Let me go on record here:  I am not a floral designer and up until this project, I had no experience with fancy flowers.  My expertise is in easy, cut from the yard flower arrangements. I am a “Do It Yourself Type of Gal” especially if it involves saving money!  When a friend asks for help with a project, I’m always willing to lend a hand.  When my friend, Jen, asked me to do the flower arrangements for her husband’s 50th birthday party (which we secretly called his “wedding”), of course I said yes.  The best part of this project was working with these gorgeous flowers.  Jen lives in Carlsbad, California and all the flowers came from the Floral Trade Center. After purchasing the flowers, vases, and floral foam called Oasis, I was ready to roll up my sleeves and try being a flower arranging pro!  Follow these easy steps and you’ll be a DIY Floral Designer, too.

Materials Needed for Floral Arranging:

1. Pots heavy and deep enough to hold the flowers you choose.
2. Floral foam to fit tightly in pot.
3. Floral tape to attach foam to pot.
4. Sharp scissors to trim flower ends, if needed.

Start with empty, heavy pot.

Add floral foam to the pot.  Fill the bottom with foam.

Then add another layer.  This is so you can push flowers into the side of the pot.  Tape down really well.  Don’t worry, cover the tape later.

Add water to the pot.  This will help weight the bottom of the pot.

Lay out flowers in order of tallest to shortest.  Begin with the tallest flowers in the back of the pot.  Poke the flowers into the foam.  Make sure you push hard, but not too hard that you break the steam.

Layer in shorter flowers and greenery.  Work from the front of the pot but keep in mind that your arrangement may be visible from all angles.

Layer in greenery and non-flowery pieces for visual interest.  Think of filling in the space from back to front of the arrangement.

Done for now…I’m adding the very fragile flowers once the arrangements are transported to the venue.  Adding leaves horizontally makes the arrangement look very full.  This is where the double layer of the floral foam works out well.  Be sure to add leaves and greenery that will hang down the vase too.

The finished project.

These were on tables at the entrance to the party.

I taped leaves over the tape on the vases to hide it.  Fold tape and use as double-sided.

The fancy flowers were added the day of the wedding birthday party.  Such pretty flowers make the arrangement, don’t they?

I used the leftover flowers for this little arrangement.  Just use LOTS of flowers and you can’t go wrong!

Doing this project yourself and not paying someone will save you lots of money.  It didn’t take too much time and was so fun to work with the flowers.  This could be used for your wedding or very special party. If I can do this, anyone can!

Have done your own floral arrangements? Has it saved you money?

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