How to arrange artificial flowers into a bouquet

Want to create your own everlasting flower arrangement? Follow our step-by-step video guide to find out how to arrange your flower stems into a beautiful bouquet.

Arranging Artificial Flowers into a Bouquet

Everyone loves the look of a fresh bouquet of flowers, but as each day passes their colours fade, flowers wilt and eventually you’re left with no choice but to put them to rest in the compost bin.

Choosing faux stems means you can enjoy the same colour, style and beauty, without the hassle of replacing them. We’re here to show you exactly how.

Choose from a selection of beautifully hand-tied bouquets ready to go, or you can create your own dream bouquet using our faux single stem flowers, by following our easy step-by-step video and instructions below.

How to arrange an artificial bouquet

What you’ll need:

Some string or jute twine
Pliers or wire cutters
Tape
A vase or container

Choose the right colours

You’ll probably have an idea of the colours you want to include and the way that you want your bouquet to look before you begin, but it’s important to consider the effect that you want your bouquet to have on your space.

For example, lots of greenery will have a calming effect on your space, yellow will add uplifting cheer, red will bring exciting energy and blue will add a sense of safety and reduce tension in your space.

As well as choosing colours based on their psychological effects, you should consider your existing colour palette and which shades will complement it best.

If your space is quite neutral, it might benefit from a bold pop of colour from red peonies, vibrant sunflowers or brightly coloured tulips, whereas if it’s already quite a busy space you may want something a little more muted like white lilies, delicate blossom or dainty gypsophila sprays.

Choose your stems

Once you’ve nailed your colour choices, it’s time to choose the types of stems that you’ll include in your bouquet. Of course, you can simply pair your favourite flowers together and call it a day, but chances are that it’ll look far better when mixed with some foliage and other textures.

It’s always best to include some greenery like our silver dollar eucalyptus or clematis spray, as well as more interesting textures like our thistle stem, viburnum or China grass as a mixture of flowers and foliage will really help to bring your arrangement to life and make you look like a pro!

Try to include a centrepiece in your arrangement, something larger or more interesting than the other stems. Our larkspur spray and delphinium stem work great for this!

You can also play around with height. Use a few taller stems in the middle, keep some short ones on the outsides and have fun with it until you’re happy.

It’s nature after all so it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect!

Pink artificial flower arrangement in white interior

Single stem flowers.

Create your dream bouquet with our range of long-lasting single flower stems, including roses, lilies, sunflowers and more.

Shop flower stems.

How many stems will you need?

For an average-sized bouquet of around 60cm tall, you’ll probably want somewhere around 25 stems in total made up of around 5-10 different flowers and foliage, though it’s entirely up to you and will depend on the size of your vase.

There are no strict rules so you can play around with the size of your bouquet until you’re happy that it fills your vase nicely.

Creating the bouquet

Start off by laying your stems out in groups of similar colours and flower types, then bend out the leaves and flowers so that the foliage is nicely spread out.

Choose a centrepiece

If you have an odd stem that stands out from the rest, start your bouquet off with this and build the rest around it.

Begin adding stems

Holding the first stem in your hand, begin adding more stems in by laying them diagonally over the top of each other.

It’s really important that you try to keep your hand relaxed while you’re doing this otherwise, your bouquet will end up looking very tightly formed, whereas it will look much better if its stems are allowed to spread out a little.

Twist & repeat

Once you’ve finished one layer of flowers including three or four stems, twist or spiral them in your hand, add another layer of flowers and keep repeating.

Try to spread your stems out instead of clumping lots of the same type together so that the colours and flower types are evenly spread throughout your bouquet.

Frame the outside

You should start to see your bouquet taking form as you go along. When you’re nearly done, you can use any larger leaves to frame the outside of your arrangement.

Keep it balanced

You might find this step easier to do with a mirror. Take a look at your bouquet from the top down and check to see that it’s nicely balanced and that no colours or flowers are clumped together.

Sometimes the flowers in the middle can get a little lost, so you may need to pull them up so that you get a nice arch.

Adjust until you're happy

Keep adjusting your bouquet until you’re happy. If you want to add any stems to the middle, simply loosen your grip and push them in.

Tie with string or ribbon

Use a piece of tape to hold your stems secure, then take some ribbon or string and tie a bow around the stems, removing the tape when you’ve finished.

Trim your stems

Next, sit your bouquet beside your vase and see whether you’ll need to trim the stems to fit your container.

Just take your pliers or wire cutters and snip the ends of your stems until your bouquet fits. If you need any help with this, we have a quick how to cut stems guide here.

Add your bouquet to your vase

Then finally, pop your arrangement in your vase and admire your work!

Don't fret about getting it perfect, especially on your first go, as you can always take your bouquet apart and start again.

Artificial summer shades bouquet in white jug

What else do you need to know?

Here's some other topical content you might want to know alongside flower arranging.

Choosing the right size vase

Pairing your bouquet with the right size vase can have a big impact on the arrangement.

As a general rule of thumb choose a vase at least half the overall height of your flower arrangement. So for an average-sized bouquet around 60cm tall, aim for a vase around 30cm tall with a neck width of around 10-12cm wide, which will let your flowers splay out nicely.

Choosing the right kind of vase

Glass, ceramic or metal... there are endless options and styles to choose from and each of them will have a different effect on your bouquet. That said, not all of them will show off your flowers in their best light.

When it comes to colours and the style of your vase there’s a general rule of thumb:

Bouquets that have bold colours are best put in clear and simple glass vases where they won’t have to compete with vibrant patterns and can show off their colours better.
Bouquets with more subtle shades can be complemented by bold coloured vases and stylish ceramic jugs to give them a little extra oomph!

Take sunflowers for example, they look fantastic in a galvanised steel bucket or mason jar to give them a rustic farmhouse type look rather than a plain glass vase, whereas tulips are better suited to tall glass vases where their colours can stand out.

Wildflowers like our meadow bouquet look great in vintage milk jugs and vases giving them that whimsical cottage-core look, while roses and lilies are well suited to vases that flare, adding to their elegance.

What do you put in the bottom of the vase?

Usually all you need to accompany a bouquet is a vase and some water to keep them going. Things are a little different with artificial bouquets...

We choose our flowers based on their realism and to do this most include an internal wire so that you can bend it into a natural position. The only downside is that the wire can rust when exposed to water. Here are some alternative options:

Leave your vase empty. There’s nothing wrong with leaving your vase empty and just sitting your bouquet inside on its own.
Use beads to hide the fact that there’s no water and mask the stems.
Choose a coloured vase and you can escape the problem all together. 😊
Secure the stems permanently with resin. It's a gel that looks just like water and holds the flowers neatly in place. Be careful as resin is permanent so you'll be sacrificing your vase. Also make sure you pick a resin with UV stabilisers to stop it turning yellow in the sun.

Need some help?

Hopefully by now, you're well on your way to creating a beautiful bouquet like a pro! If you need any help at all, let us know and we'll be happy to walk you through the steps.