Table Top Garden Arrangement Tutorial

Arranging flowers isn’t a new concept for me. I have been doing it since I was 17. Creating a garden arrangement the length of the tabletop is definitely a newer feat to tackle, and a task I was ready to face. When Emily, the bride, asked me to create a tabletop flower garden across her escort card table, I couldn’t resist.

To see a video of how I created the arrangement, click the above. Otherwise, keep reading to see a description of how to design it below.

Here are the flowers that Emily and I discussed she would like to include in her arrangement.

To Design: Secure the wet foam in a design bowl with floral tape. I have 4 total pieces to cover the length of the 6-foot table.

I line up the design bowls. I stretch mine across two tables to match the actual 6-foot table it will eventually be placed on. Then I begin to prepare the flowers and organize the blooms that will go in each section. During the ordering and planning process, I already decided how many blooms are to be placed in each bowl. That way I don’t run out of flowers in the process.

I begin trimming greenery stems, pinching off brown spots, fluffing roses, and poking each flower into the floral foam. Each stem needs to be secured deep enough in the foam so it doesn’t fall out when it gets transported to venue, so I push each stem about one inch into the foam. Once I feel the foam grab each stem, I keep pushing down a little bit more. To gauge the height of each flower, I hold it up to the arrangement and estimate where to trim each stem. Remember you can’t make a stem longer, but you can always trim it shorter. Occasionally, I trim too short. If I do, I simply put that stem in a different spot. As you get going, this step will become second nature.

As I see the arrangement begin to take shape, I push each design bowl together, but I leave about an 18-inch gap between each one, and work on them as one unit, dancing from one arrangement to another. The arrangement still feels sparse at this point, but I keep going, continuing to fill in holes and empty spots. On the sides of each design bowl, I make the flowers long enough so that by the time I have lined each arrangement up side by side, the “arms” of each arrangement are touching, creating the effect of one continuous arrangement.

I intentionally don’t fill in the back or every single bare spot in the arrangement, so that I don’t put too many holes in the floral foam. That way it doesn’t get stressed and break apart on me when I “fluff” it up on site.

The day of the wedding, I transport and place on the table at the venue.

Once the arrangement is in place, I fill in the bare spots and do my best not to disturb the bride’s clever acrylic nameplates.

To make the arrangement have little more of a “just picked feel,” I use nandina leaves from my garden. My wedding floral business’s name is The Bridal Garden after all. (Notice my play on words? I highlighted it so you would catch on). So even though I am sharing the tutorial on how to make it here on my blog My Mayberry Lane, I created this wedding because of my business The Bridal Garden.

The rest of the wedding complimented the colors, greenery, and textures as the escort card table.

The wedding coordinator, Whitney from Erica Weddings, added little pieces of seeded eucalyptus to each guest’s napkin. It was a cute touch, don’t you think?

I LOVE how the whole wedding turned out. The wedding pictures were taken by Jordan Taylor Photography. Check out more of her delightful and intriguing work here.