What to look for in table arrangements
Low enough to see over
This is the single practical test and it is the one most often failed. Anyone sitting at the table has to be able to look across it, so anything tall enough to block a face belongs on a console or a sideboard instead. Check the total height including whatever it stands on, not the height of the flowers alone.
Finished on all sides and from above
Unlike a bouquet in a vase against a wall, a table piece is walked around and looked down into. That makes the top of the arrangement — where the mechanics usually hide — the part to examine. A good one has foliage or moss covering the base of the stems; a poor one shows a disc of green foam the moment anyone stands up.
Check what it stands on
Some of these come with a vessel, some are built on a base that stands on its own. Neither is better, but they are different purchases: a vessel sits on your table permanently and has to suit the room you actually have, while a self-standing piece goes down anywhere and can be moved without thinking. Read which one you are getting before you compare prices, because the two rarely cost the same.