If you are a florist, your first instinct is probably to vigorously shake your head “no.” I know, I typically have the same answer. The concept of turning bouquets into centerpieces is most often asked about by wedding clients looking to get the most out of their flowers, and in that case my answer is indeed “no,” due to reasons I will share with you why below. But context is everything, and in a different context, my answer is actually "yes" you can. Let's begin with when and why this will not work:

The reason I would not turn bouquets into centerpieces (in the context of a wedding) is that bouquets for brides and their maidens are designed to be carried, and carried they are. Even with instructions to keep bouquets in the provided vases of water when not in use, wedding parties are walking around for photos, setting bouquets down on the ground or on tables between drinks and purses, and holding them out of water for the ceremony and festivities — as they should! Bouquets are made for that, and when made well, especially when the weather and climate have been considered in the floral recipe, bouquet flowers stay fresh for as long as needed (essentially photos and ceremony).

At that point, wedding bouquets have by and large served their purpose. Some may last all night and even beyond, depending on the varieties of flowers used, but for the most part, they will naturally begin to wilt as partygoers continue through the night’s festivities. Plus the attention of the guests is now, after the ceremony, drawn to the cocktail hour, the atmospheres of floral installations, and the floral centerpieces lighting up the reception tables.

If a florist were to try to gather bouquets to place into vases to become centerpieces, there would be two immediate red flag issues: (1) The bouquets will have wilted from the work they’ve already done during photos and ceremony, and (2) There simply will not be enough time to have the reception table centerpieces set with converted bouquets right after the ceremony (when they are in use) and before guests arrive to the reception (directly afterword), especially considering the time you will need while trying to gather wandering bouquets. So in short, or in the context of most weddings, the answer to whether it's possible to turn bouquets into centerpieces is “no.”

 

But! The answer is also “yes.” It is possible to turn a bouquet into a centerpiece and to have this be a helpful strategy. What you need are a few important tips and techniques and the right context. Let’s look at how:

 

 

First of all, if you consider converting a bouquet into a centerpiece to be more of a design technique than an event maneuver, it can be a useful trick. What I mean is that instead of converting a wedding bouquet into a reception centerpiece at the event on event day, you can instead use a bouquet design technique to start or complete centerpieces in-studio. A spiral-based bouquet technique (which I teach you in all of my online courses and workshops) makes a tidy and abundant bouquet with a full canopy that can be placed into a vessel to become a centerpiece. 

 

This becomes a way to potentially save time in your prep and design processes by eliminating the need for mechanics (i.e. armatures like chicken wire or a floral pin frog inside each centerpiece vessel) in this case, as the tape wrapped around the bouquet stems already holds the design in place, and the vessel holds the design upright in water. This is also a strategy for making the process of replicating multiple centerpieces for an event easier, as you can create a specific recipe of flowers for each bouquet, pull those flowers ahead of time and place them in separate buckets (we call this "mise-ing," by the way, from the French verb "mise" meaning "placing" "putting" or "setting"), and use those divided recipes as you build each bouquet that you will then place in a vessel to be centerpiece.

 

 

 

 

Now you just need to make sure you have the right style of vessel.  You will want to use a vessel that is taller than it is wide. Choose one with a more narrow opening than say a wide compote or an open Japanese-inspired dish. The design shape of a bouquet below its canopy is more upright, and once created it will have stems gathered into one bundle, so the vessel needs to be able to support that bundle of spiraled stems. While a glass vase or vessel will work, I recommend finding an opaque option, ceramic or otherwise, so that the illusion is more pleasing and the centerpiece no longer looks like a bouquet.

 

In short, with the right vessel shape, you can transform a hand-designed bouquet into a table arrangement, or use a bouquet design technique to build centerpieces, and it could very well save you time and create a more lush and abundant look in the process. All you need otherwise are a few strips of tape to hold the stems together in their spiral as you create each bouquet (no other mechanics are required, and therefore much less to prep in that arena during your pre-event prep and design week). 

 

This is just  another arrow for your quiver of floristry tricks. Whether you are a seasoned pro or an aspiring florist, you will know soon that one of the most useful things to learn in floral design is to have a lot of tricks. There are so many variables in this work, which makes it truly creative in its most inventive sense, and having a growing collection of techniques and approaches will keep you nimble and make it a lot more fun exploring and creating beauty in the language of flowers.

 

 

 

 

Let me know how you go, and know that you can always learn more with me in The Poetry of Flowers, my online education courses and membership, or in a Mentorship or Workshop with me in-person.

 

Keep blooming,

 

XX 

 

Join the Nectar & Bloom newsletter for nurturing free resources, guidance & advice, first access to workshops & retreats, and inspiration from the studio.  

Connect with our community of like-minded creatives and floral artists @nectar_and_bloom.