Spring Refresh: How to Forage for Events and Weddings

When it comes to floral arranging and design for events, the cost can stack up quickly. While flowers can make a great visual impact, it often takes a lot to make a statement. Want a great solution? Go foraging. (Is this realistic? Yes, you totally can go foraging for rad floral arrangements for large scale events. When pricing out a fresh garland base at a local florist, we were given an estimate of $66 per table, without blooms. So, a foraging we go.)

Keep reading for tips on how to forage for events!

Our vision

When preparing for the Spring Refresh party, I knew I wanted to focus on large blooms (bloomed roses and hydrangea) and flowers with length such as stock and snapdragons. All of these blooms were items I was going to purchase from the local market the day before the event. (Tip: Trader Joe’s will order large amounts of blooms for you ahead of time. Check with your local store to see if they can order in specific colors.)


Tips for foraging.

Be prepared and dress accordingly.
Being hipster and adorable is great if you’re on a photoshoot, but when it comes to foraging it’s best to wear clothes that are appropriate. Get ready to get dirty, find some dusty trails, and climb a few trees. Around here, we can come into contact with poison oak quite easily, so closed toed shoes and long pants are necessary.

garland 1

Think about different kinds of greenery and how they will look leading to the event.

We opted to forage 6 kinds of greenery. Due to the event being midweek and foraging greenery 5 days prior to the event, we picked items that could dry out and would still look amazing. Think about what items can dry out and look great, while other items will be need to be foraged closer to the day of your big event. Our main project for greenery were 11 6 foot floral garlands. When foraging we focused on both volume, depth, and spread when the garland would lie flat on the table. Our foraged eucalyptus was a saving grace. Eucalyptus smells phenomenal and adds strength to greenery with a sturdy stem, perfect for wiring on blooms. For length, we found weeping willow. While we were initially worried as to how this would dry out, it was perfect and added the necessary length we needed for the garland base. What colors of green are the leaves, the stems, and their texture? Are the leaves glossy? Are they matte? Are the stems red or green? Do they have small blooms on them? Play with variants for more visual interest.

A few notes:

– The Spring Refresh party was hosted by an Aussie, so we wanted to make sure to incorporate plenty of eucalyptus and gum eucalyptus greenery in the floral arrangements.

– Our foraging experience was a humorous one. Armed with reusable shopping bags and loppers, we headed to various properties in our area and went to trimming. (Don’t worry we asked and our neighbors were super thankful for our gardening skills.)

-In hindsight, bringing a tall man with height would have been a brilliant idea. Granted doing cheerleader stunts and finding ways to get branches down to our levels, scaling trees, and jumping to great heights were incredibly entertaining. We may or may not have accidentally flung branches back into our faces in these moments. What one will do for weeping willow.

-I don’t ever drive around my neighborhood the same way. Now everywhere I look, I’m finding new fresh blooms and greens. It is a bit addicting and I may have some shears in the trunk of my car for new styling projects.

-More than anything enjoy the moment. Part of the fun of creating flowers and stunning arrangements, is taking in the beauty nature brings us. From the fresh mountain air, to the spring breeze, and seeing the snowcapped mountains in the distance as we were jumping for weeping willow, it was all worth it. Every bit of it.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *