Cake and Table Decorations
Delicate fresh flower and foliage, with pretty ribbons, daintily arranged, make a charming cake-top decoration for various occasions, including anniversaries and engagements and, of course, weddings.
The wedding cake is an important feature of the reception, but if placed in front of the bride and groom it can hide them from their guests. Suggest that the cake has a place of honour on a separate table, to be decorated by you. This will create interest and provide a centrepiece for the cutting of the cake.
Always ask the bride for details of the cake, as today’s cakes are very individual, and there are innumerable styles and sizes. Some cakes may take the form of initials or hearts, but traditional cakes are either round or square, with one, two, three or more tiers, supported on pillars. The current trend is for perspex or steel stands, which suspend the cakes on various levels. Knowing the cake's details will ensure your flower delivery Stafford goes without a hitch.
The traditional container was a silver vase, though sometimes a wine glass was used instead, but hiding the foam used to be a problem. Now the foam can simply be surrounded with crumpled strips of cellophane which, when filled with flowers, looks like crushed ice. Specially-designed foam bump on a plastic base provides an excellent foundation, making assembly quick and easy.
Topiary
Small topiaries or standards can be used as table decorations. If you have a live topiary such as an ivy, rosemary or santolina growing in a pot, just add individual dried flowers or small bouquets to give it a decorative look for parties or holidays. In winter, add dried berries, small seed heads, pods, or pinecones to create a seasonal topiary.
You can buy mock topiary forms from a Perry Barr flower shop or create your own. To make a topiary form, you will need a base container such as a clay pot, vase or basket fitted with a piece of floral foam. Remember to tape the foam securely to the container. You will also need a stem, which can be a stick, branch or short wooden dowel. Secure the stem into the base container with floral tape. Finally, you will need to attach your chosen topiary shape onto the stem. Cover the floral foam ball with a base or filler flower such as moss or sea lavender. The base material can be attached with floral pins or glue. Once the form is covered completely, add interesting and colorful dried flowers such as rosebuds, bachelor buttons, zinnias or pods and berries. For a final touch, have thin strands of silk or velvet ribbon stream down, or tie on tiny ribbon bows. Hold the ribbons in place with floral pins or hairpins.
Flower container choices
You will find copper containers very useful for berries, bronze-coloured chrysanthemums and dahlias in the autumn. Glass or silver for roses, cow parsley and gypsophila; these light, delicate flowers show at their best in glass, and are fragile and cool-looking on a summer’s day. Blue and red glass are both most effective, blue filled with delphiniums, red with brilliant, vibrant red colours. A wooden box or bowl looks lovely with bright orange and yellow marigolds and it is also excellent for showing off the subtle tones and hues of dried materials. I usually search the house first for containers before purchasing from the Carina florist.
Try to make the container part of the arrangement so that it blends with the flowers and does not stick out like a sore thumb. If you have nice porcelain, then picking up the colourings of the pattern of the china can also be very rewarding. A vegetable dish from your dinner service makes an ideal dinner table centre-piece, similarly the soup tureen or a sauce-boat can look superb. They all blend so well together when the table is set with the same china.
How To Care for Your Flowers
- The sooner that you put your flowers into water, the longer they will last.
- The flowers should be re-cut at the stems while submerged in water. This is important for hollow-stemmed flowers so it will prevent an airlock from forming in the stem which may prevent the flowers from taking water.
- The stems should be cut on an angle, which will create a wider exposed area and allow the flowers to take the maximum amount of water.
- Flowers delivered Finsbury will last longer if the plant food is added to the water. An example to an alternative to plant food would be sugar.
Selecting Flowers to Press
Once, the most popular way to preserve cherished flowers was to press them between the pages of a book or bible. This was also the method used during scientific expeditions as a way to preserve and later use Drumoyne flower delivery to remotely study plant material. Because dried leaves do not reabsorb moisture, many wonderful remains from Roman times, such as laurel crowns once worn during ceremonies, have been uncovered and still remain in good condition. Today, pressed flowers are used for decoration. Some dried materials, such as ferns, are nice additions to dried arrangements. Most often, however, we mount and frame pressed flowers.
When looking for flowers to press, remember that the ones with a single row of petals such as pansies, violets and larkspur usually work best. Avoid meaty, thick flowers such as roses, camellias and mums. If the center of a flower is too dense and meaty, you may need to remove the center and press the petals only. You can air-dry the center and reassemble the flower by gluing the petals back on after pressing. To flatten smaller centers, gently press them between your thumb and forefinger. The best way to find out which flowers can be successfully pressed is to experiment.
Preservation is the key
What could possibly be more beautiful than a bunch of fresh, scented flowers delivered by a reliable florist? They just ooze beauty and freshness bringing to life the most drab of rooms. However, fresh flowers delivered Charleston have a short shelf life as we all know too well. Drying the flowers at the right time, and using the right technique, can preserve them as close to their original beauty as possible. Which would you prefer, a week of fragrant fresh flowers, or a lifetime with a gorgeous dried floral arrangement?
Open or Loose Tribute
The term open, or loose, describes the I open construction of a tribute, using flowers of one or several types, in which foliage can be incorporated. These tributes can be made either of materials of one colour — tints, tones and shades of yellow, for example — or of any colour combination preferred by the customer.
Flowers and foliage can be freely arranged or used in patterns or groupings, but the materials are not bonded tightly together, as in a formal tribute. However, it is essential to retain the distinctive outline.
Various sizes of cross, heart, pillow, cushion and wreath can be constructed in either the formal style or in the loose/open style. Many florists Round Rock prefer the latter, more natural style of tribute, which emphasizes the individual shapes of the flowers, making all materials clearly visible.