Fall Floral Arrangement

I love any excuse to put together a flower arrangement. If you haven’t noticed, nearly every shoot we do, I find a way to sneak in a florals of some sort, whether it’s a big, statement centerpiece like this one, or just a pretty bundle of flowers to add some color and texture to the shot. This arrangement was built to serve as a centerpiece for our Fall Tabletop shoot, which was styled as a desert dinner party.

Fall Floral Arrangement - A Fabulous Fete

what you need

A good pair of scissors or clippers
Floral foam [oasis] or floral frog (read more on how to choose below)
Vase or bowl
These are a few things I like to have on hand when starting an arrangement, but you may not necessarily need them based on the size, the flowers you are using, etc.

to start your arrangement

I always start any arrangement by selecting a general color palette. I love using a couple of neutral elements [pale blush or white roses are my go-to], a nice leafy branch, and then will typically add something that is more of a pop of color or texture.

For this arrangement, we picked up a bundle of spray roses and a bundle of quicksand roses to serve as our neutrals, a gorgeous light sage green leafy branch to give some extra height and greenery to the arrangement, and the orange cabbage stalk as a pop of color.

Because this bowl from CB2 is so large, I did have to use a bit of an oasis wedged in the bottom to stabilize the first branches and then I filled the rest of the bowl with water. We’ve tried to eliminate the use of foam in most of our arrangements, but there are some cases where it’s necessary to stabilize the core pieces. If you are planning on using, we recommend sticking with Oasis. You can read more here about how this brand has reformulated their foam to break down faster than other foams on the market. Floral frogs are a great alternative that you can use over and over. Invest in a few sizes to fit your favorite vases.

Another thing to consider when building a floral arrangement is where you intend on placing it. Since we were using this arrangement for our Desert Dinner Party Fall Tabletop shoot, I worked on creating it with one side being the focal point, but if this was for an actual dinner party, I would have spent more time on the back and make sure it was beautiful from every angle. If you are putting together an arrangement that is against a wall, or is only going to be viewed from a side or two, focus on the areas where people will see it most! If it is a centerpiece or focal point, try to balance out all sides of the arrangement.

When starting the arrangement, I had planned on using the neutral roses, these soft, sage colored leafy branches, and this orange cabbage stalk as a pop of color. As I was working through the arrangement, I felt the orange cabbage was a bit too bright. Thankfully I had some great dried foliage on hand, and at my disposal, because we were right outside of Joshua Tree at Sommer Ranch, so I quickly course corrected and swapped the bright pop of color for some desert texture.