Dreaming of your
Rarotongan Wedding
Information and tips from the
longest established florist on the
island.
Island Craft was first started in 1943 with a passion to
promote authentic Cook Island carvings and handicrafts for
the local and international market. The Melvin family has
run this company for three generations and now offer black
pearl jewellery and other fashion items to their array of craft
that occupy their three shops on the island. When one of the
directors Marie Melvin was offered the opportunity to make
flowers for an event in the early 1980’s the start of the florist
business was born.
The business has
been a member of
the internationally
recognised
worldwide
networks of
Interflora and
Teleflora for over
27 years now.
Marie Melvin
is now enjoying
more time in her
garden but she
often comes in to
help out with the
full time florist.
So what do Island Craft Florist offer?
The florist caters for many occasions such as Mothers’ Day,
Valentines Day, birthdays and weddings to name a few. The
florist enjoys meeting couples planning for their weddings
and to seeing how happy they are with the final result. Some
of the events they recently attended was the annual “Love a
Little Wedding Experience” – held at the Crown Beach Resort
and Spa in April 2019. The expo this year was larger than
the previous year, and offered local businesses in the wedding
industry an opportunity to showcase what their businesses do
for interested couples.
14 • Escape Magazine
These were a few things that they highlighted that wedding
couples may want to consider:
1. Date of wedding - November through to February proves
to be a popular time for local families to have weddings as
this coincides with the Christmas holidays and most local
families come together in Rarotonga from overseas during
this period. While the temperature is cooler for the locals,
it is just perfect for visitors to the Cook Islands, as most
tourists are from New Zealand and Australia, escaping the
cold and enjoying a tropical wedding is appealing.
2. Do you want a beach or traditional wedding? We can
recommend many different locations and wedding
coordinators that can help you in choosing the perfect
location.
3. Theme/colours – we can cater for any theme and colour
but please contact the florist beforehand as particular
flowers may be harder to source depending on the season.
4. Florals in season – as mentioned above we can import
flowers from New Zealand, we just need a months’ notice.
We grow many of our own tropical flowers, but sometimes
we may need to substitute flowers if they are not available
depending on the season.
5. There are so many things they can do so don’t hesitate to
ask and more than likely it is possible to make your dreams
come true.
If you think Rarotonga is your wedding
destination, give us a call or jump on to
our website www.islandcraft.com and
Facebook page for more information and
pictures on our weddings and flowers.