Wedding Florals on the Sea Glass Rocks
by Cindi Sutter, Founder of The Spirited Table®
I have a wedding tradition that the brides and grooms seem to like. Their wedding gift is a crystal vase that comes with a note to the groom...please keep this full of flowers as often as possible. You can pick the flowers, buy fresh flowers or artificial flowers.
An extension to that note might be to fill it with fruit like apples during the fall, you get the idea. Or in this case, the couple gave me their favorite vase and I filled it with sea glass, pebbles and flowers that went in their foyer for the wedding.
Ingredients
Glass vase of any size
Liner or container that leaves enough space between the container and glass vase to showcase sea glass and colorful stones
Bubble wrap that matches the stones, if possible (this helps hide any slight spaces)
Flowers of your choice real, artificial or a mix
Oasis (floral foam)
Instructions
My inspiration came from the couple’s desire for certain blue flowers and the pillow seen above.
- Choose the flowers - There are certain colors that play well together; yellows/blues, burgundy-ish/orange & gold-ish/orange, yellow goes with all of these. I usually prefer 3 strong mixes of color, always knowing green will be the backdrop; and I’m a fan of a slight splash of white in most arrangements.
- Choose a clear vase - that accommodates the sea glass between the insert container and enough flowers to bring your vision to life.
- Soak the floral foam in water for at least an hour before you begin arranging the flowers.
- Find a liner or in this case, I bought a small bathroom trash can from Target. Be sure it's a secure fit inside the glass container. Wrapping the bottom in bubble wrap keeps it from hurting or cracking the outside container.
- Wrap the liner/can with bubble wrap on the outside - the goal with the bubble wrap is to take up a relatively even amount of space between the glass container and the wrapped edge of the liner. In this case the trash can I used was wider at the top than the bottom so I used more bubble wrap around the bottom to sorta even it out. (this doesn’t have to be exact, the goal is just to lessen the quantity of sea glass or pebbles required.
- If needed, secure the insert liner/can with some putty. The bubble wrap was enough to secure this particular design.
- Very carefully drop the sea glass and pebbles down the sides between the glass container and the liner/can. Go all the way around the bottom and make your way up. Find a long thin plastic stick or skewer, so if you need to adjust a stone or two, it’s easy to do so. As you do this, stop and look for spots you might have missed. (don’t be like me and have to push the stick down later to cover up some bubble wrap).
- Place the soaking wet floral foam into the liner/can. In this case the pieces were vertical. Then fill with water.
- I begin designing with what I’ll call the greens and filler flowers and/or the tallest of the focus flowers. Then I just make my way from top to bottom. That way you aren’t disturbing the lower florals, (don’t get me wrong, you always have a wayward child of a flower that just won’t behave and you have to pull it out of the arrangement and replace it).
Have a sweet husband/friend whose willing to move this giant, heavy, arrangement into the car for transport. Enjoy it yourself or a gift for a happy wedding couple.
