Sylvias Summers, Waikato Flowers wins most trusted wedding florist in North Island award

A colourful hanging instalment by Sylvias Summer, Waikato Flowers. Photo / Savannah Walker Weddings

Te Awamutu’s Sylvias Summer, Waikato Flowers has won the title of most trusted wedding florist in the North Island in the 2024 Luxlife Global Wedding Awards.

The flower farm on the side of Kakepuku Mountain, owned by local family Sacha and Josh Cornelissen, offers wholesale flowers, workshops and floral design for events.

The business is named after Sacha’s late nana Sylvia Letford, a florist in Te Awamutu for many years.

Originally starting the coffee van Serenda Espresso, Sacha sold this business in 2018 to focus on her young family.

While recovering from an injury in 2021, Sacha found a love for gardening.

“The flower field was born from a hobby that got out of hand,” Sacha said.

“We have amazing florists in Te Awamutu so I wanted to use our flower field and my love of flowers to find my place in the floral industry within our community, in which I decided to grow flowers in bulk that I could wholesale to local florists.

“The support from many florists in Te Awamutu and surroundings has been incredible, we have florists as far as Tauranga, Taupō and Te Kauwhata. I love seeing how each florist designs a completely different bouquet using the same ingredients.”

Sacha never planned to do floral design but seeing how each florist has their own style, she realised it wasn’t competing as it’s offering a different style.

“I had a few brides ask about us doing their wedding flowers which I didn’t think was a path I wanted to go down but when a lovely local woman approached me, and I saw the passion she had for finding a florist that suited her style and offered locally grown seasonal flowers I couldn’t help but say yes,” Sacha said.

“When planning her florals I knew this was the future path for Sylvias Summer, I was hooked. I loved seeing the look on her face and when the professional photography arrived, I was in awe.”

Since then, they have planned florals for marquee weddings in unique places to reputable venues such as the TreeChurch in Ōhaupō, the Red Barn near Karāpiro and Kinloch Manor in the Taupō region.

“Seeing the love flowers bring to people, I would absolutely love to do funeral casket sprays. That is certainly on the cards for Sylvias Summer,” Sacha said.

“I have used the winter to learn new skills and techniques for preserving flowers and at the Pirongia Market this year we will showcase our new collection ‘Seed to Forever’. We can preserve flowers from any wedding New Zealand-wide and can recreate your bouquet from years ago to preserve that memory for you.”

After all their hard work, the award has been the icing on the cake for the Cornelissen family and their business.

Jesse Wood is a multimedia journalist based in Te Awamutu. He joined the Te Awamutu Courier and NZME in 2020.