THE talent of a local florist has seen her win a national wedding industry award.

Jay Archer, who runs Jay Archer Floral Design from her workshop, in Doswell Way, Basingstoke, has won New Wedding Business of the Year at The 2012 Breakthrough Awards, organised by leading wedding website hitched.co.uk.

The website set up the awards to look for new talent in wedding floristry, wedding stationery, wedding hair styling, wedding cake design and wedding photography.

Jay was selected from hundreds of entries by an expert judge, Karen Barnes, head of floral gifting at Interflora, who selected a shortlist of ten.

Once the shortlist was announced, thousands of hitched.co.uk users went on to select Jay as the winner.

“Winning the award took me by surprise,” said Jay. “It’s still surreal to think that I have actually won. The competition was really strong as I thought everyone who was shortlisted looked amazing.”

Jay, who grows her own flowers and herbs, aims to make each bride feel unique.

“For each client, I try to grow a flower especially for them,” said Jay. “I even give the couple a packet of flowers for them to grow themselves.

“I own three allotments, one of which is right opposite my house, which is great for showing new potential clients when I meet them.”