I love flowers. I just always have. As a little girl I would stop and literally smell all of the roses during walks around my neighborhood with my dad. As an adult, I try to always have a vase (or two!) of fresh flowers at home. Pretty flowers are the perfect addition to dinner parties and family gatherings – after delicious food and great cocktails, of course. And with Passover and Easter coming up this weekend, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite flower arranging tips for your next get together!
1. Keep Things Simple
Flowers don’t need to be complicated. Stick to a single color (mono-chromatic) or a single type of flower (mono-botanical) – or both! My favorite floral arranging trick is to pick up a few bunches of the same in-season flower and drop them into a low vase. My favorite flowers for mono-botanical arrangements include anemones (pictured below), peonies, ranunculus, garden roses, and hellebores (pictured above).
Similarly, a large quantity of a very small flower – like chamomile, wax flower, or baby’s breath – looks impressive without being visually cluttered. These smaller flowers also tend to be inexpensive, making them the perfect solution for a party on a budget.
2. Go Small
Huge floral centerpieces can look out of place at an intimate dinner party or cocktail party. Instead, try using several small arrangements with just 3-4 stems each. You’ll be surprised how a few small vases can brighten and transform a room!
3. Mix and Match Vessels
I love using similar, but slightly mismatched vases and vessels to help elevate your floral arrangements and tie everything together. Vintage white milk glass vases are the perfect neutral backdrop for colorful flowers, while vintage glass jars collected over time are my preferred vessel for wildflower arrangements. You can even mix and match vase shapes and sizes if you stick to a common material (glass, ceramic, brass, copper, etc.) or a consistent color palette.
4. Use a Statement Flower
Single stems of a large beautiful bloom look amazing in vintage bud vases or other vessels repurposed as vases – like the antique crystal perfume bottles seen here. Try placing individual blooms of a single variety, like peonies, dahlias, or even sunflowers, in groups of three for visual impact.
5. Mix Things Up
Don’t be afraid to mix different flower varieties together. But try to stay within a specific color palette to make sure things look cohesive. Roses, peonies, dahlias, and ranunculus are all extremely versatile and look amazing mixed with tropical flowers (like the protea below) or combined with wildflower-style blooms like Queen Anne’s Lace, foxglove, scabiosa, or even fresh herbs and berries. Bottom line: if you think it’s pretty, go for it!
6. Don’t Forget the Green!
Greens are an essential part of any floral arrangement – you could even create an entire arrangement with just a few greens from the flower market or grocery store! My favorite greens are seeded eucalyptus and silver dollar eucalyptus, maiden hair fern and ming fern, plumosa, geranium leaves, and dusty miller.
7. One Big Statement Piece
Every party needs one big statement piece. For cocktail parties, place one large floral arrangement near the entrance or by the bar, with smaller arrangements of 3-4 stems scattered around the room. This is also a great opportunity to bring in a tall floral arrangement that might look out of place elsewhere in the room.
Floral Design and Photo Credit: Sweet Root Village for Oh So Beautiful Paper
For dinner parties, keep things low and wide with a single large centerpiece at the center of the table. You could even try arranging in a vintage compote, using floral foam or a wire pillow to keep the flowers stable.
Floral Design: Soirée Floral, Photo Credit: Charlie-Juliet Photography for Oh So Beautiful Paper
Those are my favorite flower arranging tips! If you have any tips to add, please share them in the comments!