Spring Floral Tips for Any Event
New York has this lovely habit of teasing its inhabitants with the coming of spring. It’s usually not until mid-April that snow is officially off the forecasts and warm weather becomes the norm, but as early as March there are little harbingers of longer, warmer days that seem to radiate from the sidewalks: people donning lighter coats, the renaissance of iced coffee after a season of hibernation, and, my personal favorite, the intense waft of hyacinth that seems to permeate from nearly every corner deli.
As an admitted flower junkie, there is nothing I love more than colorful flowers to signal the start of spring. But I also don’t believe that flowers have to cost a fortune, even for a wedding! In our typical “make the most with any budget” approach, we at Revelr are sharing some tricks to make those grocery store or deli flowers look their best.
Incidentally, the Revelr team is in the midst of planning a Manhattan wedding this spring and has been kicking around some ideas for DIY flowers for the event.
We know that simply sticking a bunch of blooms in a vase won’t quite cut it, but we still want to make the most of those deli flowers. So how does one turn grocery store blooms into gasp-worthy arrangements? A few tricks of the trade:
Stick to a single color: Most florists will tell you this, but it truly makes even the most random mix beautiful. You can never go wrong with white and green or a single color like yellow for spring. The arrangements below were done with $8.99 blooms from the corner deli!
Anchor stems properly: Anchoring stems can make a huge difference in the look of a bouquet. You can find frogs at most floral shops, and I use them extensively, but you can arrange stems even without one. If the blooms are reasonably hearty (like a thick rose stem), you can use a hair tie to hold the bouquet together, or even some twine for a little rustic look. I sometimes also use scotch tape across the top of the vase to make a grid, which holds the stems at the right angle for layering. I actually learned this trick after receiving a bouquet from a florist who employed this method to keep blooms in place.
Know your blooms: When in doubt, tulips, hydrangeas, and roses are no-brainers. Most grocery stores and delis consistently carry all three of these blooms. For roses, an easy go-to arrangement is to trim the stems, remove the leaves, and then put the short stems in tight bunches in low containers, like mint julep cups.