diy wedding flowers

This past weekend I got to make the bridal bouquet and groom's boutonniere for my brother-in-law and his beautiful bride, my new sister-in-law. That's right, did you notice I used the words "got to", as opposed to "had to"? I had a great time! I'm putting it out there right now, let me do your bouquet for you and I will be your bff. :) Their colors were dark red and dark purple, with accents of gray/silver.

So after I bought all the flowers (I also needed some flowers to decorate an arch), I picked out several stems that I thought I would want to use for the bouquet and stripped the stems of all the leaves and thorns, and cut the stems to the length I wanted. In other words, I prepped several of the stems so that they would be ready for me to use as I was arranging my bouquet.

The key to a nice, sturdy bouquet is to wrap the stems in floral tape as you go--don't wait until the end and try to wrap the whole bouquet at once. I arranged a little bunch that I liked to be my "base" (what would end up being the center of the bouquet) and wrapped it securely in floral tape, then I repeated that step, adding 3-5 stems between each wrapping.

Continue doing that until you are pleased with the end results. :) When making a bouquet, I like to keep in mind the size of the person; if the bride is very petite then you probably don't want a huge, overwhelming bouquet that takes attention away her on her special day. 

Once it is all wrapped in floral tape, then you finish it off however you would like. I wrapped the bouquet in a purple satin ribbon, then I wrapped some gray lace around the ribbon and secured it with some floral pins that I pinned into the center of little gray bows. 

For the bouquet I used red roses, white hydrangea, purple dyed sage, red dyed eucalyptus, and a purple origami crane. For the boutonniere I used a red rose, and the sage and eucalyptus.

The groom was a good sport who said he didn't mind wearing a little bow. His exact words were, "I'm married now, who do I have to impress?" :)

Linked to: Made By You Monday, 52 Mantels, Lamberts Lately