Summer Design Challenge: “No Foam” Alter Arrangement

When I was asked to design a 4ft long piece to go on a traditional alter, I knew that this would be our next “No Foam” design challenge. In the past, when creating a long, low piece like the one requested, we probably would have used some long tray filled with floral foam. Since we’ve given up floral foam, we had to strategize about an alternative.

The bride’s mom shared this photo of an arrangement made by one of our favorite designers, Francoise Weeks as inspiration. She liked the arrangement but wanted just a splash of color.

Our thought was to make the arrangement in pieces for ease of transportation and also because finding a vase the size and shape we needed (very low-maybe 6 inches tall and long-4 feet long) seemed impossible.

We took 6 rectangular glass vases and lined each of them with a bamboo/faux leaf ribbon and then stuffed them full of chicken wire. The ribbon would help make the base look green (instead of seeing the stems) and the chicken wire was used as structure to hold all the tall stems in place.

Since we designed it to look like one piece once set up, we numbered the vases on the back so that we would know what order to put them up once we got to the church.

Once the pieces were filled with foliage, we added a few splashes of orange and purple flowers.

Even when it was mostly done in the studio, I couldn’t get the full effect of what it would look like in the space. Once we arrived at the church and set it up, we finished it with strands of ivy along the bottom of the arrangement to add to the look of cohesiveness.

I cant lie: I loved the finished product!

Working without floral foam may seem like a big jump. Each successful project gives us more confidence and forces us to be more creative.  Have you given up floral foam? We’d love to hear how you did it!