Hi there! Today’s post is actually a video I did a while ago when I wanted to jazz up my “Basic” centerpiece to be a Casual Elegant Centerpiece!
Plus, there’s a little extra bonus info in the video about how to make your centerpiece and table setting stretch to accommodate last minute guests. (Last minute seems to be the theme around here these days!) It’s all pretty fun, and I loved showing you rather than just telling you about the casual elegant centerpiece. But I’ll ask your indulgence, because my video skills were not – and are not – at a very advanced level yet!
But anyway, here’s the video, below, then I’m going to basically transcribe what I said on it. (In case you’re not a video person, or if you just like to read!) So here we go!
The casual elegant centerpiece video
The causal elegant centerpiece tutorial transcript
Hello, I’m Barbara Leone, and here’s another tutorial – about flower arrangements!
So, there are so many different things you can do with flower arrangements, as you know. And here’s one, where I’ve just got a beautiful, simple bouquet of roses in the middle of a table for four. And that’s all there is to it – and that’s all there HAS to be to it, becauses it’s lovely. And that will impress your guests just fine, and you’ll feel confident that you’ve got a beautiful table, and that they’ll feel special.
But, say you want to do something a little bit different. This is a reasonably formal arrangement. Say you want to have something a little bit more casual. A little bit more, sort of flowing. I’m going to show you what you can do to get that.
Add eucalyptus
You can add eucalyptus. Or actually you can use any kind of greenery. But something that does this – when you wave it, if it waves, that’s what you’re after. And you can do this with artificial too. They have faux eucalyptus now that is just perfect. You wouldn’t even know the difference unless you got your nose up there.
So, I like to start with something that’s got a bend in the stem – I don’t know if you can see that, kind of bending? Because then it’s so easy to just put it in here. And lay it across your table. It just gives your arrangement such a nice elegant – casual – is “elegantcasual” a word? Yeah. Elegant casual look to it. And here’s one for the other side. This one has a little bit of a bend in it. (And you want to keep them out of people’s water glassses if you can!)
And add more!
And then, you just continue to put a few in, until you’re happy with it. I kind of like to go around the candlesticks if I can. That’s kind of fun. Plus, it gives you something from every side. (There’s that. It’s on a big stick, so that will go in and stay well.) There. And then you can take a few, like this little one here, and put it into your arrangement, just to sort of bring that movement up and through. Does that make sense? There. (Oops – and then we clean up the table a little bit.) There.
So now you’ve got the same table, but you have a much more casual, flowy sort of look. It’s still beautiful, it’s still what people would call formal, but it’s not as rigid, right? It’s more fluid and flowing. So that’s just the easiest trick in the world, right? You just stick your roses in – or whatever flowers you’re using – and then you just add some movement.
How to keep your table vibe when you have to make changes
Then I’ll show you what happens if – and this happens to me all the time – we’re having dinner for four? And an hour beforehand, I get a phone call saying, “Oh we’ve got friends that want to come too, can they come?” I’m not going to say “No!” right? So how do you make that flower arrangement go a little farther when you’ve got two more people to come? I’ll show you that next.
Ok, 20 minutes later, and our table for four has turned into a table for six! So, see what we did with the flower arrangements? Now instead of just the one in the middle of the table – which honestly, would have been just fine – I just wanted it to be more lush.
More flowers keep the casual elegant centerpiece in tact
So I just added a couple bouquets, one on either side. And I put some eucalyptus on the outside of each of those arrangements. So, see? I didn’t put any on the inside, because there’s still enough from the main one. But if you put some on the ends, then it sort of ties everything together.
And then, here was another problem I ran into. I was really happy with my place settings – the silverware and the napkins. But I didn’t have any more place settings of that silverware, or any more black napkins. So, what do you do?
Move the place settings
What I did, was I moved the outside place settings, so all of the four of the same ones were in the middle of the table. And then, on the end of the tables – ENDS of the table – I used a different flatware and a different napkin. But you know what, if I hadn’t mentioned it, probably nobody would have even noticed. They wouldn’t have walked in here and said “Oh my gosh – the napkins are different! I’m not sitting at that table!” Right? That wouldn’t have happened.
It still looks beautiful. And the way that you put things on the outsides – you know if you put it at either end – then that says to your guests that you had planned that. Right? And even if they realize that it’s different, I think everybody’s just going to be happy that you came up with something that solved the problem, and didn’t make the rest of the table – it didn’t change the look of the table, I guess is what I’m getting at.
Your guests will love your casual elegant centerpiece table
So, when you’re looking here – at this table – you still see the black napkins. You still see the flowers that were there. You still see the gold place settings. And it doesn’t jar you to see that they’re different. So that’s an easy way to make – I won’t say “make do” because we’re always happy to have guests. But to make your table still the way wanted it, and still accommodate extra people.
So if you have a chance to try that, let me know how it works out!
Hope you enjoyed the video!
I haven’t done a lot of videos, but they are kind of fun. Let me know what you think about the format, and about jazzing up your centerpiece. And your table! Plus, let me know how you handle last minute guests. I love to hear other people’s strategies!
Casual Elegant Centerpiece table shopping
If you’re interested in any of the pieces used on this table, hop on over to the Ridiculously Easy and Beautiful Tablescape. On that post, you can shop AND hear about how the table itself came together.
Happy Table Setting and see you in the Comments!
Barbara, I love the addition of the eucalyptus! And you are right…I didn’t even notice the napkin color change. Great tips for those last minute table adjustments.
Ha – really?! Probably I was just talking too much and distracted you! 🤣 But I’m glad you like it, and glad you stopped by – I always love to see you!
Lovely ideas for the centerpiece, and yes – mixing and matching on the table is magic! Enjoyed the video!
So glad you liked the video Janet – I’m hoping to get some more experience to make them a little fancier! 🙂 So sweet of you to visit – stop back by any time, and I’ll catch up with you on your blog too. Happy Sunday!
Barbara, your video was great and you explained everything beautifully. It seemed elegant and effortless. You are a gracious hostess to accommodate extra guests at the last minute. Lovely setting, my friend!
Thanks so much Pam! As you know, after you’ve done these things for so many years, the effort doesn’t seem like so much! 🙂 Thanks for popping over. Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!
Great video Barbara – I always love hearing you speak, especially on a favorite topic lol! The transformation of the table was pretty amazing and what great tips you gave. When I don’t have enough napkins or flatware or wine glasses for a table of six, I always change out the head and foot of the table too. Mixing is totally okay in my book, and in yours too! Sometimes I change out the two end places, even if I have enough of everything else. As you say, it’s just fun! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful tips and tricks and I hope you have a lovely evening my friend!
Ha – that’s funny Kim! And I imagine we could both talk about our favorite topic for hours! 🤣 I’m not the least bit surprised that you do the end-placesettings-are-different thing too – it’s such an easy way to do it. Thanks so much for stopping by – see you out there my friend!
The video was fun Barbara, and I love the way your centerpiece changed with the simple addition of eucalyptus and then how it grew to accommodate additional place settings! I’m a big fan of mixing and matching, and it looks like your choices were deliberate, not because you didn’t have enough. Very pretty!
Ha – glad you liked the video. I’m excited to learn more about it and how to make them a little more interesting! Isn’t mixing and matching so fun? Just one of the joys of having way too much table setting paraphernalia! 🤣 Hope you have a lovely day and weekend coming up!
Beautiful! And, what a difference adding a bit of greenery can make! I love how easy you made it to add additional place settings. Sometimes we tend to overthink things too much, and make things way more complicated than they need to be, especially when it comes to last minute changes!
Hi Maureen – I agree – I’ve always been fascinated at how just changing a couple pieces can change the whole look of a thing! And I know from your beautiful lemon tablescape, that you mix and match pieces to make up the numbers too. Isn’t it fun to have so many options? 😊 Thanks so much for stopping over! See you out there!