How To Make a DIY Bud Vase Tablescape For Your Wedding
For folks who want to save money on their wedding flower arrangements, bud vase flower arrangements have been a clear winner for making gorgeous wedding table decor on a budget! We get asked about how best to decorate a table with bud vases, so we thought we’d make a blog post to give you insight on how to design your bud vase arrangements! This blog captures the most frequently asked questions, so you’ll be ready to take on your next dinner party table or wedding flower arrangements! If you still have outstanding questions, feel free to book a free design consultation with us 🙂
Question 1: How Many Bud Vases Do I Need?
When you’re deciding on how many bud vases you need, you’ll want to think about a few factors:
- What is the shape of the table?
- A circular table will need less arrangements compared to a rectangular table
- How long is the table?
- A 4 foot long table will need considerably less than a 8 foot table
The idea of using bud vases is to create a collection of flowers, so the arrangement is the compilation of all the vases and flowers spanning across the table. I usually suggest odd numbers, so 3,5, 7 vases on a table.
If you’re using a circular table, I generally suggest 3 to 5 vases, and for a 8 foot long rectangle table, I would say 5 to 7 vases. If you’re using candlesticks as an accent, you can lower the amount of vases, as the candlesticks will fill up space instead.
Question 2: What Type of Bud Vases Should I Buy?
There are so many options for bud vases, almost an overwhelming amount! You can get tall ones, short ones, simple ones, fancy ones, vintage style… the sky is the limit, it’s really up to you what fits your budget and vibe.
A lot of folks like using a variety of vase styles, to give a whimsical look to the flower arrangements, and also create visual interest by varying the heights. You can also place the vases amongst candles, nestled in greenery like Italian Ruscus or Silver Dollar Eucalyptus and we’ve seen lots of wedding decor where the vases are on a pretty cheesecloth!
The most important thing about choosing your bud vase is to have a small necked vase (e.g. a 1″ to 1.5″ diameter opening), like these ones on Amazon. The reason for the small diameter opening is to facilitate only a couple flowers/greenery. If you have a larger opening, it’ll give more of a bouquet vibe rather than the bud vase style. This photo below shows what a tablescape looks like when using a mason jar, so you can see it requires much more than 1-3 flowers, so if choosing something this large, you’re not really creating a “bud vase” its more like a bouquet arrangement (which is equally beautiful, you just need to make sure you order enough flowers!).
Question 3: Where Should I Buy Bud Vases?
I love going thrifting, it saves money, helps keeps items out of the landfill, and bonus… saves money! Of course, it then also takes time, and unlikely you’ll find a matching set. Another spot to check is Amazon.
Question 4: What Types Of Flowers Should I Use?
For greenery, you’ll want a small leafed greenery, a couple I like to use are:
You’ll want to stay away from really chunky or bulk greenery (e.g. salal or weeping podocarpus) – these greenery types are much better suited to things like arch arrangements.
For flowers, really you can use anything, but generally we stay away from really large bloom flowers like Disbud Mums (like these momoko mums)… this is just because they are so large that they tend to overpower the vases, they are better suited for larger vases like mason jars, or in bridal bouquets.
Some flowers I like to use in bud vases are:
- Mini Carnations I def suggest including a few miniature carnations, as they are super cost affordable, and a good flower to mix in with the others.
- Eryngium particularly if you’re going for a “western” style wedding or if you want to incorporate blue into your wedding flower arrangements.
- Limonium is a great flower to use as a “filler”, if you’re looking to save money, I like to use one flower stem, 1/10 of a bunch of limonium, and one stem of greenery. It fills up the vase nicely and is super budget friendly!
- Spray Roses – I love spray roses because they have multiple blooms per stem (usually 4-5 blooms per stem).
- Lisianthus is my #1 recommendation for using in bud vases. It has multiple blooms on a stem, looks super cool with it’s mix of open and closed blooms, and is just a gorgeous flower.
- Solidago – This flower is a favorite for those who are looking for a “wildflower” vibe and love the color yellow. This is also a great “filler” as this flower fills quite a bit of space, so it’s a great way to save money, I would use 1/10 of a bunch per bud vase.
- Chamomile is also a favorite for the “wildflower” vibe, I would use 1/10 of a bunch per bud vase.
- Ranunculus is probably close to our most ordered flower, people LOVE the ruffley look. Note that you might need to wire the ranunculus as it’s very top heavy, check out our video on how to do that.
Question 5: How Many Flowers Should I Order?
Question 6: How Do I Arrange The Flowers In The Bud Vase?
Our couples often like to combine a bunch of flower varieties in the vases, so that each bud vase looks a different vase. Regardless of what flowers and greenery you choose, here a couple tips on how to do the arrangements:
- Use Pruners to Cut the Stems – You’ll want to use pruners, not scissors, to cut the flowers and greenery. Scissors aren’t sharp enough and will compress the stems, which impedes their ability to drink water efficiently. Cut the stems at an angle to facilitate water uptake.
- Vary the Height Of the Flowers – if you’re putting in a couple stems in your vase, make a few shorter, and a few taller.
- Mix and Match – You don’t need to make every vase the same, lots of textures and colors is super fun!
Question 7: How Do I Transport My Bud Vases To the Venue Space?
Question 8: Do I Need To Put Water In The Bud Vases?
Yes 100% you need water! The flowers will quickly wilt and die without access to water, so make sure you check the vases and top them up as the flowers drink the water. Fresh and clean water is essential, so change out the water after a couple days to make sure your flowers are drinking healthy and delicious water.
Whatever design you decide to make, have fun and don’t take it too seriously, let your creativity flow! There are many ways to create a bud vase tablescape, so just use our ideas as a starting point and then arrange however you see fit.
We also thought we’d highlight this Youtube Video Here , it has info including everything you need to know to DIY your wedding flowers. Let us know if you have any questions, we are always available to help and we offer free consultations if you’d like to chat through this more!
Cheers,
Sarah & Kat
