There’s no better way to tell your guests that tonight is special than with a few blooms. Today’s hippest florists advise us on what to buy, how to arrange it all, and why the best centerpiece might already be in your kitchen. Start with these three simple looks that anyone (really!) can pull off at home, then find the perfect vase below.
“Cut flowers at various lengths to give a picked-from-the-field look,” says Brittany Asch of NYC’s Brrch. Try it with one type of medium-size blooms—think poppies, ranunculus, or anemones. Buy more than you think you’ll need.
A great way to show off large blooms like sunflowers, dahlias, or garden roses. Cut the stems so the blooms lie just above the lip of the vase (but at slightly different heights).
Show off wispy elements in a tall, skinny vase. Wildflowers, fountain grass, even tall herbs (rosemary—who knew?) create an airy feel.
But what kind should you choose? Here are four styles we love:
When you’re short on time, space, or funds, use apothecary bottles as bud vases.
Hit the thrift store for banged-up metal vases, says Yasmine Khatib of Yasmine Floral Design in L.A. “The funkier the better.”
For an organic look. Carved Porcelain Vase, $210.
Dig that graphic San Marzano tomato can? Do like floral designer (and our editor in chief’s wife) Simone Shubuck and stick sunflowers in it.