The Secret to a Perfect Arrangement for your next Gathering

As someone who loves to entertain and present flower arrangements to friends and hostesses, being able to create gorgeous bouquets that stay in place is so important. I’ve always admired florists. Their way of quickly grabbing various flowers from different buckets and just somehow seeing the beautiful end product is such an art. One of my 2018 goals is to learn something new, so I’m working on my arranging skills.

I highly recommend Carly Cylinder’s book, The Flower Chef, whether you’re a pro or just starting out. It’s my current go-to guide to learn how to arrange centerpieces and bouquets that look effortless and oh so pretty. Carly’s step-by-step guides read as a collection of flower recipes in a cookbook. I love how she’s organized them. She also shows each one’s estimated flower cost and difficulty level. This is super helpful as time is so valuable – and beautiful blooms add up quickly.

Creating a flower grid is the first project I took out of her book, and I was so surprised that I hadn’t tried this earlier in my entertaining career. A flower grid is so simple and makes it incredibly easy to arrange a perfect-looking bunch of blooms for your table, sideboard, or nightstand.

The tools

Flower shears – having a pair of these makes a huge difference, especially if you love hydrangea blooms as much as I do. These cut right through those thick stems.

Clear floral tape – Carly recommends going with a narrow, 1/4-inch tape. The narrow tape makes building your grid so easy.

Wide-rimmed vase

The flowers

I chose to go with a variation of her Champagne and Caviar arrangement below, incorporating purples and deep fuchsia. Also, how elegant is this arrangement in the silver ice bucket? I’m filing that away for a future party.

This whole bunch probably cost me around $20.00. Here are the flowers that I used:

1 bunch green/white carnations

1 bunch deep pink/fuchsia carnations

1 bunch Fuji mums (sometimes called spider mums)

1 bunch alstroemeria

The assembly

The first thing you’ll want to do is remove any leaves from the stems that may find themselves in the water. This helps prevent mold from growing and extends the life of your arrangement.

Then, make sure you trim your stems at an angle so that your blooms can get enough water.

Now, for creating the grid:

First, wrap your clear floral tape around the rim of the vase. This gives your grid a base and makes for an easy removal, too.

Start taping across the rim of the vase in parallel strips about an inch apart. Turn the vase and tape the other side, creating a checkerboard pattern that you can see below.

Finally, seal the grid off with another layer of tape around the rim.

Fill the vase about three-quarters of the way full, and you’re ready to start assembling your arrangement.

For this arrangement, I trimmed the stems of the alstroemeria until they were the length that I wanted them. I lined them on the outside of the grid.

Next, I added in my focal flowers: the fuji mums. I placed those in the center of the grid.

Finally, I added in my filler flowers – the deep pink carnations and the white carnations.

The most time-consuming part is trimming the stems to your desired length. Just remember that the same rule goes for flowers as it does for tailoring: it’s always easier to take it in than it is to let it out. Make small cuts to the stems until you have each one where you want it.

The final product

And voila! A little tape, some close cutting, and you’ve got a stunning floral arrangement that stays in place. I’d love to hear how your arrangements turn out. Be sure and comment below and share your gorgeous blooms with me on social media. Happy arranging, y’all!