DIY

DIY Wedding Flowers

There will be nothing styled about the photos from this post. I don’t even have pictures of the flowers in place, because I was working, working, working on the flowers. The boutonnieres had pins and ribbons to finish them off. I thought I would share in spite of all that.

My sister in law, Gina, got married this last weekend on the Solstice and I offered to do the flowers for her. We had a pinterest floral board and we had done a dry run at the LA Floral Mart a couple weeks before the wedding, so that I knew we were on the same page and I would know where to go when the time came.

I ordered some David Austin garden roses from a wholesaler in Carlsbad and picked them up on our way up to LA. The first day I did 3 table arrangements for the rehearsal dinner I composed those with coral spray roses, bright green mums, astilbe, bougainvillea, and star jasmine. The bougainvillea and star jasmine were pilfered from the silverlake neighborhood we were staying in.

I gridded out the vases with waterproof tape and built from there. I was really surprised by how well the bougainvillea held up. The arrangements only got better over the last few days.

As for the day of flowers I made:

1 floral crown for the flowergirl
6 boutonnieres
2 corsages
1 bridal bouquet
1 moh bouquet
12 tabletop arrangements
3 larger arrangements
1 cake topper

Flowers used:

Pepper Tree cuttings from around town
Fig Vine cuttings thx to Allison and Matt
Thistle
Something that looked like pink pinecones – aka I have no idea what it is called
Kale
Dahlias
Garden Roses
Spray Roses
Roses
Scabiosa
Scabiosa Pods
Queen Anne’s Lace
Double-Flower Lisianthus

I started with the floral crown by making a few bunches and arranging them on a copper wire that I shaped and turned the ends into loops that I could string ribbon through. After making that I had a good idea of what I wanted the boutonnieres to look like, so I made those next.

I made a sample of the tabletop arrangements and my sister, Caley, made the rest of those. Then it was on to the Bride’s bouquet. By then I was hitting a wall and I was a little nervous to dive in, so I started wiring the garden roses and bunching small vignettes together (can you say thank god for floral tape). I think it turned out great.

After that was done I moved on to the MOH bouquet and that was easy because I just made it smaller and riffed on what I had done for the bride. Then it was on to the larger arrangements and cake topper.

I will say after doing this and getting to take home some of the arrangements I’m most definitely going to have flowers around my home more. Even though I was under pressure I had a great time being creative with nature. It did my heart good.

* Pro-tip buy the preservative it was well worth it. Even overnight out of water my bouquet looked amazing.

I bought all the tools I needed at the floral mart. It was way cheaper than a craft store or purchasing online. For instance the preservative was around 9 bucks compared to 20 on Amazon.

I know this isn’t a great step-by-step tutorial, but I thought I would share that it can be done. If you have any questions please comment and I will do my best to answer them for you.

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3 Comments

  • Reply
    Barbie // Fringe & Feathers
    July 2, 2014 at 11:38 AM

    How wonderful! What a beautiful gift to give your SIL. I love the flowers you chose. I've been bitten by the flower bug lately. I've always loved having flowers around the house but I recently lost my godmother — she was big into gardening and flower arranging — and I'm now finding myself very drawn to creating with flowers. I'm making my way through The Flower Recipe Book. It's a beautiful (and insightful) read if you haven't checked it out already.

  • Reply
    Desi McKinnon
    July 2, 2014 at 12:08 PM

    I love that you have integrated some of your godmother's interests into your grieving. Seems like a very healthy way to connect after a loss.

    I love The Flower Recipe Book. It's very insightful and inspiring.

  • Reply
    Karina
    July 2, 2014 at 9:52 PM

    The flowers look beautiful and I'm sure the garland turned out awesome too. You are one good SIL for sure. The two photos of you in the vest are my favorites. I hope you print one for your house. You are a true beauty. xo

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