From time I am honoured to be asked by family and friends to prepare flowers for a special celebration. On this occasion it was for an engagement party, the bride being known to me all her life. It was a meeting of two strong cultures and the couple also had very specific ideas of what they wanted in the way of decorations.
The theme was black and white with no “fussy” bits which I later learned meant dangling ribbons! The brief was for 12 tablecentres and a cake arch with the structures being provided by the bride.
As there was going to be a full table of food (mezze style), I needed to have the flowers lifted above and high enough that people could talk across the table and that the arrangements would look good when people standing were looking at them. These are considerations you should always keep in mind for tablecentres.
First task was to paint the structures black. The original finish was a matte grey which did not add to the elegance of the desired look. Easy done with some spray paint and fine weather!
I then sent through this sample so the couple could give me some feedback on what they actually wanted (they live 2 hours drive away). It is far easier for many of us say what we don’t want when we see a sample, rather than have to articulate what we want. The result was to keep the colours to green, black and white.
As I needed to prepare and transport these (the 2 hour drive), I made an additional piece for the structures to hold the arrangements in place after they had been transported. This is simply 2 pieces of corflute/foam board, cut into rings, covered with black wool and then wires inserted across the gap in the centre of the ring. This allowed the rings to sit on the top of the structure with the crossed wires adding support for the arrangements.
Each of the arrangements is placed in floral foam which is wrapped in black waterproof cellophane. I have used monstera leaves to drape over one side with gypsophila, easter daisies, roses and button chrysanthemums. Here they are ready to transport.
It was a quick task to place the structures on the tables and then place the arrangements on the structures ensuring they were all facing in the same direction. Handy, as the venue was nowhere near ready for us to setup until about 30 minutes before guests started to arrive! This is another consideration when you are setting up as part of a larger activity – make sure you know what time you can access the venue as well as what other activities need to be in place before you can do your part. e.g. I needed the tables set before I could do the table placements, so even though I was told I could access the venue a couple of hours beforehand, they were not ready for me until almost the last minute.
Here then is the finished look minutes before the guests descended.
The arch for the cake table turned out to be much larger than the bride anticipated. She only wanted a couple of attachments for it so the cake would still be the focus. Here I’ve repeated the table arrangements with them secured in floral foam garland sections held on to the frame with cable ties (as the foam is conveniently covered in plastic mesh.
The couple were delighted with the arrangements and it was a truly joyous (if incredibly loud) celebration of both Syrian/Kuwaiti and Greek cultures.
As a write this, I am in the final planning and preparation for the wedding and the associated flowers. That will be another post in a little while!
