If there's one thing you can DIY for your wedding, it's the bouquets.
Not gonna lie, they take some work. But as long as you have a simple idea in your head, it's not difficult. Google images of basic bouquets or look to Pinterest for inspiration.
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That being said, if you want something more complex and designed, save yourself the Pinterest fails and hire a professional.
Keep in mind, you'll also need to make a throwaway bouquet (if you're going to throw one), corsages, boutineers and bridesmaids bouquets.
Also, this is going to take some time, especially if you've never done one before. And you'll probably want to do them the day-of or the night before so they're fresh.
Enlist the help of your mom and future mother-in-law, aunts, friends, etc.
We decided to give this a shot and made a bouquet with succulents, roses, baby's breath and Alstromeria in our office.
With the exception of a little experience helping with a family wedding, none of us really knew what we were doing, but we ended up putting something beautiful together in about 90 minutes.
Supplies and cost
Flowers
We chose to add succulents to ours to give it a Tucson vibe, along with pink roses, white filler flowers and baby's breath. You can simplify by not going to more than one store. But since there were two of us, we ended up going to a couple different places. Keep in mind, this is for one bouquet. If you are making flowers for bridesmaids, you'll need to buy at least one more bouquet of roses.
Here's a breakdown of what we got:
Pink roses from Safeway: $9.99
Baby's Breath from Safeway: $4.99
2 big succulents from Home Depot: $4.48 each
2 little succulents from Home Depot: $2.98 each
White Alstromeria from Sprouts: $6.99
We chose a few different succulents for our bouquet.
Supplies
1.5-inch spool of pink ribbon from Michael's: $3.99
0.25-inch spool of pink ribbon from Michael's: $0.50
3-pack floral tape from Michael's: $5.99
Floral wire from Michael's: $2.99
You'll also need scissors, shears for the flowers and pretty pins.
We didn't end up using the skinny wire or the twine, but had it just in case.
How-to
Step 1: Trim ends and leaves off of flowers. Leave on some of the greenery to fill in the spaces.
Organize and prepare your flowers to get started.
Step 2: Wire the flowers. Stick the wire through the thick part on the stem right under the flower. Pull it through until both sides are even and reach at least halfway down the stem. Wind the wire around the stem. This gives the flowers support and gives you a little more control when arranging them.
Wire gives the roses support.
Step 3: Tape stems. Starting at the top of the stem, hold floral tape in place with your thumb, then twist the flower while pulling the roll of tape. This won't stick well unless you are pulling it tightly as you wrap it. If you feel the urge to ditch the floral tape and use duct tape, resist. Your finished product will thank you.
Step 4: Take succulents out of pots and wash the dirt off them.
Step 5: Make stems for the succulents using wire and tape. Do this the same way you did it for the roses. Succulents are more fragile than they look, especially the smaller ones, so be careful. We had a few casualties. Sad, broken succulents.
Be careful putting the wire through! These babies are fragile.
This is how the succulents look after you have wired and taped them.
Step 6: Start making your arrangement, starting from the center. Arrange your biggest or focal-point flowers and start filling in the rest. When you have a base (about half a bouquet), wrap it in wire and tape to keep it together. Again, no duct tape allowed.
Step 7: Finish arranging until you love it.
After you have an arrangement started, wrap it together in wire to hold it in place.
Step 8: Wrap stems with wire and tape, leaving a few inches at the bottom so you can put the bouquet in water.
Step 9: Wrap with ribbon, using pretty pins to keep it in place. Make one of them blue for your "something blue" if you don't already have something.
And voilà, you just made your bouquet.
Wrap the bouquet in ribbon of your choice.
Use a blue pin for your "Something Blue"
