I am so excited to finally welcome the talented, Chelsea Fuss, back to Once Wed. Her blog, Frolic, is one of my daily favorites, so I’m delighted she’ll be joining us at the beginning of every month starting in August with the help of photographer, Lisa Warninger, to showcase diy wedding ideas. To see the rest of this gorgeous peony story and tips on how to recreate the table yourself, click the more link below…
Flower Market Centerpiece
Inspired by French flower markets, we filled simple, galvanized tins with fresh peonies and lined them up for a centerpiece full of impact. Anyone (including those with zero floral experience) can put this centerpiece together in minutes, a day or two before your event.
You will need:
15 stems of Peonies
3 6″ galvanized tins (we found some with numbers already attached, or you can stencil them on with a hardware stencil)
Clippers (clean and sharp)
Buckets of water
Step # 1: We chose peonies in three shades, pale pink, coral and pale yellow. We bought them 2 days before and let them open up to full bloom while sitting in deep, lukewarm water. If you have trouble getting your flowers to open up, place them in a 70 degree, bright room. Do not place them in full sun. You may want to include a few budded or partially opened flowers if you are creating these the day before, as they will open up further overnight.
Step # 2: Fill your galvanized buckets over half way, with cold water. We found tins with numbers that can double as table numbers and exude that French market feel. You could also use a hardware stencil to paint numbers on buckets.
Step # 3: Each bucket will take 5 flowers. Hold one peony stem next to a bucket with the large flower head just above the rim. Do this to gage how long your stem should be. Clip the stem a little above where it meets the bottom of the bucket. Place your flower in the bucket and make sure the flower head rests on the rim of the bucket. If it is too tall, take it out and clip it again.
Step # 4: Fill one side of the bucket with blooms and work your way around the arrangement until the bucket is full.
Step # 5: Line them up down the center of the table (or group them together on a round table. for a 45″ round table, just one will do). We placed the numbered bucket in the center so guests can clearly find their table. We chose napkins to echo the colors of the flowers and bring color to simple white rental linens.
Sources:
Buckets, Anthropologie or find similar ones at Jamali Garden. Clippers, Smith and Hawken . Peonies, Adelman Peony Farms . Napkins, made from fabric from Bolt. Tablecloth, West Coast Event Productions . Location, The Cleaners at The Ace Hotel.
Photography by Lisa Warninger
