Introduction to Flower Arranging

My younger brother got married to his high school sweetheart last weekend. As a big sister, it was a really special time! I helped plan the Rehearsal Dinner and decided to make some flower arrangements for the table. The bride likes wild flowers, so I thought simple arrangements in mason jars would look nice.

My mom and I went to the store in the morning and bought a few different mix and match bouquets. When picking flowers for an arrangement you want to:

• Select something that will work as a base for the arrangement. You want it to blend in, but provide volume.
• Pick at least one accent flower. It should pop out when looking at the finished arrangement.
• Find a flower that will give height. Varying the lengths of the flowers will make the arrangement more interesting.

After the flowers are selected, prep the vases. The flowers will be trimmed down, so they’ll drink up lots of water. I filled the vases about halfway full of water.

When trimming the flowers, stand them against the vase to get an idea of where to cut. For this kind of arrangement, I didn’t want to exceed 12 inches in height. Any taller would make it hard to see across the table. Start with the flower that will stand tallest, then trim the rest down from there.

Another trimming tip: thicker stemmed flowers (like roses, hydrangeas, etc) are super thirsty! A florist told me these stems should be split about 2 inches up through the middle:

Now that all the prep is done, it’s time to put the creative hat on! I like every arrangement to be a little different. But I try to use the same number of flowers in each arrangement to maintain consistency. Have fun with each arrangement! Here are a few tips:

• Start with the base flower and weave the others into and around the base.
• Don’t be afraid to pull off leaves. I like to leave few leaves on the stems, otherwise the vase looks too messy to me. With that said, I was going for a wild flower look, so I left a little more leaf on than I normally would.
• If you don’t like the way something looks, try something else! Arranging takes time and patience.

And voila!

 

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