Inside the Wisteria Room: How to Style The Summit, Mount Coot-tha

19 Sept

The Summit just got a serious refresh: and we had to be the first florists in the room.

If you haven't heard, The Summit at Mount Coot-tha has been refurbished, and their new reception space - the Wisteria Room - is exactly as beautiful as the name suggests. Perched high above Brisbane with sweeping city skyline views through floor-to-ceiling green-framed windows, warm timber floors, and lots of beautiful natural light, it's the kind of space that already has a personality before a single flower is placed in it.

So when we had the opportunity to style a shoot there, the brief wrote itself: honour the venue, amplify its character, and show what a considered floral concept looks like in a space this special.

Here's how we approached it: and what couples booking the Wisteria Room should know about making it sing.

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The venue - what you're working with

The Summit has always had one of the best views in Brisbane. On a clear day from the ceremony deck, you can see the entire city skyline laid out below you, with the treetops of Mount Coot-tha framing the edges. It's genuinely one of those spots that stops you mid-sentence.

The newly refurbished Wisteria Room brings that same considered quality indoors. Green-painted window frames, warm timber floors, and a light-filled space that feels simultaneously vintage and completely fresh. It sits somewhere between a heritage homestead and a contemporary restaurant, and that tension is exactly what makes it so interesting to style.

The venue has a clear personality. It doesn't need to be fought. It needs to be listened to.

The concept - modern romance meets vintage cottage

Our starting point was the space itself. Those green window frames, the warm timber, the brass - they told us immediately where to go. We built a concept around a soft tonal palette of sage, lavender, deep plum and chocolate, with brass finishes threading through every detail to tie ceremony and reception together.

The overall feeling we were after: textured, delicate, and a little wild. Flowers that looked like they belonged to the venue rather than being placed in it.

Wicker urns were a deliberate choice. They echo the vintage cottage quality of the space without being literal about it. There's something about wicker against those green window frames and warm floorboards that just clicks. Paired with trailing foliage, loose branching stems and deeply moody blooms, they gave the arrangements a quality that felt grown-in rather than styled.

The ceremony - the city as your backdrop

For the ceremony deck, we clustered two large wicker urn arrangements with a plinth and tower arrangement and grounded florals, overflowing with moody purples, soft whites, burgundy foliage and wild trailing stems. No arch, no structure overhead - just two generous, atmospheric arrangements framing the couple against one of the best city views in Brisbane.

This is an approach we love for venues where the backdrop is the hero. An arch competes with a view like that. Generous floral urns complement it - they add beauty and intention at eye level, and let the skyline do what it does best above them.

The bouquet - a study in restraint

The bridal bouquet for this shoot was a petite en masse cascade of deep purple double tulips - stems long, heads heavy, carried loose and low. Against the ivory lace gown it was quietly arresting. No mixed textures, no fillers, just one extraordinary stem done with complete commitment.

It's one of our favourite bouquet approaches for a venue like The Summit, where the surroundings are already layered and complex. A simpler bouquet with serious stem quality lets the bride stand out rather than compete.

The reception - the Wisteria Room styled

Inside the Wisteria Room, we took a deliberately varied approach to the table styling, because in a space this characterful, identical centrepieces across every table would feel flat.

The bridal table was anchored by one large wicker urn arrangement and one floral tower in the same moody palette as the ceremony: deep plum, lavender, white anemones, burgundy foliage, and wild trailing stems spilling over the edges. A cascading arrangement ran along the table surface itself, softening the edge and carrying that loose, abundant quality across the entire setting.

Guest tables were styled more intimately: small ceramic pedestal vessels with white anemones in four or five stems, single tall brass stem vases with white delphiniums, and chocolate mini lamps adding warmth and texture between the florals. The mix of scales and vessels kept the eye moving without feeling busy.

The overall effect was cohesive without being uniform. Every table felt like it belonged to the same world, but each one had its own moment.

The details that made it

A few specific choices that we think are worth noting for couples considering The Summit:

Wicker vessels feel completely at home. The vintage quality of the space makes wicker urns and baskets look intentional rather than rustic - it's a material that reads differently here than it would in, say, a modern industrial venue.

The green window frames are a gift. That sage-green is already in the room so designing a palette that nods to it (rather than ignoring it) makes the florals feel like they were always meant to be there.

Candles are essential. The Wisteria Room has beautiful natural light during the day, but as the evening comes in, candlelight is what makes it feel truly special. We always recommend layering candle heights across the tables in a space like this.

For couples booking The Summit

If you're getting married at The Summit and wondering how to approach your florals, our honest advice is this: work with the venue's character, not against it. The green frames, the warm timber, the brass, the view - these are your starting points, not your constraints.

A considered palette, textured vessels, and flowers with some wildness in them will always feel right in this space. Tight, formal arrangements in standard glass vases will always feel like they wandered in from somewhere else.

We know this venue well now - and we would love to help you make it yours.