Bridal Bouquets – How to Make Your Own

Bridal Bouquets – How to Make Your Own

If you are on a tight budget for your wedding, or if you just like working with flowers, you might try making your own bridal bouquet.  You may run into some problems that can be avoided by paying attention to our checklist for making a bridal bouquet.

Glorious, sweetly scented Roses

Plan before starting

If you just jump in to making your bouquet without planning what style, colors, and flowers you want, you may not like the finished product. It would be best to have chosen your wedding colors before you begin the bouquet. Take a swatch or color chart with you to the florist to be sure you are ordering the correct colors.

Roses

Choose the flowers

A traditional bridal bouquet has an odd number of flowers, usually seven or nine, but you may want more or less, depending on your wedding budget. Roses are a popular choice for the bouquet. If you do choose roses, make sure you order long stems, so you have enough to work with. Keep in mind that flowers with soft stems, like daisies, may droop if made too much before the ceremony.

You do not have to use the same flowers in your bridal bouquet as you have chosen to decorate the wedding location or reception hall. You will want, however, to make sure they don’t clash too much.

Choose the flowers

Choosing the greens

Unless you are choosing to go with a flower only bouquet, you will need to carefully consider which greens you place in your bouquet. The foliage that surrounds and supports your chosen flowers can make or break your bouquet. Using a mixture of foliage generally goes nicely with all flowers. However, like flowers, you need to keep in mind that some foliage will wilt or turn brown if cut too early. As you gather your material together, keep in mind that your bouquet is often seen from all angles, including underneath. Keep everything trimmed neatly.

Choose the flowers

Gather your supplies

You will also need some other basic supplies, such as scissors, a knife (to cut the stems), floral tape, and ribbon in a color that compliments both the color of your flowers and the overall color palette of your wedding. Fortunately, all of these supplies are easily found at your local craft store.

Schedule Time

Depending on your talent and experience, it may take a bit of time to make your bridal bouquet just the way you want it. You may want to practice once or twice ahead of time just to make sure you know how to make it.

You will also want to make sure to set aside some time in your wedding planner or your wedding checklist the evening before you wedding to make your bouquet. Leave the flowers and greens in water if you make the bouquet the night before, but make sure that the ribbons do  not get wet. If the weather is very hot, you will want to put the flower, still in water, into a refrigerator to keep the flowers fresh.

Instructions

  1. Lay out your supplies. You don’t want to be searching for your scissors while your flowers are already in hand.
  2. Prepare your flowers. Strip leaves from the stem and remove wilted or browned petals and flowers.
  3. Prepare the foliage in the same manner.
  4. Holding the foliage in one hand, arrange them so they form a rounded head.
  5. Next, place flowers among the foliage. Arrange the flowers and the foliage so that all are evenly spaced.
  6. Add flowers to the outer edges of the bouquet. Your bouquet should fan out in your hand naturally.
  7. Once you have the shape and design you like, wrap floral tape around the stems tightly, just above your hand.
  8. Wrap the floral tape around the stems at least three times.
  9. Tie ribbons around the stems, being sure to cover the floral tape.
  10. Cut all the stems about six inches below the lowest edge of the ribbons.