This week I thought we could focus on how to best manage your wedding flower table arrangements. Table decor is often the most expensive part of wedding floral budget, and in truth, you can save a lot of money by taking this beast on yourself….with a few simple guidelines.
FACT: your bridesmaids most likely don’t know how to arrange flowers
FACT: your bridesmaids probably would rather drink mimosas and fret over which groomsman they’ll be paired up with walking down the aisle
FACT: you’re not going to have time to hand-select flowers at the farmers market on the day of your wedding. really. you. will. not.
In light of these facts, if you are stuck on the idea of handling the flowers for your wedding yourself, you need to follow the two rules of DIY wedding floral decor: 1 – KEEP IT SIMPLE. 2 – CHOOSE ONE FLOWER. Believe me when I say these 2 rules makes the day of (or the day-before) prep work completely manageable.
To showcase these rules, my assistants Amy and Amanda helped to put together 2 different table scenarios. In the first we uses Delphinium, a gorgeous blue or lavender flower available locally in most areas of the US. In the second, we used Mountain Laurel, a woody-stemmed bush also available in most zones. Both of these flowers are available in June.
With simple flower arrangements it’s nice to embellish the table in other ways. Amy, a craft maven in her own right, brought two bolts of different cotton fabric which she fashioned into runners that complemented the colors of the Mountain Laurel and Delphinium. For the first table, we arranged the delphinium in some simple pint mason jars and old apothecary bottles. Any loyal, intoxicated bridesmaid can do this. Runner goes down, extra bits of delphinium are tied around the napkins with the place cards (printed on the computer). Some small glass bird ornaments are clipped right into the flowers. Now you’ve got a coordinated mess folks. And…onto the next.
With the Mountain Laurel table we used a pink runner on a muslin table cloth. The vases we picked up at Ikea for $1.99 a piece. If you’re setting long tables, plan to have one vase for every 3-4 people. If you’re using rounds, place 3 or 5 (always odd numbers with flowers) in the center of each table.
For the table numbers and place cards Amy played around with vintage postcards. Names can be hand-written on brown craft paper and just slipped under some twine that ties it all up with the napkin.
Lastly, I always stress the votives. The photos don’t do them justice, but you know they go a long way for ambiance at an evening wedding. You’ll want to have one votive for each guest.
Does this help, or am I leaving pertinent details out? Hit me up with questions in the comments, and I’ll do my best with answering. After I’m done with this weekend’s weddings, and have had my own mimosa of course.
