Floral Arrangements for Tabletops

Floral tabletop arrangements can be as small as a simple bloom in a tumbler or as grand as towering branches in bloom.

Whether you are planning a casual backyard barbecue or a formal dinner party, adding flowers to your tabletop can express the unique mood you wish to capture. From pansies in eggcups to sunflowers in galvanized buckets, consider utilizing unusual floral containers or filling your vases with something unexpected. By planning your own tabletop arrangements, you can spread beauty without breaking the bank.

Traditional Tabletop Floral Arrangements

Whatever kind of ambience you attempt to create, take scale into account when planning your floral tabletop arrangements. Small posies are dwarfed in a room with large windows and cathedral ceilings, while towering centerpieces in a small room will diminish the space and impair conversation.

Two traditional ways of arranging flowers is by placing them in a horizontal or a vertical design. Horizontal tabletop arrangements -- whether you use one or multiple arrangements -- are particularly conducive to casual atmospheres. Easy to see over or reach around, horizontal floral arrangements add blooms without visual bulk. Vertical tabletop arrangements signal a more formal feel, using traditional containers like glass vases. Deliberate placement of vertical floral designs is essential so that guests can easily converse without having a large flower display blocking interaction.

Depending on the size of the table, the room and the party, one floral arrangement can anchor a round table, while several can be lined down the center of a traditional dining table.

Unique Tabletop Floral Arrangements

From gilded leaves to flowers and fruit, unique tabletop arrangements convey luxury -- though not necessarily expense. With a little time and some gold paint, you can "gild" greenery and fruit for a festive occasion.

For a more earthy feel, craft garden-inspired floral containers by wrapping greenery around vases or surrounding vases with bark or moss.

Create beautiful and edible tabletop arrangements by constructing fruit and flower topiaries. Or offer "single-serving" posies in eggcups or ice cream dishes that guests can take home.

Thematic Entertaining Tabletop Floral Arrangements

Unique events are perfect occasions to have fun with tabletop flowers. For baking clubs or cookie swaps, present a lush centerpiece of green ground cover in muffin tins, vintage glass canning jars or gelatin molds.

Celebrate a beach party by arranging flowers in large shells or hiding votive-sized vases in a piece of driftwood with blossoms peeking out.

For Halloween parties, arrange mums, black-eyed Susans or branches in hollowed-out pumpkins.

Decorate for your conservation group by placing heirloom flowers in recycled "green" painted tin cans, or give a nod to your PTA group by crafting colored pencil vases to deck out the table.

Wedding Tabletop Floral Arrangements

Wedding tabletop floral arrangements are in a league of their own, accommodating all manners of color, style and budget. If exotic flowers like orchids or birds of paradise are desired, floral containers should be kept simple, leaving all attention on the blooms. Traditional flowers are more budget-friendly but also less unique, opening opportunity to personalize their presentation with unusual containers or arrangements.

Seasonal flowers can lend a striking but affordable silhouette, like forsythia branches, evergreen boughs, sunflowers or even hollyhocks.

References

• Good Housekeeping: Unique Floral Arrangements
• Save on Crafts: Floral Containers
• Martha Stewart: Gilded Pear Holiday Centerpiece
• Botanical Art Design: Unique Floral Design
• Country Living: Creative Floral Arrangement Ideas

Resources

• Martha Stewart Weddings: Tweed Tabletop
• Martha Stewart: Simple Floral Centerpieces
• Real Simple: 20 5-Minute Centerpieces
• Martha Stewart: Platter Centerpiece
• Martha Stewart: Flower Heart Centerpiece
• My Home Ideas: Small Stacked Fishbowls