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

Faux Florals: My Flower Details

It's finals week for me which means a week full of some major procrastination. Luckily, I exempted 2 finals and only have 1 left. The test isn't until Friday, so I've been getting lots of wedding planning done in the meantime. I wish studying for a test was as much fun as planning for a wedding! Ah, in a perfect world...

Anyways, I was out scouting the floral section at my local Michael's and Hobby Lobby when I made a very big decision. I am going to use as few real flowers in my wedding decor as possible. I know, I know! Some of you are thinking I've gone completely bonkers. But trust me, I've thought long and hard about this. I'm just not a flower person. Plain and simple. Because of this, I see no reason to spend tons of money on something I'm not into (and neither is Mr. Lab).

Source

My decision was aided by the fact that silk flowers have come a LONG way in recent years. I was able to check out some of the new "true touch" peonies I wrote about earlier. I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and real peonies unless I was either told or smelled them (and I hope I'm not inviting any creepers to my wedding who would walk up and sniff my flowers!). I would have bought some right then and there had they been the right cream color. Instead, I ordered the flowers for my bouquet from Fiori Belli. My bouquet only cost $80 shipped and will last forever! Because the blooms are so big, I probably won't need all the flowers to make the bouquet (I'm ordering 1 set of 6 stems each of cupped and full blown blossoms). I will possibly use any extra stems to make a hairpiece or in other decor. Now I have to start thinking about the ribbon for the handle of the bouquet!

As for the other floral details of the wedding, I have a few ideas in mind. I'm using either Wedding Decor Online or Psalm117 on Etsy for my flower girl pomanders (that they'll get to keep!). I am making my BM's bouquets but haven't decided on the flower I want to use. And for the ceremony, I may go the same route as Mrs. Cherry Pie and line my aisle with mason jars filled with flowers. This may be one of the few places I use real flowers. If I do, I'll reuse them in the reception space. I don't know whether I'll use sheperd's hooks or just ribbon to hang the jars yet. Which one do you prefer?

Mrs. Cherry Pie's mason jars & dahlias
Photo by Piknik Studios



Using ribbon will be cheaper and easier.
Source

Is anyone else using fake flowers for the majority of their floral decor?

Peony Passion

When I first started planning for our wedding, flowers were the least of my concerns. I'm not a big flower person (they die quick, so what's the point?) but I do want to have bouquets for all the girls in my wedding. Because I'm not a big flower person, it took lots of research and time to find a flower I would like to carry in my bouquet down the aisle. I finally decided on an all white (technically cream) bouquet of peonies. The more I looked at pictures of them, the more I fell in love.

Source

*SWOON.* If flowers were celebrities, the peony would be Brad Pitt. MANY women want them in their weddings. But like Miss Cowboy Boot, I found out that the peony is not in season in November. I was devastated.

I briefly entertained the idea of similar flowers, but I'm not giving up on my new favorite flower that easily! You fight for true love, right? So now I'm considering making my own bouquet using fake peonies. I've found a few sites that offer the "true touch" faux flowers but I'm a little nervous about actually trying this. I would love to get some feedback and suggestions on making your own bouquet and even helpful websites (I will be digging through Bee archives for DIY bouquets!). I still have no clue what I'm doing for my bridesmaid's bouquets but I do know I want theirs to be deep red flowers that compliment the peony. Help on that will be much appreciated as well!

Maybe when it's all said and done I will have my dream bouquet AND save tons of money in the process! I found a site that provides incredibly realistic fake peonies. They sell them as bunches of cupped or full blown blossoms which I think adds to the realism. Here's an example:

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At $36 for a set of six stems, this choice seems a bit high since I'll probably have to buy 3 or 4 sets to make a full, lush bouquet. And that doesn't include tax and shipping! Although I'm no florist, I have a feeling that trying to get fresh peonies shipped from some remote place far away for a November wedding would be a tad bit pricier. At least my fake flowers won't die and they'll make a great centerpiece for our home after the wedding!

So what do you think? Should I go through with the DIY fake flower bouquet of peonies? I'm waiting on your feedback before placing my order!