Tuesday 26 August 2014

DIY wedding bouquets

Our biggest wedding splurge is the reception venue - and with 140 guests it's quite an expense.  So I'm DIY-ing as much as I can.  Not only because it's more cost-effective but also because I love DIY-ing and would get such a kick out of creating things that contributed to my wedding day.

I had heard quotes from florists in the thousands of dollars for wedding flowers.  I don't value flowers enough to pay that kind of money, and thought it might be fairly straight-forward to do it myself.

I youtube-d a few videos to got a decent idea of what's involved.  After purchasing some floral tape and wire from ebay, I paid a visit to the flower markets in Flemington.  I was completely overwhelmed with the flowers - which ones are suitable to put in a bouquet?  Which flowers/colours complement each other?  What am I doing??


So I just bought some white roses, pink roses and these random pink and white spatter roses, along with another random off-white flower (no idea what type of flower this is).  I think I paid $25 for the bunches above so estimate spending less than $100 for 5 bouquets on the day.  I cleaned them up (removed a majority of the leaves, thorns, picked off dead/dirty flower petals) and started building the bouquet.

I started with 3 large white roses in the middle, then filled the gaps with the smaller pink roses.  I continued to build around the outside with the spatter roses and random off-white flowers.  It probably took 5 minutes to build the bouquet.  I dismantled that bouquet and attempted another one with less pink than before.  Then I dismantled that one and did another version.  It was actually pretty fun!


I won't be using the off-white flowers in my bridal bouquets as they drooped really quickly but it's all about trial and error.  My sister attempted a bouquet and it turned out nicely - less pink and more white than mine.


Getting used to holding a bouquet!


I forgot to take pics of the actual bouquets once I bound it with tape, hacked off the ends and wrapped satin around it.  If I do another trial run I'll remember to take said pictures.

14 comments:

  1. Wow! They loo so good! You are clever! Maybe go and meet with a florist or two for quotes, because they will be able to suggest what will last and what will be available at the time of year. I had a florist do my flowers (didn't need many) but went to a few before I settled on one.

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    1. Hehe not clever, you can do it yourself!

      My cousin actually worked in a Florist for 3 years (totally forgot as it was many years ago) so she will help me for the wedding next year.

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  2. They look amazing ! I want to do the same thing for my wedding :) good on you for trying it out xx

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    1. You should defs give it a go. So straight-forward!!

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  3. They look lovely but that is a huge task for the morning of your wedding! My florist was lovely and would recommend her in a second, she was very reasonably priced. If you want her contacts, let me know :)

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    1. I was going to go to the flower market the day before my wedding. That and my cousin worked in a Florist for 3 years (totally forgot as it was many years ago) so she will help me for the wedding next year :)

      If anything fails me I'll defs contact your florist!

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    2. Sounds like you have it under control! Always good to enlist family as they love to help. DIY for your wedding is great, I DIY-ed heaps of stuff myself as I enjoy crafty stuff and I also felt it added some more of 'me' to the day.

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    3. That's exactly what I'm after - having a sense that I put myself in the wedding as much as possible!

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  4. Are you having foliage in them? They're still pretty but act as fillers. Also do you have a theme/colour scheme? We found that really helps guide all the decisions.

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  5. I love these! Your wedding bouquets are going to be amazing!

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    1. Awww thanks Rhi, was so much fun. I might do it again one Saturday just for kicks hahaha

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  6. Hack off the ends. LOL :)
    Lucky for me I had friends in the industry... $190 for everything.

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    1. Well it seems everyone has connections but me....

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  7. wow, they look amazing! well done!
    my recommendations for wedding: diy is great, but make sure you're not having to do too much the day before and especially the day of the wedding. you want to create as little stress as possible. the less you have to do on the day, the more you will enjoy it. same goes for your friends and family - don't get them to do too much because you want them to enjoy the day too.
    also, book in for a massage during the week before your wedding. you will thank me later :)

    reckless abandon

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