Wedding Flowers Beyond the Tables: 10 Areas of Your Venue You Might Not Have Thought About
- extragorgeousbloom
- Aug 9
- 6 min read
When you start planning your wedding flowers, there are usually a few obvious things that immediately spring to mind - you bridal bouquet, bridesmaid flowers, buttonholes and, of course, the table centrepieces.
But your wedding flowers can do so much more than decorate your tables.
Some of my favourite floral moments are actually found in the smaller, sometimes unexpected areas of a wedding venue. A carefully placed arrangement can draw attention to a beautiful feature, welcome your guests into a space or completely transform an area that might otherwise be overlooked.
And the good news?
You don't need to fill every corner of your venue with flowers.
Thoughtfully choosing a few key areas can often have far more impact that trying to spread your flower budget everywhere.
As a wedding florist based in Alton, Hampshire, I love helping couples decide where their flowers will make the biggest difference.
Here are ten areas that you might want to consider.
Your Wedding Welcome Sign or Table Plan
Your welcome sign or table plan is one of the first things your guests will see when they enter your reception, so it is a lovely opportunity to introduce your wedding flowers and colour palette.
Flowers do not necessarily need to be large or extravagant.
A low floral arrangement at the base of an easel, a few bud vases or a delicate arrangement combined with candlelight can be enough to transform the area.
For this wedding, delicate clouds of gypsophila were paired with floating candles around an elegant gold table plan.
Simple, romantic and incredibly effective.
It also shows why I do not believe every wedding flower arrangement needs to be enormous to make an impact.
The Entrance to Your Wedding Venue
First impressions count.
Flowers positioned around the entrance to your venue can create a beautiful welcome before guests have even stepped inside.
Depending on your venue and budget, this could be anything from a pair of statement urn arrangements to flower meadows, milk churn arrangements or a smaller floral display beside your welcome sign.
It is also a wonderful way of giving guest a little glimpse of what is waiting for them inside.
Staircases
If your wedding venue has a beautiful staircase, don't overlook it.
Staircases can provide an amazing backdrop for photographs and often sit in a prominent position within the venue.
Rather that completely covering the staircase in flowers, which can require a considerable amount of flowers and budget, carefully positioned arrangements can draw attention to architecture while still allowing the venue itself to shine.
This is something I always consider when designing wedding flowers - where will the flowers have the greatest visual impact?
Fireplaces and Mantelpieces
I absolutely love flowering a beautiful fireplace.
If your venue has one, it is often already a natural focal pint, making it the perfect pace for flowers.
Depending on the style of your wedding, flowers can sit along the mantelpiece, tumble gently from one side or be positioned around the base.
Add candles and you have got an incredibly romantic feature that can look beautiful both during the day and as the light changes into the evening.
Your Wedding Cake Table
You have spent time choosing your wedding cake, so it is worth thinking about the space around it too.
Flowers around the base of the cake table, delicate bud vases on the cake itself can tie into the rest of your wedding beautifully.
You may even be able to repurpose flowers from your ceremony into the cake area once your reception begins.
I can easily discuss with your cake designer about fresh flowers and ensure that we are using appropriate varieties.
The Bar
This is one of those areas couples often forget.
And yet where do your guests spend quite a lot of time during the reception?
The bar!
You certainly do not need a huge installation, but a beautiful arrangement positioned safely at one end can bring your floral styling into another part of the venue.
It is a particularly lovely touch when the bar sits prominently within your reception space.
Your Guest Book or Card Table
Your guest book, card box and memory table are all areas where guests naturally stop during the day.
A few bud vases, a small arrangement or even flowers repurposed from elsewhere can make the area feel considered and connected to the rest of your wedding.
This is another place where small floral details can make a big difference without requiring a huge amount of your wedding flower budget.
Your Seating Plan
If your welcome sign or seating plan is going to be photographed - and guests will inevitably gather around it - why not make it part of your styling?
Flowers can be positioned at the base, attached asymmetrically to the sign or combined with lanterns and candles.
You can also use flowers from elsewhere in your wedding here later in the day.
For example, a small ceremony meadow could potentially be moved to sit beneath your table plan once guests have moved into the reception.
I love finding opportunities like this because you are essentially getting two beautiful moments from one floral arrangement.
Your Top Table or Sweetheart Table
Technically this is still a table - but deserves a category of it's own!
Your top table is going to feature in so many photographs.
It is where the speeches happen, where you sit together for your first meal as a married couple and often where guest's attention is naturally drawn.
Than means it can be worth concentrating a little more of your flower budget here.
One of my favourite options is to repurpose ceremony flowers.
Flowers from your registrar table, ceremony meadows or other focal arrangements can sometimes be moved to create beautiful top-table flowers for the wedding breakfast.
Planning this with me from the beginning means the arrangement can be designed specifically with repurposing in mind.
Those Beautiful Features Unique to Your Venue
This is perhaps the most important one.
Every wedding venue is different.
One might have a fireplace.
Another might have old stone steps.
There might be an archway, grand doorway, outdoor ceremony structure, sweeping staircase, window ledge or gorgeous garden feature.
I encourage my couples to think about their particular venue.
What are the best features?
Where will guests naturally look?
Where will photographers be taken?
Which area already look beautiful and do not actually need anything?
That's where working with me who understands venue styling becomes really valuable.
You Don't Need Flowers Everywhere
This is something I think is really important for couples to hear.
You absolutely do not need to flower every available surface at your wedding venue.
In fact, I would usually rather take a limited flower budget and create a few really beautiful focal moments than spread that same budget across lots of tiny arrangements that barely get noticed.
For example, you might choose to prioritise:
Your ceremony backdrop, top table, guest tables and welcome area. Rather than trying to add flowers to every doorway, windowsill, staircase, bar, cake table and sign.
Your wedding should still feel like your venue, rather than somewhere that has simply been filed with flowers.
Repurposing Your Wedding Flowers
One of the best ways to make your wedding flower budget work hard is to think about where arrangements can have a second life.
For example:
Aisle flowers repurposed to reception arrangements
Registrar table flowers repurposed to the top table
Ceremony urns then moved to the reception entrance
Flower meadows repurposed to table centre pieces or the cake table
Ceremony installation being moved to the reception as a focal area.
Not every arrangement can safely or practically be moved, so this is something that we should discuss during the planning process.
But when I know from the beginning that an arrangement needs to work in two different locations, I can design accordingly.
How Should You Decide Where to Put Your Wedding Flowers?
When I am helping a couple plan their flowers, I think about three things:
Impact: Where will your flowers be noticed?
Photography: Which areas will appear repeatedly in your wedding photographs?
Experience: Which spaces will your guests actually spend in?
And then we can consider your budget.
That is how we decide where flowers are really worth investing in.
It isn't about having the most flowers, it is about having the right flowers in the right places for your wedding day.
Wedding Venue Flowers in Hampshire, Surrey and Surrounding Counties
At Extra Gorgeous Blooms, I create romantic, natural and garden-inspired wedding flowers from my home in Alton, Hampshire, working with couple across Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, West Sussex and surrounding areas.
From bridal bouquets and buttonholes to ceremony flowers, table centrepieces and statement venue arrangements, I love creating a floral scheme that flows beautifully throughout the whole wedding day.
If you are planning your wedding and are not sure where to spend your flower budget, do not worry.
That is part of my job.
Tell me your venue, your colours, your ideas and how you would like your wedding to feel, and together we can decide where your flowers will make the biggest impact.
Planning your wedding flowers? Get in touch with Extra Gorgeous Blooms to start creating your floral vision.
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