Making large arrangements

     When I got engaged I knew that I had to have amazing flowers! After all, I have a Horticulture degree and even though I don't work in the industry anymore I wanted to give it a shot. I spent a total of $550.00 on all of my flowers (six large vases for my aisle, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, one large bridal bouquet, one toss bouquet, and 50 small to medium arrangements for the table tops and general decor) I had flowers from three different sources, Roses and freeze dried rose petals from blooms by the box, Dahlias, greenery, and wild flowers from the Raleigh Farmers Market, and white Hydrangea from my local Whole Foods market.

     For my aisle I wanted six large arrangements (three on each side) to just give it a little something extra. Making large arrangements is difficult because you can end up using a ton of flowers and I needed to conserve my flowers for the other arrangements.

Here are some tips on making your own large arrangements:

• Have something to give the arrangement height- I used dyed curly willow branches from Target. Since they were dyed they did make the water turn into a shade of pink which I didn't love but just went with because the wedding was in 12 hours. You can find non dyed curly willow branches at blooms by the box, or save on crafts. 

Kathleen and I adding the branches first.

• Try to use a few large flowers in each arrangement- Lets say you love roses, or in my case dahlias...you would need maybe two dozen to make a large arrangement look nice and full. However if you use some larger flowers in the arrangement you can minimize how many flowers you actually need to get that really full look. I used two or three white hydrangea that my lovely sister in law picked up for me the morning of the flower project. Some other large flowers that would work are football mums, cabbage roses, or large sunflower. 

After we added the Hydrangea (note how full it looks)

• Consider your vase- Make sure you have a good thick glass vase with a good base, this will prevent any tipping if your arrangement is top heavy. If you have a large glass vase that doesn't have a thick base, I would add stones or florist marbles in order to weigh down the bottom. 

Then we filled in with dahlias around the hydrangea.

 Filler options- For my vases I wanted a really compact look to the flowers without lots of greenery or fillers. But, greenery and fillers are great ways to add substance to your arrangement without spending a lot of money. Some greenery and filler flowers are played out and a little old school, the cool thing about flowers and plants is that there are always cool new things out there! Here is a short list of some out of the ordinary greenery and filler all of which are available at blooms by the box: Amaranthus, Seeded Eucalyptus, Bells of Ireland, Bupleurum, Hypericum, Queen Anne's Lace, Scabiosa pods, Thistle, Agapanthus, Billy Balls, Dianthus Green, Kale, or Yarrow.

Vases were on clearance at Target for $10.00 each!

 Thank you for reading, much more on flowers to come!
Love, Anna