Notts florist gets royal order

WHEN a Nottingham florist received an order for 6,000 white roses, he knew it was no ordinary customer.

But Keith Murphy, of Vaas in Hockley, was stunned when he found out that the order, costing about £70,000, was for a party for the Sultan of Brunei.

Mr Murphy was approached by the hotel to organise the flowers for the party at Stapleford Park Country House Hotel, near Melton Mowbray on Saturday, after he did a wedding at the venue in October.

And he said Janet Jackson and Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria-Parker were at the royal bash.

He said: "The whole event was around the graduation of one of the Sultan's sons. Janet Jackson ordered a bouquet from us to give to him.

"Chaka Khan and Incognitio performed on the night and Mark Cox was the DJ. We were there until early evening. Everyone was walking around in their finery."

Mr Murphy hired seven extra members of staff for the big job.

On top of 6,000 white roses, they arranged hundreds of pink and red roses with mint, white peonies, purple delphiniums and hydrangeas.

The roses, from Kenya and Holland, arrived in Nottingham on Thursday and the team arranged them at the hotel on Friday.

Mr Murphy said: "The Queen of Brunei was staying in the gardener's cottage in the grounds, she had a central table full of roses."

He said she also had three vases of pink and red roses in the bathroom and two in the bedroom.

Florist lecturers Catherine Hampson and Tracey White, of New College Nottingham's site in Hucknall, stepped in to help over the weekend.

Ms Hampson said: "It was so exciting – a one-off experience. It was long hours and the pressure of getting all the work done within the timeframe.

"We were working with such pristine materials to create such vast designs – it was a big challenge."

delia.monk@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk