As I told you when I did my own wedding flowers, creating full floral centerpieces is a Project. It’s not that centerpieces are hard, it’s that there are many of them (unlike a bridal bouquet, where you have, at max, two). So if you’re undertaking this project: A) Get help (and realize you may need some quality control), B) Allot time for it, and C) Do your bouquets first, because chances are you care more about them.
If you remember a million years ago (ok, two months ago) when we did the wild floral bouquet, the key to making these arrangements is to have a whole bunch of different types of florals (think six to ten types). We bought the flowers from the San Francisco Flower Mart, so we could have access to as big a selection of flowers as possible. We selected flowers all in the same color story, with a wide variety of textures. But if you’re going to use a variety of colors, keep the textures similar. Remember to always select a few highlight flowers from across the color wheel to make your main colors stand out and not fade together.
First focus on the middle: create the height that you want, with a mix of florals. Don’t worry about making it perfect, or filling it in. Then, move to the edge. Create a line of flowers dripping over the edge (hint: select some drippy flowers at the flower market). Then start placing some filler among the brighter flowers. Once you’ve set up this structure fill in the flowers (and have fun… it’s flowers, not a midterm).
Walk around the arrangement and make sure it looks good from all sides. Then BAM, lady friend, you rocked it. Don’t let anyone convince you that this is way too hard for you. It’s not, but it may take a little bit of time (and possibly a tiny bit of practice). But man, the results are lovely.
Photos by Emily Takes Photos, Crafting by Elizabeth of Lowe House Events, Graphic Design by Michelle Edgemont
