Gemma, aged 31, became sister-in-law to Victoria, aged 28, after Victoria met and married Gemma's brother Jonathan. Since then the brides have gone on to launch their own wedding flower business – Fleurescent, run from Gemma's home in Alsager.

How did you meet?

Victoria: Strangely enough our mums were best friends when they were at school in Surrey. Then Gemma's mum moved north to Alsager and had Gemma and Jonathan. Six years ago, I went to Gemma's wedding and met Jonathan there. We clicked immediately and ended up getting married ourselves. And me and Gemma became instant friends too.

Gemma: It was my wedding to Andy. It was love at first sight for her and Jonathan. Although she'd never say so!

How did you go from that to starting a wedding flowers business together?

Gemma: I've always been around flowers. It's been the family business for generations. My granddad used to run stalls in Newcastle, Hanley, Market Drayton, and Sandbach, and my dad Patrick runs Hart's nursery, in Oakhanger, which has won Royal Horticultural Society gold medals. Basically you could say that it's in my blood! So it wasn't really that big a leap to decide branch off into something like this.

Victoria: When I had my little girl Alicia, who's 21 months, the idea was that I'd give up work. But I'm the sort of person who likes having things to do. I can't sit still. We'd done the flowers for friends and families' weddings but wanted to take it a step further.

How do you combine running a business with being a mum?

Gemma: Ralph's two now and when I had him I really didn't want to work full-time. I still don't. The thing I like about this is the flexibility. I think that's really important.

Victoria: Before I had Alicia, I was working in Prestbury for a global marketing company and getting home at 10 or 11 at night. There was no way I could do anything like that again. Fleurescent is perfect for me. It's all about flexibility. And not just for us – for our customers too.

Do you get along OK at work?

Gemma: No problems at all. Both of us are pretty laid back. We're a really close family and so we socialise together away from work as well. We pick each other's children up and everything. It's a really good relationship.

Victoria: Absolutely. The thing is we both love what we do. We love to share in other people's excitement and expectations. We share that entirely. Sometimes we have to stop ourselves getting a bit carried away!

What do you both bring to the business?

Gemma: I'm the more creative one while she's more business-minded. I can get just a little stressed about that kind of thing! So it's great to have Victoria there to make it all go away.

Victoria: My background is in marketing whereas Gemma knows flowers inside out. Together that's not a bad combination.

What do your husbands make of it?

Victoria: They've been really supportive right from the start. Jonathan's obviously been around the business for years and knows it inside out.

Gemma: My husband Andy's got a background in sales and it helps to have that extra bit of help and advice. I think between the four of us we've got it sorted.

There's plenty of competition – do you think you'll succeed?

Gemma: I think the fact that we're sourcing a lot of flowers from the nursery is a big factor in our favour – the fact everything hasn't come over from Holland. Also, you do hear so many horror stories about flowers at weddings – where the colours just aren't right or it's not what's expected – and we really understand how important it is to get that right. It's such a vital part of the experience. The best thing about this job is seeing the look on a client's face when they see the room decked out for the first time. That's a very special thing.

Victoria: We're just at that step now where, having done friends and families' flowers, where we're stepping out into the big wide world for the first time. It's an important time for us but I'm sure we're ready for it. One of the things that makes us different is that we'll always try to fit in around other people's schedules. The business isn't based at a flower shop – people can come over whenever, in the evenings, bring their children, in a relaxed environment at Gemma's house.

We're happy to see clients in the evenings. If they want to bring their children along, for instance, then that's fine by us. The most important thing is they get the day they want.

Fleurescent can be contacted by calling 07921 929717 or 07967 132 926 or email fleurescent@hotmail.co.uk