. Yeah. I want a plant with attitude, a plant with a story.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

The underdog plant. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 24:20

Here for that.

Nick 24:21

Cacti. Some have flowers, but some could some just propagate, so like you don't need to have flower sex.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

No, not at all. No, they just kind of do their own thing, really. And yeah, cacti flower, and so do succulents. And they're really incredible when they flower, and the flowers are just the most stunning colours. Um, and it just gives that extra little bit of pizzazz as well to them, so it's really fun.

Nick 24:42

A lot of cacti are quite phallic, aren't they? And we always get like comedy, comedy phallus cacti.

SPEAKER_04 24:47

Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

They are quite manly.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

They've got a masculine element.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

There is um one of my favourite cacti is called a booby cacti. Yes. And it's long and tall, like a like a penis, I suppose. But it has these beautiful bumps on them that look like beautiful breasts.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

That's the trans one.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

That's the trans one. That's the one. That is the one. How tall do they get? Oh my god, they could get like metres and metres of tight. Like what?

Nick 25:10

Like a whole tall.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

Yeah, just a whole pillar of breasts.

Nick 25:13

Wow, that's like multiple breasts.

SPEAKER_04 25:15

Yes. Yeah, no, not just one breast. I'm talking like, if you've got one that's two metres tall, you're looking at at least 50 breasts.

Nick 25:22

Can you tell us what this is? What's it called again?

SPEAKER_04 25:24

Well, I call it a booby cactus. I don't know its official name. Yeah, it's literally not.

Nick 25:29

The Essex name is booby cactus.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

Yeah, it's a booby cactus. Just Google booby cactus and it'll come up on the other.

Nick 25:34

No, don't go Google that.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

I know something dodgy about it.

Nick 25:38

I'm gonna google, but sometimes the the you know, when you look up Latin names, they do have brilliant names. It'll be like called biggest tetus cactus or something.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

There's over a million different um species of cactus. So to know all of the names is pretty much near nigh impossible. But like some of my favourite ones just have the most brilliant like nicknames. Like there's old man cactus, which is basically this cactus that is just covered in white fluff. So it just looks like an old man. I know the one you mean.

Nick 26:06

It looks like um what was that old boxing promoter? Don King. Donkey. They look like Don King, don't they?

SPEAKER_04 26:11

They do, exactly.

Nick 26:12

I love that. And but you want to, it's a bit like the Play-Doh hair shop because you do want to get a comb and do their hair.

SPEAKER_04 26:17

Of course you do, yeah. I mean you'd want to.

Nick 26:19

I mean, that would be a centrepiece.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

I love it. I'm so here for that.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

I think I've seen that one before. Yeah. I think I've seen a lot of cacti in play. I think I had one once. I think my kids got one. I don't know, but I just had it out and I don't think it died. Yeah, it seems like something kids have. Yeah. I think my cat jumped on it. Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 26:36

Ouch.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:37

But cacti are a really great starter plant for kids.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

Because they're just so easy to look after.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

And it teaches them don't touch it.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Exactly that.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Don't get hurt.

SPEAKER_04 26:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

What's your tagline for your your business?

SPEAKER_04 26:50

I don't actually have a tagline. Maybe I need one. Got them. I'm hitting it.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

What's the name of your company?

SPEAKER_04 26:55

The copper cacti.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

It's a prickly business. Oh, I like it.

Nick 26:59

It is a prickly business.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

I love it.

Nick 27:01

Simple and effective. I had a Venus fly trap when I was a kid. I love Venus fly trap. But it's really boring because it didn't open its mouth quick enough, you know. You fed it and it just fish out for ages.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

We had a Venus fly trap, and I don't know about you, like, you know, they they have to get the flyer. Yes. But if you accidentally like mess around with it and put your finger in it and close it, then it takes days for it to open.

Sangita 27:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

You could potentially kill it because it's not actually eating anything.

Nick 27:24

Yeah, exactly. I'll tell you what, though, if that would make a good centrepiece if the K-dream wasn't good, you know, you could just put little bits of your food in it to hide it.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

I'm just gonna say here and now, my dream wedding, like I've got a vision.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Little shop of powers.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

You got it.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Oh my god, I'm gonna come work with you.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

Yes. See the spy traps, like the monkey jugs that catch the flies, like Seymour in the corner, like. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Let's do it. I wouldn't do it. Um, and can you and the best man is to dress up like a dentist?

SPEAKER_04 27:54

Yes.

Nick 27:54

Yeah, well, can you guarantee that Rick Moranis will officiate the ceremony?

SPEAKER_04 27:58

I mean, I could try. I mean it's it's something that I could definitely try.

Nick 28:01

Um, I'm just I'm just I'm just gonna go off and divorce my wife.

SPEAKER_04 28:05

Yeah, just come back and get it. Renew your renew your vows. Give her a new vows, there you go.

Nick 28:10

I don't know. I've it was really, really difficult to get her to agree to have a medieval wedding where I wore full suit of armour.

SPEAKER_04 28:16

Shut up. That is an epic wedding. I've actually got a Viking wedding in September. Nice. Those are the kind of weddings that I just get so excited about. Viking wedding. Viking weddings. I love that. Ruins, um, moss, ferns. Yes.

Nick 28:29

Oh, it's are you are you gonna put some little sub-moss smokiness? There's gonna be some mystics.

SPEAKER_04 28:34

There's gonna be like sponge mushrooms and bark and pine cones and antlers.

Nick 28:39

Flygarrick.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Love it. Yeah, flygarrick. Why not?

Nick 28:44

You get everyone tripping their nuts off and going full berserker. Imagine the wedding dance.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

I won't be there. I I I set it up, I leave, and I come back to the mess the next day.

Nick 28:58

How many weddings do you get invited to because you have a little relationship with a couple and they're like, oh, you must come to our wedding all the time. And and you said like you're really sad when couples get married because you then your relationship with them's over.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

I think there's only maybe five or six couples that I've lost contact with. And I've been doing this for yeah, seven years. Because I for me in particular, I like to build a relationship with my couples, I like to get to know them, I like to find out what their loves are and what their passions are, and you just fall into like this really easy relationship with them. And I I've got them all on my Instagram and I'm watching them all, you know, go through married life, having children and going on holiday, buying second, third, fourth houses. And it does, it is quite emotional when I build such a strong relationship with particular couples that and that then they get married, and I'm like, I'm never gonna talk to you again, but I always do.

Nick 29:52

But do you just send them a little succulent occasionally?

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Oh don't forget about me. Look, I've been invited to so many of the evening weddings, and I've been invited to I've got a first year anniversary uh in October that I'm going to, and like people have asked me to come meet their babies, and it's so wonderful. Yeah, I'm really I I'm so blessed to do this job, I really am.

Nick 30:13

Because we had we had previous guests, Lucy from Lucy Can't Dance, right? I love my Lucy, and and like she obviously does like rock and roll bridal wear. Yes. You do the rock and roll plants. Do you guys like team up? But have you got like an A-team where you all all come in here with like, I'll do the plants, I'll do the dresses.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Do you know? Well, that would be the dream, but it's really funny because pretty much I'd say 50% of my weddings, the brides will wear a Lucy Can't dance dress.

Nick 30:34

No way, that's so cool. And you haven't even got like young affiliate sales on that. No, you should do, you should you should sort it out.

SPEAKER_04 30:41

We just kind of I think our vibes match. Like she does the really alternative clothing, I do the alternative floristry, and then I find that I end up working with a lot of alternative photographers that I I know a lot of. Amazing. So it ends up, we all end up just working together and it's it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

It's called Wedding Avengers.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Yes. Yeah, it is, that's so good. It's like a super band.

Nick 31:01

Just sh shine the light up in the sky.

SPEAKER_04 31:03

Like Charlie's angels. Yes. So here for that.

Nick 31:06

Can you turn into a cactus?

SPEAKER_04 31:08

Oh, I wish.

Nick 31:08

Well I never sleep about yeah. I mean, yeah, immobile, but no one can attack you.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Okay, are cacti symmetrical? They're not added, they're always a bit like wonky, aren't they?

SPEAKER_04 31:17

And that's the beauty of them. I I don't really like symmetry. I guess like I like things to be a little bit unique and a little bit quirky and a little bit kind of you know, off-kilter, because I just think it's a bit more interesting. That's why I don't like these bouquets that are like perfect round balls, like they give me the ick. I like things that are wild and have texture and movement, and like when you walk with it, it just like flows and it's that's amazing.

Nick 31:44

But I think, yeah, let's uh some people just want to completely control nature. I suppose they're the astroturf people as well. Like the things, you know, like they I just want a neat ball and stuff, chuck it in the bin afterwards. Let's talk about traditional weddings, right? No, I know, mainly just because we want to tell a story. Anyway, my my friend Alex had like a drum and bass rave as his um right, uh as his uh reception, right? Function one sound system, blasting out, super sharp shooter. And the um the the mother came over and she was like, if you don't turn this music off, I'm gonna leave straight away. And she wanted she basically made a display come on, Eileen through a function one sound system so she could have her little dance. But you get like I don't think you get Bridezilla so much, do you? You get like um mother of the bridezilla. Yeah, I mean Who wants a traditional wedding and stuff?

SPEAKER_04 32:31

Yeah, and you do come across that a lot, like where Rock the Body Put Agado on.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Can we have the time warp and the Grease Lightning Megamix?

SPEAKER_04 32:41

Yeah, absolutely. You've got to have Grease Lightning Megamix.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

You do, you do.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

But I do find that like a lot of my a lot of my couples, they're very well supported with what they want. But you do get the occasion where it's like my mum was kind of hoping I'd have something a little bit more traditional, but the but you'll find that they're just go, but that's not me. And then that's what I'm here to do. And I I have to say, I've not really I've not done a wedding where I've not had like a mum or a dad come up to me and go, This is incredible. Yeah, and that's what I want. I want people to go, Wow, I didn't think that you could make something out of this idea.

Nick 33:15

Has anyone ever been severely maimed by them throwing one of your floral bouquets and it's like a cactus? It's like throwing a hand grenade over your shoulder.

SPEAKER_04 33:21

Not not yet.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

A massive venous flyer trap just got on someone's head. Is there a doctor here? The Hippocratic overbids, you must put your hand up. Just a few prickles in the face. They're like, quick, did he know him? It's like we'll have to wait a couple of days for it to reopen. There's not much we can do, otherwise we're killing, we're killing.

SPEAKER_04 33:39

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Quick, get the aloe vera! Get the aloe vera!

SPEAKER_04 33:43

Look at it. Just take it out of the centrepiece.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Oh, their skin is so soft, but they're dead.

Nick 33:49

But it it isn't that amazing. Like, you know, people should really trust the process. And I think with generational changes, like my my dad, my dad and my mum were like, What you're gonna get married in a suit of armour? Come on, just go with it. But we're gonna do it. But I think everyone, you know, a generation ago, everyone wanted like traditional weddings. Yes. And there was no such thing as a as a as a alternative wedding. Is that what you call it?

SPEAKER_04 34:13

Definitely not. I mean, I've been married 14 years. I mean, my wedding was traditional in a sense, but my florals were anything but traditional. Because I found a florist at that time and I told her what I wanted, and she's like, I've never made anything like that. And I think as well.

Nick 34:28

What was it? What was the brief?

SPEAKER_04 34:29

The brief was um purple and lime green with hints of pink. So I had like lime green orchids, I had black colour lilies, I had I did have some dusky pink roses, um, there was lots of foliage, and it was it was really unique and nothing like what any of my other friends were doing or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

But that's that's giving me Batman animated series Joker vibes. Oh poison ivy. And poison ivy, yeah. Oh, I love it. You are a poison ivy.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

Oh, I could be, definitely.

Nick 35:01

So right this, so this is your wedding brief.

SPEAKER_04 35:04

Yes.

Nick 35:05

And did the florist go, oh, I've never done that before. I'll try it. Yeah. And it turned out really good. And then you were like, hmm, I have an eye for this. I have a talent, I have a talent for florists.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

It was really weird because like back at that time I had no interest in like floral design. And the way that I fell into this is um, it's a pretty long and convoluted story, but basically, just before COVID, because everything happens during COVID, I had a mental breakdown and I was signed off work and I was really ill. And um, to try and fill my time during my time off work, I was like, Well, what do I enjoy doing? I was like, Oh, I really love my cacti, my succulents. And I did a bit of research and stuff, and I was like, Oh, I could make some terrariums, and then by the end of my sick leave um from my breakdown, I had so many terrariums. My husband was like, You cannot keep all of these. Yeah, what are you gonna do with them all? And I went, I'm gonna start a business. So I started a business. Amazing.

Nick 36:00

You're like, what's the best way to get everyone mental breakdown? Start a really stressful business.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

Exactly. But that's the beautiful thing about it is that from mental breakdown to where I am now, I don't find anything stressful about my business.

Nick 36:13

Amazing. Not even the maths, because I saw that you said you have to be a human calculator.

SPEAKER_04 36:17

Yeah, but I'm just crap at maths. That's just generalized rubbishness. Like that's what Excel spreadsheets are for.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

And copilot, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

Yeah, exactly. But I mean, like the creativity side, that's where I lose myself. And I just that's my therapy. That's my mental health.

Nick 36:33

What I love, right, what I think what I love about creativity is often you find people that have had one career and they've got really low. Yeah, and I think you've got to go super, super low, and then you it's almost like an origin story. Yes, right? Rebirth. Yeah, rebirth. And then and then so many people have had the second career where they've discovered and it and it's almost by mistake as well, discovering what they love.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

Yeah.

Nick 36:54

It suddenly someone said, Well, I'll pay you to do that for my wedding, and then it just keeps going.

SPEAKER_04 36:58

Exactly that.

Nick 36:59

Fake it till you make it.

SPEAKER_04 37:00

100%. And now here I am, and I've got, you know, seven years under my belt and loads of awards. Four awards. Loads of awards, yeah. Multi-award, we know multi-award winning floral designer, which I'm so proud of.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

So good.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

You know, it's just one of those things that I never saw coming. And I think sometimes in life, it's the things that you don't see coming that bring you the most joy. So, yeah, I feel very, very blessed and proud of what I've created, definitely.

Nick 37:29

What were you doing before?

SPEAKER_04 37:31

So I'm actually um a trained chef.

Nick 37:34

Uh okay, so I explains the Menti B.

SPEAKER_04 37:37

But I wasn't doing catering when I did that. I was just at a really low point in my life, and um, I'd um, you know, I think a lot of it was a little bit postpartum and stuff like that as well. Yeah, it wasn't just through catering, it was just life in general had got me down and it just blossomed. Do you find it? Yeah, that was nice.

Nick 37:55

Yeah, oh clever. Yeah, we use that as a use that as a poll quote. Um, did do you did you find that chefing really, you know, because uh a lot of chefing is your presentation as well, isn't it? And colour balance and and sizes and things like that. And shouting. And shouting. No, you don't shout at a cactus. Oh no, they thrive on that, don't they? They'll free shout out at that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But but did you find like loads of that with transferable skills that you could 100%, yeah?

SPEAKER_04 38:20

Because um, like you said, it is about how you see things and how you can display things and um also the fast-paced nature of it all as well. Um, so I definitely think that I've taken a lot from catering into what I do in my business, but also it helps me have a better understanding as well of the wedding industry. Yeah, because having had that experience of doing weddings and seeing weddings go on, then I kind of know how other suppliers work. So that's definitely helped.

Nick 38:49

I was I was saying this to some people today because we're doing a we're doing a big creative job next week, and I was saying, look, it's never gonna go to plan. You just embrace the chaos and you've got to roll with it because that and then the even better stuff happens. So you but you said you'll just take on any job and be like, oh, I could do that in 45 minutes, right? I'll do that in 45 minutes, but you know, when things when things fall over or things break, suddenly you make something new.

SPEAKER_04 39:10

Yeah, I mean I've always got like my tool bag on me, and I just think to myself, do you know what? I've got something in there, like my magic bag.

Nick 39:16

Yeah, and I've just got to go.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

Yeah, Merry Poppies. Merry Poppies.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

Nice, getting all the flower.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

I'm loving all the flower pans, I'm so here for this.

Nick 39:26

Yes, but yeah, I think that's brilliant. And I think when you're chefing, I suppose you look at a plate and you're like, Oh, it needs a bit more starch, or like that's it's all too beige, need some green on there.

SPEAKER_04 39:36

Yeah, I mean there has been several times where I've made a bouquet and I've sat there looking at it and I'm like, it's just something not quite right about it. So I'll put it to the side, I'll go do something else.

Nick 39:45

Slice of cheese.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

Yeah, I come back and I whack a burger in there.

Nick 39:49

Let's put a slice of cheese on it. Yeah, brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

Rack of ribs.

Nick 39:54

Oh my god, you're gonna be like, right, right, I'm definitely getting married again now. Rack of ribs at the floral display.

SPEAKER_04 39:59

I'm here, uh yeah, I love that. Yeah, drip on the barbecue sauce as you walk down the aisle.

Nick 40:04

Could you could you make me a floral cactus horse that I could actually ride animatronic?

SPEAKER_04 40:08

That would be very painful.

Nick 40:10

Um, and have an aloe vera saddle.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

I was gonna say. The way I was making the saddle, it would have been very painful.

Nick 40:19

I want I I really want to come and test you and be like, okay, can you make this and see what happens? We should have that, it'd be like scrap peep challenge, but for cactus.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

Do you know what? I would love that. Because that's that's kind of what a lot of my couples come to me and they do. They go, This is kind of what we want to do. And I'm like, okay, let me think about it. And then I go, right, this is what we're gonna do. Yeah, yeah. And then they're like, how did you come up with that? Like the dinosaur wedding, they were like, really want to incorporate dinosaurs. I was like, I've got an idea. Turn them into terrariums, I'll spray paint some dinosaurs, fill them with cacti, and they were like, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Is there a great British florist show? Or have I making that up in my head?

Nick 40:55

Yeah, there was. Vic Reeves, um, Vic Reeves presented it, I think.

SPEAKER_04 40:58

Yeah, there was.

Nick 40:59

But it was only for one series. It was really good. Was it like Sky Arts? I think Connie Huck might have done it as well. Was it all Sky Arts?

SPEAKER_04 41:04

Yeah, it would be on Sky Arts, definitely.

Nick 41:06

I think too many came out at the time because they had the bakery, they had the throw down, the sewing, they had the sewing bee, and then they had the plant one. Then they had the great British.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

They had the crochet one, didn't they? Crochet one, yeah.

Nick 41:17

People are bordercrafts, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:20

No one wants to do arts of crafts anymore.

Nick 41:23

I think flo floristy. Oh god. Floresty. Floristy Floresty. Florida. Floresty.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

Is that a is that vegan morresty?

Nick 41:35

Getting into floristry. Yes. I said it. Floristry. Floristry. Getting into floristry, it must be quite difficult because you know, a lot of flowers and stuff are pretty expensive, right? And yes. And and and they're gonna die.

Sangita 41:47

Yes.

Nick 41:48

Yeah. So if if you wanted to start doing it without ruining your garden or picking illegal wildflowers or whatever, how would you how would you even start floresterizing?

SPEAKER_04 41:58

I mean, I started floristry.

Nick 42:01

Foresterising. Where's the word?

SPEAKER_04 42:03

I mean, I actually started practising making bouquets by while I'm watching YouTube tutorials. Because again, I'm not classically trained in floristry. I've learned everything just from I and from watching tutorials and vibes. Yeah, from vibes, pure vibes. And um, I just went to, you know, Lidl, Tesco, grabbed some flowers that I thought looked pretty, and just thought, well, let's just have a play around and see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

And I'll flog it on the market for 100 quid.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Yeah. Who's got the better flowers, Lidl or Tesco's? Come on, tell us. We want to know.

SPEAKER_04 42:35

MS.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_04 42:37

Let's be honest. Really?

SPEAKER_00 42:39

MS. Yeah.

Nick 42:39

It's not Sainsbury's with a nectar card.

SPEAKER_04 42:41

Sainsbury's do have beautiful like high street flowers.

Nick 42:44

Waitros.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

I mean, I'm not posh enough to shop in waitros. There you go. I mean, I am a little girl though. Yeah. Yeah.

Nick 42:51

But if you go maybe you go at the end of the day when the things are on yellow sticker, right?

SPEAKER_04 42:55

Yeah. It's a it's a great cost-effective way to practice, 100%. And the thing is, there are so many tutorials on YouTube. And even um following other florists on Instagram, quite a lot of the time you'll just watch them making a bouquet, just which is what they want to do for their content to show people how they do it. And that's a great way to do it as well. Um, I'm really lucky in that I have the most incredible um group of florist friends as well, and we all share knowledge and we share ideas and we have a laugh and you know we're gonna.

Nick 43:26

Does it get competitive as well? Because if someone else does something, you're like, Oh, I wish I'd done that, and they were like, Oh, I can't believe you've put the dinosaur roaring. I'll and you're gonna try and outdo each other.

SPEAKER_04 43:34

Oh, yeah, 100%. But it's it's always done in a loving way. Oh, yeah, big time. I'm not gonna lie, there are some clicky uh like um like in anything. There's always gonna be some that will like you'll you'll try and be friendly with them and they just just don't want that. And that's cool. That's their prorogue.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Florist mean girls.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

Yeah, exactly. You do get it.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

Yeah, they're the w the white flower brigade. The florist heathers.

SPEAKER_04 43:56

But all the ones that I know the florist heavers are.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Are you the Vanona rider?

SPEAKER_04 44:01

Am I gonna die?

SPEAKER_00 44:02

No, you would have been owner rider, you're fine. Oh, that's okay. Next to Christian Slater.

Sangita 44:07

That's how it works.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

I'll be happy to be Christian Slater. Maybe not in Heaven. Very good, good, very good looking man. Yeah, definitely. Thank you.

Nick 44:14

You're welcome. So but I I think that's great as a community. And I love that. If you're like all sharing stuff and getting ideas, and you're gonna be lol, you never better guess what I've done.

SPEAKER_04 44:25

And everyone says, that's brilliant. Yeah, exactly. And we like send you each other pictures of the work that we've done, and like, like I said, we'll freelance for each other. So, for example, if someone's got like a really big wedding and they need extra hands on deck, we'll be like, they'll be like, Oh, can anyone make this date? And then we'll send over uh availability.

Nick 44:41

Um guys, I've got five truckloads of fly garret left over. What can I do with them? Does anyone need any mushrooms?

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Like, quick, get down there. Sponge mushrooms.

Nick 44:50

Sponge mushrooms.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

I heard it earlier. I don't know. But you said it earlier, it made you say good. Online, these people that make all these nice bouquets and showing them off. You've got a lot on there now that's just AI, right? Because I've fallen for it where I've got where I've gone through and I've seen, oh, this looks really good. And it's like a big flower thing. I was like, oh right, and then suddenly it just turns into a load of like penguins. Cax AI. Cax AI. Yeah, cactus. Uh it kind of works.

SPEAKER_04 45:16

It does what I don't I reckon if you wrote it down, AI for um floristry in particular can be very, very dangerous in the fact that what you'll find is people will go on Pinterest to find exactly what I was about to say. Yeah, to find examples of things that they like. I want this. You're like real. Yeah, exactly. And you do find that you'll just be like, okay, you I can do that, but it's gonna cost you £7,000. And they're like, oh my god, I didn't realise it'd be that expensive. But that's the thing, it's not just the flower you're getting, you're getting our time, our expertise. We've got to condition the flowers three days before, we've got to remove all foliage. If they're roses, you've got to reflex them.

Nick 45:59

If the flower doesn't exist, you've got to make it, you've got to make it, you've got to breed it. That could take years of cross cross-fertilization with your little paintbrush.

SPEAKER_04 46:06

Well, it's all the admin that goes behind.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Someone comes in with a picture and goes, I want this flower, and you go, That doesn't exist. Zoom out. That that's a cabbage.

SPEAKER_04 46:14

Yeah, exactly. There are cabbage flowers. There you go.

Nick 46:18

Oh, the geometry on someone like I bet they stink.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

Oh no, they're beautiful brassicas, yeah. Oh, they've got a name. Yeah, is that one of my fancy?

Nick 46:26

Is that the cabbage on a stink?

unknown 46:27

Yeah.

Nick 46:28

The geometry is amazing. How beautiful. They look like um Game of Friends Dragon Eggs.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

Yes, they do, exactly. And that's another reason why I really love succulents, because if you look at it from the top, the like geometry of it is just exquisite.

Nick 46:41

Oh, it's a sacred geometry, isn't it? It's crazy. It's um Fibonacci sequences. Yes, they're great for like tall fans.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

Yes.

Nick 46:48

Yeah, I have learned just stare into it.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

So much today. I have learned so much. No, I have.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

I'm not being sargastic, but I'm being serious. Yeah, and I and I'm the main thing for me is that I like to just remind people to just be themselves and not to conform to what society thinks that you should have.

Nick 47:06

This is what I say as well. And if the thing that you want doesn't exist, make it and become that. And this is what you you had a niche where you were like, that doesn't actually exist. I've got someone to do it for me. Maybe other people would like that.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Yes, exactly.

Nick 47:17

Maybe other people would like Lucy can't dance dresses as well, and then let's put them together.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Do you think if you know, because if you deal with so many plants, you do look after them and all that stuff, that when the day comes that plants take over the world, you will be spared.

SPEAKER_04 47:32

Yes, I think they will um employ me as maybe like a servant or like an advisor. A neglector. I mean, I was gonna go for advisor.

Nick 47:42

No, because the cacti will let you be the cacti queen.

SPEAKER_04 47:44

Like whips and chains abuse.

Nick 47:46

Yeah, they won't they're like oh treat me, treat us like one of your bad Essex cacti that thrives so well over winter.

SPEAKER_04 47:51

Do you know what? I think I will be spared.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

Yeah, I don't think I will. I think I'll be first to go. Really? Yeah, because I'm rubbish. I you know, I'm terrible. I just pull plants out the floor and stuff. I don't I don't I don't I pay no attention to them. And they will one of these days a cacti will knock on my door and be like, you're dead. Yeah, we've got you're on the list, mate. You're yeah, you're and you're a big prick. Yeah, and that'll be it. I'll be gone.

SPEAKER_04 48:15

Thing is, I do always say that a weed is only a weed if it's a flower you don't like. So, for example, I mean I love a dandelion, so to me it's not a weed, it's it's a flower I like. Yeah. So I wouldn't pull them out.

Nick 48:26

I mean, they're good on two levels, aren't they?

SPEAKER_04 48:28

Yeah.

Nick 48:29

The flower one and the fluffy puffy one.

SPEAKER_04 48:31

Yeah, and you can make tea from them.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

Maybe if I get to know you, yeah. They're uh by associate.

SPEAKER_04 48:35

Oh, but no, but no, but I know people.

SPEAKER_03 48:37

I know this cacti lady, scared me.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

Yeah, we did a podcast together at a bit. Oh, yeah, we listened to that one. Yeah, you're right, you'll be spit.

Nick 48:44

Adele, what I I love it that you're learning stuff though, because that's what this podcast is all about. Of course it is. You know, if we had people that we knew all about what they did, what they do, what they did, what they did, we wouldn't even be punching. It's brilliant. Finding out all this stuff. And I think anyone that does anything creative has loads of interesting stuff and it all crosses over.

SPEAKER_04 49:01

Yeah, exactly. Definitely.

Nick 49:03

Yeah. You talked about sustainability earlier.

SPEAKER_03 49:10

I do.

Nick 49:10

Right. I think that's really interesting because a lot of weddings, I mean, uh loads of people feel bad and they're like, oh, can someone take some flowers? Because we've got to fray them all out as well. So your stuff can actually live on after the wedding and people can take these terraria home or they can take little cuttings from it or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 49:25

Exactly, yeah. So the terrariums in particular, what you'll find is a lot of them will give them to uh family members or friends that have been quite involved in the wedding. Yeah, exactly. And actually, the first ever wedding I did, um she put up a picture on Instagram the other day, and she still has both of them, and they're by Friday.

Nick 49:42

Yeah, that's so amazing. Isn't that so cool? Did she tag you?

SPEAKER_04 49:45

She didn't tag me, but I saw it come up and then we had a good chat about it. We just started talking about like she was like, Oh, this one died though, and I was like, What did you do? And you know, it's that kind of thing.

Nick 49:54

So I think that's brilliant though. Look, a lot of people, you know, you're trying to have like zero waste and stuff, and things like weddings are so wasteful when you see how much stuff gets chucked out afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Yeah, would you love it one day if you made a terranium and then you just look down, and it was a little civilization that had just created been created in the you didn't even notice that would really freak me out. And you were like the you were like the god just like watching not that Simpsons episode House of Horror. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:18

I went straight to night at the museum.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

I just imagine it. I think that would be amazing. Just watching just civilization go for all the eras.

SPEAKER_04 50:25

Oh, that just sounds like too much effort.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

You didn't have to do anything. Do you know about tardigrades?

Nick 50:30

No, I was told tardigrades live forever, they're called water bears. They they can be frozen in ice and stuff, and they can be in space and they can still stay alive. You could have a little tardigrade civilization.

SPEAKER_04 50:41

I love that.

Nick 50:42

In in one of your terrariums.

SPEAKER_04 50:43

I might do. You know what? I'd have to get like a microscope or something to have a really good look.

Nick 50:48

Yeah, big time. Just see what they're up to.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

Just see what's going on in there.

SPEAKER_00 50:51

Yeah, find out if they're plotting against you.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

Yeah, it'd be a massive uprising.

SPEAKER_00 50:54

No, no, my luck. I'd yeah, there'd be an uprising be watching it and I'd be like, nice civilization. Do you know what? Let me zoom in. Bloody hell, they focused reform as well. That's bloody tardigrades. Good everywhere.

Sangita 51:06

Look all the flags.

SPEAKER_00 51:07

They've taken all the not allowed a flag in that bit. Look.

Sangita 51:11

Where's the pride flag? Oh my gosh.

Nick 51:14

Yeah, stop the small flowers. You're a sweaty little flower mechanic.

SPEAKER_04 51:22

I am, especially today.

Nick 51:24

I love, I love that. It's so funny. I think your Instagram's brilliant because I think a lot of people would be, oh, this is my dream job, making pretty dreams come true. And you're like, I'm a sweaty little flower mechanic.

SPEAKER_04 51:36

Love that. I just think my Instagram needs to be uh an extension of who I am. And I am so feral and just completely unhinged. And I think people need to know what they're getting into if they're gonna hire me to do their designs. So I'm always myself 110%. Like I cast and I, you know, I show the bad bits and I just go a bit wild on my Instagram. But I find people love that because it's relatable.

Nick 52:06

Yeah, what gave you that thought? Well, was one day where you just were you like on your back lifting up a bit of moss doing something like that? Oh, just a sweaty little flower mechanic. What what when did you have the thought? I don't know. It's just something I've been calling myself for the past year. And I think another thing that made me laugh, you said that if someone wanted a traditional bouquet, you'd drop Kick Clip in the throat.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Yeah. What a consultation that was. I know. Can you imagine? Someone paid for that. Okay, I'll have a copy. I'll have I'll have a geometric coffee. Give me some kind of bacon.

SPEAKER_04 52:39

It's my favourite kind of way to threaten people. I'm like, if you don't stop that, I am gonna dropkick you in the throat.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

No, you're set in your stool, you're saying what you do, and you're you're making it very clear, right?

Nick 52:50

You know, I mean listen, listen, as you can't see this, but like Chloe's not even that tall, so drop kicking the throat is that is quite a threat. That's gonna be like a um guy that of Street Fighter 2 backflip kick.

SPEAKER_04 52:59

And I'm not flexible, so it's really not gonna get you in the throat. I think I'll get you in the crotch best.

Nick 53:04

Maybe you've got to kick him in the knee first and bring him down, then you can kick him in the room.

SPEAKER_04 53:06

Yeah, exactly.

Nick 53:08

What is your Instagram?

SPEAKER_04 53:09

Uh it is the Copper Cacti, or lowercase or one word.

unknown 53:13

Copper cacti.

SPEAKER_04 53:14

And I'm on TikTok as well.

Nick 53:16

You're gonna have to spell cacti because we our listeners are illiterate.

SPEAKER_04 53:20

So C-A-C-T-I. Cacti.

SPEAKER_00 53:25

Cacti. C-A-C-T-I. C-A-C-T-I. Cacti. Cacti. Copper cacti. Cacti.

Nick 53:33

It's a prickety business. Are there any like trends at the moment in floristry?

SPEAKER_04 53:39

Oh my god.

Nick 53:40

What are people into? Like you told you told me there were like flowers that look like willies the other day.

SPEAKER_04 53:44

Yes, so um myself and Lucy of Lucy Can't Dance have proudly announced that an anthurium, which is actually one of my favourite flowers ever, is now called a dick on a plate.

Nick 53:55

It's my dick on a plate. My dick on a plate. Step one, put it on the plate. Step two, put it on the plate.

SPEAKER_04 54:01

Put a dick on the plate.

unknown 54:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:05

Step three, throw it at your mum in law.

SPEAKER_00 54:10

Dick on a plate, yeah. Yeah, if they throw it at the wedding, what does the person get? Married next. Having a dick at the fucking thing. Dick of some sort. Yeah, so your anthurium.

SPEAKER_04 54:18

Anthurium.

Nick 54:19

Anthurium. Yeah, you're gonna pistol whip someone with your throw it over your shoulder. But so how big is that?

SPEAKER_04 54:25

They can get like two of my parts. Well, one-to-one scale? Yeah.

Nick 54:29

What like like one to one scale penis size?

SPEAKER_04 54:31

Yeah, one-to-one scale penis size. No. Just the actual um plate, I suppose that you'd say. The the petal, because that's the petal. Um, you can get like two palms worth, like size-wise, but they tend to be just one palm size. And then the stamen, which is obviously where the pollen comes from, that's the bit that looks a bit phallic.

Nick 54:49

She's gone all professional now. I know, I know. The stamen, the stamen, that's it.

SPEAKER_04 54:52

The stamen.

Nick 54:53

Yeah, the the dick. How big?

SPEAKER_04 54:55

The dick on the plate. Uh, it could get, I mean, what's that? Six inches.

Nick 55:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:01

I was gonna say that's nine inches, but we know better.

Nick 55:06

And what uh what other trends are there? So a lot of are people asking for dick on a plate, or are you saying can you should have a dick on a plate?

SPEAKER_04 55:12

You don't tend to get many people that will request dick on a plate. Um, it's more that people will say, I want flowers that are really unusual.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

Can you isolate that and just have that as a thing? People don't usually request dick on the plate. Dick on a plate, yeah. But when they do, I give it to them. When they do, I ask them they can have it.

SPEAKER_04 55:31

That I'm very given in that way.

Nick 55:33

So, what other like mad flowers have you been like trying to try to get people to use?

SPEAKER_04 55:38

Oh my god, I've got so many. So uh Celiosa is one of my other favourite ones. It's also known as the brain flower. Oh because it looks like a brain amazing, so cool, and they come in like the most beautiful shades. Like you could get these red ones, but then the edges are like orange and they're really fun.

Nick 55:54

Hey, look, listeners, like if anyone is planning a zombie wedding, we've got the flowers for you. They are really good for gothic weddings. Be the first.

SPEAKER_04 56:02

Yes, 100%. Oh, someone must have had a zombie wedding. Oh, definitely. 100%, yeah.

Nick 56:07

I mean, I want to go.

SPEAKER_04 56:08

Kind of gothic y weddings can be a little bit zombie-ish as well. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:12

Um, I'm gonna Google these things. I'm gonna Google them all.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

Lucas Sperman is also another favourite of mine. Lucas Sperman. I know, I know you're gonna go off on that one. I'm Lucasperman.

Nick 56:24

What did you say? Lucasperman or Lucas Sperman?

SPEAKER_00 56:26

Lucas Sperman. Lu K. Don't ask me to spell them. Lucas Sperman.

SPEAKER_04 56:31

Yeah, it's like L-E C, something like that. L-E-U-C, Lucasperman. Um, but they're also called pink cushion flowers. Oh, and they look like pink cushions, and they are amazing flowers as well. I'm really, really hardy.

Nick 56:44

Has anyone used one yet?

SPEAKER_04 56:45

Yeah.

Nick 56:46

You use them all the time, do you?

SPEAKER_04 56:47

All the time.

Nick 56:47

Who's your supplier? Holland. Um they come over?

SPEAKER_04 56:50

Yeah, they do come over to the floor. They come over in a truck? Yes, they come over in a truck to my house, which is. Really, directly to you?

Nick 56:55

You don't even have to go to um Spitalfields Market?

SPEAKER_04 56:58

No, no, no.

Nick 56:59

That's a flower one, isn't it? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 57:01

Well, covent garden, yeah.

Nick 57:02

Oh, covent garden, yeah, sorry, Spitlefields was fruit and veg. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:05

But um, no, I um I get mine, I have I'm really lucky that I have some amazing suppliers that come direct from Holland and they pull up at my house at five in the morning and deliver everything.

Nick 57:14

In tiny little baggies.

SPEAKER_04 57:15

No, sadly not. No. I would like some freebies like that.

Nick 57:19

No, I wouldn't Do you need do they need do like plants need passports and stuff? Because I know like the invasive species and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 57:25

Yeah, plastic all the all my cactide succulents that I do get in from over that I haven't grown myself, they come with plant passports and a plant passport.

Nick 57:34

You've got to be careful. Imagine if someone wanted Japanese knotweed for their wedding.

SPEAKER_04 57:37

Exactly. That's why they do it. Because then they can track where it's gone, and if there's any issues, they can track back to it.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Can plants cause illnesses?

SPEAKER_04 57:47

Yeah, there are toxic plants like foxgloves, which are very a very common British um country garden plant. They're very toxic. So, like, don't eat them.

unknown 57:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:58

Fun intent. And they what's the one that's bad for dogs? Which one? I mean, lilies are.

Nick 58:03

Cow parsley or something. It's a very common one, though, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 58:05

Yeah, yeah. Um, like um, oh what do you call it? Yeah, cow parsley, that's very toxic. Uh lilies as well, very toxic. Um what else is really toxic? There's so many, to be honest with you. You have to be really careful, especially. I mean, I've got like, for example, a wedding in November and they're having their dogs at the wedding and they've specifically requested flowers and plants that do not affect their dogs. And I'm very conscious of that. So yeah.

Nick 58:30

They want flowers and plants that are gonna send the dogs absolutely batshit on the dance floor.

SPEAKER_04 58:33

Yeah.

Nick 58:34

When the Baja man comes on, they're gonna drop the big gate.

SPEAKER_00 58:37

Put the glasses on, put the shades on.

SPEAKER_04 58:40

Absolutely. Bounce it around.

Nick 58:45

Adele. Hi Nick. Hang on. Did you get married before? Or were you or were you living in sin?

SPEAKER_00 58:51

I've been married, yeah. Yeah, you were married, were you? What did you do for your wedding? I was traditional. Yeah, yeah. I was living as a man then, so I had to do all the boring groom stuff. Oh really?

Nick 59:00

Well, did you just wear like traditional man wedding gear?

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Like suits or moss bross. Moss boss suits. Yeah, it's horrible. Boring. Or Debnham suit or something like that. Oh my goodness. Never wore it again. It's cheaper to hire a suit of armour. It honestly was, it cost me 80 quid for a weekend. I would have rather worn a dress, but I couldn't because it just wouldn't have worked at the time. Yeah, you had a beard then. I did actually have a beard.

Nick 59:22

I mean it would have looked awesome anyway.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

Yeah, my wife was the beard.

Sangita 59:25

Um I had two beards.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

I did make it quite quirky though. We had um the I got to pick the table things, and every table, instead of it being a number, was a superhero character.

Nick 59:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 59:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

Did you have table captains?

Nick 59:43

I see a lot of people having table captains, captains now. So where they play games. Yeah, but also to they have to get everyone to have more fun and get everyone really want to be the best.

SPEAKER_04 59:51

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

No, because there's lots of boring family there that were just getting drunk and that.

Nick 59:56

I had 12 knights of the round table as my best man. Because I didn't want one best man because I had a lot of best friends.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:01

I love that. That's such a idea.

Nick 1:00:03

Yeah, and it meant that anytime I wanted the dance floor to go off, we'd just be like, knights, come on! Dancing with swords is amazing. Oh my god, not real ones, wooden ones. Because there were kids there, we thought it'd be a bit dangerous to have real swords.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:15

That's true. I mean, safety fest and all that. Yeah, yeah.

Nick 1:00:18

But I really would love to get married again, or even that be a wedding planner, but just for people that wanted a wedding that was different to anyone else's wedding. Because I think there's so many good suppliers around, there's so much fun to be had. And who wants to be boring?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:31

100%. Yeah. I mean, I am really lucky in that I've met some of the most incredible, quirky, and alternative suppliers. Everything from you know, photographers to stationery to venues, and there are some amazing venues in this country that are just so unique for fun. And um, people that just do things that are just wild to me. Like, there's um a company that I've seen who you can actually hire a sauna for your wedding.

Nick 1:00:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:57

And I just think that's so unique. Why? Why not?

Nick 1:01:00

It's getting hot in here. You could say why not to a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:02

I mean, I was gonna say why not to a lot of things.

Nick 1:01:05

I think that's good. It helps the r helps the ring go on as well. Like, you're gonna get a bit more sweaty.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:08

A bit of sweat.

Nick 1:01:09

Yeah, lose a bit of weight during the wedding. Yeah, it could work.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:11

You could just so fit.

Nick 1:01:12

Imagine if you had a sauna, a sauna dark room as well. You don't know who you've married.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:16

Oh my god, could you imagine? I got married, I don't know what's up. I don't know which one of you it is, but it's one of you.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:22

It could be a TV show, an E4.

Nick 1:01:23

Adele, uh are you if you ever get married again, then you can go, I'm gonna I'm gonna get divorced just on get married again. And I want to be a wedding planner, so shall we just start a wedding empire, you, me and Lucy?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:33

Yep, with dicks on a plate.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:36

I'm here for that's a business name. Dicks on a plate. No, I'm trying to get rid of too many dicks.

Nick 1:01:44

Right. So follow at the copper cacti. C-A-C-T-I. Copper cacti.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:51

It's a prickly business. It's a prickly business. Yes.

Nick 1:01:54

Um, and you can follow are you creative at r.u.creative.podcast on Instagram. Send us questions and stuff. And thank you for listening. Everyone listens. Thank you for voting for us as well in the Panic Awards. Well done. Yeah, award-winning podcast. We're definitely gonna win it again next year. Yes, just mainly because there's not any many other podcasts in Chelmsford that are putting much effort. So I think we'll just win by default. So hey, take it, take it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

Yeah, we'll take it.

Nick 1:02:19

Um thank you very much to Adam at Lorca Media for you letting us use his really, really hot studio today, which is brilliant. Um, Katie has been here on the on the sliders doing the sound, which is good. How's that, Katie? Yeah, first year sound engineering student. How's the sound been, listeners? Better than usual. There we go. I think so. Smashed it. Yeah, super easy. What very good job. And thank you for laughing at some of the jokes as well. It really helps for motivation.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

It does help, it does really help.

Nick 1:02:50

And we are gonna be back soon with more amazing guests. After summer.

unknown 1:02:53

Woo!

Nick 1:02:54

Get married, get get a brain flower, get a dick on a plate.

unknown 1:02:57

Ugh.

Nick 1:02:58

You know you want to. Yeah, you know you want to. I think that's what your thing should be like. Have a dick on a plate, or I'm gonna drop kick you in the throat.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:06

Love the sweaty little flower, Kelly.

Sangita 1:03:12

That's the end.