DIY Bridesmaids' Bouquets Part 1: The Transformers

I know I left you hanging with my DIY bridal bouquet mock trial. I abandoned that effort for awhile after changing my color scheme and deciding to go with a new dusty pink bouquet to match my shoes. I still haven't found any fake peonies in that color, but in the meantime I've been on the lookout for my bridesmaids' flowers.

I finally ran into some when I wasn't even looking. I was strolling around the mall looking for a place to get a quick and cheap hair trim when I saw that A.C. Moore was having a huge sale on their florals. As soon as I was finished being groomed, I high-tailed it back over to the store and started on a shopping frenzy.

After the dust settled, I had the following loot:


Enough for 3 bridesmaids' bouquets! After a lot of debate, I decided to go with separate flowers for each girl and then combine all the flowers into one bouquet for not me, but my matron of honor. I'm sticking with my beloved peonies but I wanted a way to have my MOH stand out, and a combo bouquet is just the ticket! My bouquet will still be the largest and most lush, but it's fun knowing my MOH will have a little mark of distinction.

I'm still searching for one more flower in the same pink for the last bouquet (not including the combo MOH bouquet). I really want the ranunculus, but I'm not seeing it anywhere! I may have to go online to find a light pink fake version, so it could be awhile before I complete this little endeavor.

Anyhoo, as soon as I got home, I started work on the task at hand. First up, the hydrangea bouquet. I won't go back through the tutorial since I used the same method in my previous post about DIY fake florals, but I will tell you that these suckers were a lot harder to work with than the peony.

They are a lot more delicate and deceivingly full. I had to constantly rework the shaping to make them round. Once again, I forgot to purchase wire clippers, so I had to cut the coating with scissors then work the wire back and forth until they snapped apart. My first round with the hydrangea looked weak to say the least:


But I kept at it! I finished "beefing" up the handle with a trick a reader gave me in my last post (thanks Andrea!). I did it by adding in the leftover stems while putting together the stems with the blooms. Genius.

After I was done, the bouquet performed a little trick of its own. My little work of art transformed from a regular bouquet into a stunning centerpiece!


While at A.C. Moore, I purchased a couple smooth mason jars and candle rings in our wedding colors to do a trial run our centerpieces. If you can remember, I originally planned to use a combination of mason jars, lanterns, and candelabras for the centerpieces. Well, after attending one of my bridesmaids' wedding last weekend and seeing her clever dual use of the BMs' bouquets as centerpieces, I decided to nix the candelabras and do the same! I'll still have some lanterns, but the mason jars will now be filled with the BMs' bouquets. All I have to do is add some kind of sea glass or something to the jars to keep the bouquets upright and add more detail. Suggestions are very welcome!

Because I'm having a cocktail hour in a separate parlor, my BMs will be able to sneak into the reception hall and place their bouquets into the mason jars before anyone else enters the room. At the end of the night, they can collect their bouquets to keep if they wish. Best part? This saves me money! Boo-yah!

I guess I should show you what I did with the other two flower choices? Well, here's my fave of the three bouquets, the daisies! They were by far the easiest of the bouquets to make. I was done in less than 10 minutes. FSIL already staked a claim on these:



And last but certainly not least are the roses. They even had little "thorns" on them that actually hurt a bit as I was plucking off the leaves. They made the handle really hard to wrap and I had to keep trimming some of them off.



And here's the whole lot together, "transforming" into centerpieces! I'll probably add tea candles around them just to spruce up the tables a bit more. Then all that will be left to do is adding the doggie table numbers (and completing the other 5 centerpieces)!


I can't take the all the credit on these bouquet/centerpieces. FSIL's husband's niece was in town with her mother and helped me snap apart the stems (after I prepped them, unbeknown to her). Who doesn't love a little child labor? :P

I love that she has her sippy cup on hand when the really tough ones come up!

Ah! Success!

So I bet you're wondering how much money all of this trouble actually saved me? Well, see for yourself! Keep in mind, these flowers won't die a few days after the wedding! ;)

Bridesmaids' Bouquets

Daisy Bouquet
10 stems
x $2.09 each
---------------
$20.90

Hydrangea Bouquet
5 stems
x $2.79 each
--------------
$13.95

Rose Bouquet
8 stems
x $1.39 each
--------------
$11.12

Chocolate Satin Ribbon
$4.39 for 1 1/2 yards

Pearl-headed Pins
$0.00 (left over from previous bouquet project)

Grand Total Including Tax
$53.89 OR $17.96 each

Centerpieces

Mason Jars:
$1 each x 3 = $3

Berry Candle Ring:
$2 each x 4 = $8

Grand Total Including Tax
$11.77 OR $3.92 each