My favorite thing to do at the end of the weddings I work is to take flowers home! The florists don’t really love when I take the vase (probably because it takes me months to return, yikes), so I’ll just take the flowers home and then rearrange them myself in a vase and pretend I’m a florist. Somedays it goes well, other days it’s just meh. BUT I’ve taken a few floral arrangement classes in the past year and think that I’ve gotten it down!
Flowers can be expensive at times especially if they are already arranged and ready to go. The first think I do when going to Trader Joe’s is walk around the entire floral section to see what goodness I can pick up (peony season is my fave). My sweet friend Raquel from RLove Floral helped me out by showing me just how to put together a fall arrangement from flowers I picked up from Trader Joe’s (and some random trees down the street).
Here are the steps below for you to make your own centerpiece to go on your Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving table next week:
- Step 1: Gather your flowers and greenery. 20-30 blooms are ideal for a larger scale arrangement. Make sure to buy 2-3 different types of large focal blooms (roses, peonies, sunflowers, dahlias, ranunculus) and 2-3 different types of filler flowers (carnations, lisianthus, stock, spray roses), and 2-3 different types of greenery are as ideal as well. There are a few different types of bunches in the Trader Joe’s flower sections that has a great combo of flowers that I grabbed. I encourage foraging leaves from your yard (or neighbor) to help create a fall look, AKA trim your neighbors trees for your own good!
- Step 2: Begin by greening your arrangement. Cut your greens into smaller pieces and insert them at an angle. Greening helps create the shape of your arrangement.
- Step 3: Add your largest focal flowers first. Add a few lower roses at eye level and some long to accentuate the shape of your arrangement. Remember to add these at different heights and lengths to create dimension in your arrangement.
- Step 4: Add your largest filler flowers now, remember to focus on covering up your mechanics and the lip of the vase. These flowers should be at different heights and lengths as well, remember to give your flowers their own space in the arrangement.
- Step 5: Lastly add your smallest focal flowers, these will be left taller than the rest of the flowers to add depth and dimension to your arrangement, these are often called the “flutter flowers” that bounce and add movement to your arrangement. (think ranunculus, scabiosa, smaller focal blooms).
TIPS:
- Make sure to cut your flowers at an angle so the flowers have a bigger surface area to drink from
- Add fresh water to your arrangement everyday
- Keep your arrangement in a cool area out of the direct sunlight
- As your flowers die out, don’t discard the arrangement just pull the dead ones out and rearrange
- Enjoy your masterpiece!
Be sure to tag your creations on Instagram with #everdaytables!!
Meaghan