Step-by-Step Tutorial for a Flower Arrangement

Hey, there!  Believe it or not, I had a wedding to do this past weekend!  I didn't want to say anything before now because I wasn't sure if it was a secret or not.  Turns out it wasn't.  At some point, I would like to tell you my side of the story because the coronavirus presented me with different kinds of obstacles than my usual weddings do.  I would also like to tell you about the sweet couple who got married but, we'll save that for another time.

One of the perks of doing wedding flowers is that I often have leftover flowers to play with after the wedding is done.  Monday, the day after this wedding, was a rainy and crummy day so, I was happy to have some flowers around the house.  They smelled divine and were so beautiful!

Since I am not technically savvy and not at all comfortable with seeing myself on camera, making an instructional video was out of the question.  My daughter, who is a kindergarten teacher, has been making videos and hosting Zoom classroom meetings all through this pandemic so, I am feeling a bit inferior but I have to go with what I am most comfortable.  So...instructional photos are the way to go for now :).  ***Oh yes, I need to give you full disclosure.  I was working in the kitchen where my husband has removed most of the cabinet doors.  He is painting the cabinets white for me.  Therefore, the pictures kind of look like I am in a construction zone...which, I guess, I am~ 

I found a wooden box that I wanted to use as the container for my arrangement.  I, then, needed to find a plastic container that would fit into the wooden box to hold floral oasis and to contain water to nourish the arrangement.  

I could only find one plastic container that would fit into the box.  I wish it had been longer but, it was all I had.  I wedged plastic containers on either side of the oasis container to hold it in place.  The oasis is placed in wonky way but again, I was working with what I had.  This oasis was unused but it had already been cut into smaller sections.  I was making it work as best I could.  Normally I would have made the oasis fit better and more uniformly into the container.

Here are some of the flowers used in the arrangement.

I had two hydrangeas, a handful of calla lilies, some Italian ruscus, Lenten roses, two white ranunculus, one peonies and some O'Hara white garden roses.

I started filling the wooden box container with greens.  I had to improvise with the Italian ruscus because most of the tips of the branches had been cut off in order to be used for making the boutonnieres for the wedding.  As I worked I realized the ruscus was filling in pretty well and I didn't notice the cut-off ends as much as I thought I would.

Make sure you go around the edges of your container creating a base of greens for your arrangement.

I wanted the arrangement to be somewhat flowy so I extended the greens well beyond some of the edges of the wooden box.

Next I added in some of the Lenten Roses.  This works mostly as an added green but it does bring in some extra dimension with the addition of the small white flowers.

In hindsight, I should have included more greens at this point because later in the process I needed to fill in empty areas with more greens anyway.  Most of the time with floral design you have to adjust in someway as the design emerges anyway.

I only had two stems of hydrangea and they were to be the anchor of the arrangement so placement was very important.

I decided placing them somewhat together on one side was the way to go.  Placing them farther apart then this would have looked off kilter and would have wasted their intensity.

Since this arrangement was going to be purely for me, I knew I could play around with design as much as I wanted.  I only had these two ranunculus so I used them as a focal point, standing them up to the side of the arrangement.

I slowly added in garden roses and the one opened peony that was available.  The garden roses, two of them, are to the left side and the one peony is on the right.

I started adding in calla lilies and ranunculus buds around the focal part of the arrangement.

Here is the one peony I could use.  Later in the week some of the others opened up and were a beautiful pink.  Unfortunately, I had ordered white peonies for the wedding.  Good thing the few that had opened earlier in the week were like the one below.  They had only a tinge of pink on the corners but were mostly white, as the bride had wanted.  They were quite lovely in her bouquet.

I also added some callas to the right side of the arrangement to balance it off.

This is how the "front" looked at this point.

Figuring that it needed something else so I added a cascading swag of Lenten Rose to the middle-front of the arrangment.

Of course, the back of the arrangement had to be addressed, as well.  This arrangement could have been used as a table centerpiece so all sides needed to look appealing.  Of course, that would have been true even if it were not going to be a centerpiece.  You want all sides to look nice when doing floral design.

I added in more garden roses and a few more calla lilies.  You can see the callas on each side.  I also added in a few ranunculus buds and some Lenten Roses.  I think I should mention at this point that as a floral designer it is good practice to never throw away any piece of floral material until you are totally done with your design.  You never know where a piece of something might come in handy.  I had saved all the side buds of the ranunculus while I was creating the pieces for the wedding.  I was able to add more dimension to this piece with some of those buds.

I included a few more flowers here and there to the back but, I must not have taken a picture of that process :/

I mixed in one last bud to the far right side of this arrangement because I thought it needed  something white to balance off the look.

Voila!  Here is the end result.  I have to say, I loved it.  This is the style I seem to like best for myself.  I like the flowing somewhat messiness of the look. I call this "Rustic Elegance". Of course, it may not be for everyone but, as I have said, this arrangement was for just me :).

If there is any chance you can get your hands on some flowers at the grocery store or otherwise, please buy them.  It is a great way to pass this coronavirus time.  It's a lot of fun, too!

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