Flowers

These are some ideas for my flowers for me, bridesmaids, and bouts. ( See bottom of page for inspirations) I went back and forth about DIY vs. Florsts- In the end I decided to do a DIY. It saved me about 150 dollars which will be used for our wedding night hotel room! 

9/19 I went out yesterday and bought a small test batch of flowers to get the hang of arranging a bouquet. Below are some pics of the outcome. THe only difference is that I couldn't find mini orange callas around town.  SO just pretend they are there.
I bought the flowers on a Friday- put them in warm water with flower food and let them sit out overnight and open and perk up. Then next morning I dethorned and deleaved all the roses. The cleaning took the longest and the arranging only took about 10 minutes.  

How To Make A Hand-Tied Bouquet

How To: 
1. First off- watch ALOT of videos on youtube.  

2. Start off my clipping the ends of your flowers and then putting them in warm water with the flower food. Sit them out and allow them to open for approx. 24 hours.

3. For roses- pluck off all of the leaves and using a paring knife remove the thorns.

4. Then remove the green petals around the flower(not sure what they are called) by snapping them off as close to the base of the flower as possible.

5. Remove the guard petals- these are the 2 or 3 petals on the outside of the rose that are usually discolored or misshapped or bruised.


6. Start off by picking the flower you want in the middle- usually your largest prettiest rose.

7. While holding it in your hand carefully add a rose at a time in a circle around the center rose. If you are having trouble holding it- add some floral tape each time you add a flower.

8. If you are only doing roses - stop at the desired size. Make sure to hold your bouquet up to a mirror to check for shape and to see if there are any holes.

9. If you want to add other flowers- just place them along the outsides like you would the roses and secure with floral tape around the stems.

10. Once you are done- make sure you have floral tape around ALL the stems at the top and then about halfway down.

11. Cut your stems to the desired size- remember if you are doing a hand tied bouquet you need to leave some stem exposed to it can sit in water.

12. Start your roll of ribbon at the top and slowly spiral it down the length of the stems. Make sure you are even with how much ribbon overlapps. When you get to the end- cut the ribbon at an angle and fold over so you don't see the raw edge.

13. Using floral pins- you can get at walmart, michaels, etc. Push one in at the flap- going at an angle toward the stems. Use as many pins as desired.

14. When done= run your hand along the ribbon above where you put the pins in- make sure none of your pins are going to poke anyone.

How to Make a Boutiner/ Corsage

1. Again- watch ALOT of youtube videos.

2. Prep flowers as stated above and then cut stem to the size you would like.

3.Start by wrapping the main flower's stem with floral tape right at the base of the flower.

4. After a few wraps around the top, one by one start adding Leaves, berries,( I used hypericum berries and Ivy Leaves from my yard-yay free) etc.

5. After each addition wrap the floral tape several times around bunch of stems.

6. When adding things make sure to hol dit up against someone b/c the leaves/flowers will lay differently.

7.Once you have the desired number of leaves, berries, flowers etc  continue wrapping the floral tape to the end of the stem of the main flower.

You are done!

If you want the curly-q tail you see on most proffesional coursages/bouts you will need to wire the main flower using floral wire and pushing it though the center of the main flower and down the stem. Push a small about through the end and when wrapping with the tape wrap the floral wire as well. When tape is all wrapped use a pencil to curl the floral wire.

For corsages- you can add a bow with thin sheer satin/organza ribbon. I am NO GOOD at bows so I would suggest you-tubing some videos - or sometimes your local craft store will make you the bows for free when you buy the ribbon if you are very nice to the lady at the counter!