A Centerpiece Bouquet

A centerpiece bouquet enlivens not only a table setting, but the entire room. The style, colors, and individual flowers can be varied to suit any occasion perfectly. From weddings to birthday parties to professional luncheons, a centerpiece bouquet helps to set the mood for guests and to turn a get-together into an event.

Choose Your Centerpiece Bouquet Style

Depending on the occasion, you may choose a centerpiece bouquet in a traditional, contemporary, casual, or elegant style. A traditional centerpiece often consists of flowers and greenery arranged in a woven basket, and the basket may have a color-coordinated ribbon tied around it to complement the flower arrangement. This style of centerpiece often works well in a more casual setting such as a birthday, family reunion, anniversary dinner hosted by the couple's family, or a community-oriented event.

Casual centerpieces may include fun embellishments like balloons or occasion-specific figurines. Small scarecrows placed in an autumn bouquet can make a great addition to a harvest theme, while snowflakes and snowmen accentuate a winter theme.

More elegant displays are often chosen for wedding receptions, executive banquets, or other formal occasions. Instead of a woven basket, the centerpiece bouquet may be placed in a glass vase or ceramic urn. Some elegant displays are created by placing the flower arrangement in a tall vase with a narrow stem and wider bowl. This type of centerpiece often includes flowers and greenery that cascade over the edges of the vase and may even drape onto the table.

Even an elegant centerpiece bouquet doesn't have to be limited to flowers and vases. Candles in complimenting colors often look beautiful when placed around a centerpiece. Some centerpieces are even created specifically to include candles within the arrangement itself. For this set-up, florists ordinarily use a metal display stand that has candle holders interspersed with portions to insert the flowers and greenery.

Creating the Centerpiece Bouquet

With a specific - or at least a general - style in mind, it's time to select the colors and flowers that will be used in your centerpiece bouquet. Colors for the event may already have been chosen, and it's usually quite easy to create a centerpiece that incorporates those colors. A florist will be able to offer ideas on flowers and embellishments that reflect any unusual color schemes.

Regardless of the event's colors, green is virtually impossible to leave out of a centerpiece bouquet and white is often included to complement and soften the other colors. Colors that complement one another well include pink and purple, yellow and red, and blue and white. Of course, some events or seasons are suited to certain combinations - red, white, and blue flowers around Independence Day, pink and yellow in the spring, and red and white during the Christmas season.

The flowers that can be used in a centerpiece bouquet run the gamut from native wildflowers to exotic species grown in a distant greenhouse. Popular choices include:

• Roses
• Daisies
• Tulips
• Day Lilies
• Carnations
• Gladiolas
• Sunflowers
• Birds of Paradise

The cost of the flowers chosen usually has the greatest impact on the total cost of the centerpiece bouquet. Locally grown and in-season flowers are less expensive than exotic flowers or those that must be shipped across a long distance. Carnations and daisies tend to be the most economical choices and are sometimes used to provide the bulk of an arrangement while more expensive flowers like roses are used more sparingly in a complementary design.

The nature of the event and the number of arrangements needed will help to determine what flowers you should choose for your centerpiece bouquet.