In the first of our series of profiles on real life wedding businesses, we talked to Richard Boyd who runs Real Oasis based in Cheshire, England.

What does your business do?

We supply greenery (plants, floral displays and related props) including theming for special events in the UK, which includes weddings.

When did you start?

Full-time in 2006.

How did you get started?

I used to run a garden design & landscaping company, so we always had plants available and after a few enquiries I decided to see how much potential there was in the hire market. Why did you choose this particular business? The combination of having to be creative, solving problems and working with greenery is a bit irresistible for me. 

What’s been your best moment so far?

Travelling to a wedding in Shropshire via an exhibition at the NEC (Birmingham) where we had picked up some of our large bamboos. We arrived with a very simple topiary display to dress a marquee, to find the bride in tears and an argument in full swing. The port loos had been wrongly positioned and were in full view of the marquee. The porta loo company did not have time to get back to move the port loos, so we volunteered the large bamboos to screen the port loos off, there weren’t enough bamboos to do the job properly but it was a big improvement and at least made the bride smile. The couple were great and sent lovely letter and a crate of champagne to say thanks. 

And the worst?

Delivering some wedding arches (7ft high) where everyone on the groom’s side had to duck to get underneath. It looked terrible, so we had to improvise and put bricks underneath and then disguise them with flowers. 

Anything you wish you had known when you started?

Where to start?! Just about everything. To an outsider it seems like a simple thing to do but the logistics throw up some really difficult scenarios, which are usually coupled with budgets that will not easily provide a solution, so you need to get creative to make the solution work. 

What’s your biggest challenge going forward?

Trying to set trends. Trying to second-guess where the market will go. Trying to come up with ideas that are interesting without going to OTT as most people do not want to push the boundaries too far. 

Do you have a top tip for someone starting out in the wedding business?

Images are so important. It is very difficult to sell an idea but if you have images to backup the idea, it really does help. We were slow to realise this but if the situation were reversed I’d have to ask myself why would I trust someone with my big day? The other problem is that it is difficult to get good pictures of plants, flowers are not too bad; it means that you need a good photographer at every event and that really is expensive.

Visit the Real Oasis website here: www.realoasis.com