Build Your Own Flower Arrangement – Molly Allen is a former bakery owner with expertise in wedding bookings, as well as a former event planner. She is now a freelance writer with a focus on lifestyle, travel and food and drink.
Adding a bouquet to your wedding day ensemble is one of the best ways to make a statement. After all, everyone in attendance will be able to see the beautiful arrangement as you make your way down the aisle. And your bouquet really can be as unique as you are. But what’s a budget-friendly couple to do if they’re looking for a super affordable bouquet? If you’re DIY savvy, or even if you’re not very crafty, it’s still a great option for you. Enter: a DIY wedding bouquet.
Build Your Own Flower Arrangement
Caroline Eells is the founder and lead designer of Passiflora Studio, a floral design studio based in Marietta, Ohio focused on creating designs using flowers sourced from local farms and from the studio’s cutting garden. Eells also offers floral design tutorials on her YouTube channel.
Flowers By The Stem
Although creating your own wedding bouquet may sound daunting, it is certainly possible. With simple materials and a few steps, you’ll be able to put together a stunning custom arrangement that serves as the perfect accessory for the big day.
If it fits your wedding budget, having a floral designer create a gorgeous bouquet is a good option. However, much of the cost of a professionally designed bouquet comes from the labor involved. There are certainly costs associated with sourcing fresh flowers, but costs increase depending on the amount of time spent and the complexity of the design. If you’re able to skip that and do the work yourself, you’ll definitely be able to shave some off your flower budget.
First, you need to decide what type of flowers you want to include in your bouquet. According to Caroline Eells, it’s important to start by considering the style of your wedding dress, as it will reflect the tone of the whole wedding. Next, consider your color palette. Eells suggests thinking about whether you prefer complementary colors or whether you want to integrate contrasting colors to add some drama.
Also, be sure to decide whether you’re hoping for a classic, tight bouquet or something a little more whimsical, such as a garden or bouquet. “If you’re going for a more modern and simple design, I suggest using only one to three varieties of flowers, very little or no greenery, and flowers that have a lot of textural interest,” she says. “For more of a garden style, I suggest five to seven varieties of flowers and greenery and flowers with many different textural and gestural qualities.”
How To Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers, According To Sarah Raven
Once you’ve made a plan to create a gorgeous bouquet, you need to buy your flowers. If you have access to a garden, either your own or a friend’s or family member’s, Eells suggests first looking at what’s blooming there. If you don’t have access to a budding garden, check out local farms or grocery stores to find the varieties of flowers you’re hoping for. As a last resort, you can check online to order flowers in bulk.
One of the main considerations when creating your own wedding bouquet is timing. “I like to make the bouquet the day before the wedding,” says Eells. If a wedding is on Saturday, she usually picks up her flowers on Thursday, makes the bouquet on Friday, then adds the ribbon on the day of the wedding to finish it off. “For your wedding day, you want the blooms to be at their best,” she adds.
Once you’ve chosen your flowers, you’ll need a few other tools for a stunning bouquet. Make sure you have the following on hand to be set up for success:
Before you dive into constructing your bouquet, make sure your stems and greenery are prepped and ready. First, remove all the leaves from your flower stems. Then, for each stalk of greens, remove the leaves from the bottom halves. Cut each individual stem at a 45-degree angle and hold the stems in a bucket of water as you assemble.
How To Make Your Own Fresh Cut Flower Food
Once the stems and vegetables are prepared, you are ready to assemble your bouquet. Start by building the shape and frame of your bouquet first, thinking about dimension along the way. Eells suggests standing in front of a mirror while putting together your bouquet so you know exactly how it will look from the front.
When assembling the stems in your hands, start with a base, then add your larger, focused flowers. Then continue to add smaller flowers and greenery, balancing the design as you build. Once you’ve constructed a bouquet you love, cut the stems to trim them back and wrap the entire bouquet with a rubber band. Make sure it’s wrapped well before adding floral tape to hide the rubber band or tie a pretty ribbon around it. Wrap a ribbon tightly around the stems for a clean, classic look, or let the ribbon fall for a more relaxed, garden-style look.
Along the way, don’t be afraid to get creative with your bouquet. Usually, a bouquet follows an odd number rule of design, meaning that three or five of a certain flower are added on purpose. But you can certainly break that rule if it feels right. “Sometimes it’s that one stem of something from the garden that sets it all apart!” says Eells.
As you build your bouquet, remember that it’s not worth stressing over. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve torn apart a bouquet in over 10 years of floral design,” adds Eells. “Just take a deep breath and enjoy the moment you get to create something beautiful with your hands. And remember, flowers are very resilient.” How to Arrange Flowers Like a Pro: Life Kit Whether you forgot to order flowers for that special occasion, or you just want to flex a new creative muscle, here’s how to DIY a professional-looking bouquet of flowers from the grocery store.
Elevate Your Everyday: Build Your Own Bouquet
Florist Alexander Campbell shares tips to help elevate your supermarket bouquet. We followed his advice to create this arrangement from grocery store flowers. Photo illustration by Becky Harlan/ hide caption
Florist Alexander Campbell shares tips to help elevate your supermarket bouquet. We followed his advice to create this arrangement from grocery store flowers.
Maybe you forgot to order flowers for a special occasion. Or you just want to exercise a new creative muscle. Either way, these tips from florist and TikTok sensation Alexander Campbell will help you choose and arrange flowers at the grocery store so they look like you got them from a florist.
Left: warm colors; Middle: cool colors; Right: one color in different shades Photo illustration by Becky Harlan/hide caption
Build Your Own Bundle
Think about what colors the recipient likes. If you need help deciding on a “color story,” Campbell suggests sticking to a palette of either warm or cool colors, or different shades of the same color—like light purple to dark purple.
Look for one to two types of greenery with different textures and three to four types of flowers in your color palette:
Check the flowers in the store to make sure the stems are green and the petals are firm.
Pro Tip: Look for a mix of buds and flowers that are already blooming to give your bouquet a longer life.
Create Your Own Fresh Cut Floral Arrangement
Cut the stems at a 45-degree angle, removing any leaves that will be below the water line in the vase.
Place your vase on a lazy susan so you can spin it as you work. Add each item in this order:
Make sure your bouquet has different layers of height and feels full and balanced all the way around. Look at your arrangement from different perspectives and sides to see if you want to adjust anything.
Give your bouquet to your loved one. It will be even more meaningful if you arranged it yourself!
How To Make Flower Food To Keep Cut Flowers Fresh
Campbell suggests adding flower food to the water and changing the water every day or every other day to extend the life of the bouquet.
We would love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave a voicemail ready for it with these succulent flowers in our woody and wild DIY bouquet! Warm red tones and muted yellows mixed with dried branches get us into all the earthy autumn feelings. While we’ve made some lovely DIY bouquets in the past with silk flowers from Afloral, this one is definitely our new favourite!
The perfect balance of moody and sweet, this beautiful arrangement of silk flowers lets us know the crisp air and crisp days are starting. This bouquet isn’t just for fall brides, although we think it makes an excellent statement if we do say so ourselves! We think it will make a lively addition to any intimate gathering, holiday party or even mantel.
We bring news of great joy when we share with you the news that this fall bouquet was incredibly easy to make!
How To Make Your Own Bouquet For The Big Day
Simple Flower Arranging
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Author by : Stephen Wicks
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2014-04-21
Publisher by : Penguin
ISBN :
Description : Simple Flower Arranging helps you create flower arrangements with style and flair, be it flowers for the home, a gift, or wedding flowers. Love having flowers in your house or making blooming bouquets? Be inspired by more than 60 stylish flower arrangements made simple, from vase arrangements to wedding creations. Owners of destination florist, Bloomsbury Flowers, Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks guide you through designs and techniques that allow you to create your own incredible arrangements. Key sequences are shown through step-by-steps and sumptuous photography so you can easily see how to take a simple bunch of blooms and present them with a professional touch, encouraging you to experiment with hand-tying, wire, papers and ribbons. Organized by flower type, it's easy to find flowers that you can buy in the supermarket, such as roses, lilies and sweetpeas and turn them into amazing arrangements. Simple Flower Arranging helps you to make beautiful bouquets and arrangements for every occasion, from baby celebrations to Valentine's Day and Mother's Day....
Flowers By Design
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Author by : Ingrid Carozzi
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2021-11-23
Publisher by : Abrams
ISBN :
Description : From florist and founder of Tin Can Studios Ingrid Carozzi, a guide to creating floral arrangements that will complement your unique style and taste Flowers are classic, timeless design elements that enliven your home and your life. Flower arrangements can act as an extension of your style and your tastes, complementing and accenting the aesthetic in your home. Ingrid Carozzi brought us beautiful arrangements in her first book, Handpicked, and is now offering even more tips and techniques to bring the joy of flowers into your space in new and fresh ways. Flowers by Design focuses on creating unique and beautiful floral arrangements that fit into and complement the overall look and feel of your home. More minimal tastes? There's a floral bouquet for that. Rustic chic? There's an arrangement for that. Planning an outdoor garden party? Of course, there are plenty of beautiful flowers to enhance the outdoors. Through her experience, Carozzi has developed an exceptional list of designers, influencers, and artists that she works with. Using their backgrounds and homes as inspiration, she provides a number of floral recipes that you can create at home. The contributors utilize their own spaces as the setting for seeing these arrangements in place, offering plenty of ideas for what you can do on your own....
Handpicked
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Author by : Ingrid Carozzi
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2017-03-14
Publisher by : Abrams
ISBN :
Description : Learn DIY floral arranging from a veteran florist, with photographs, tools and tips for making your own responsibly-sourced designs. Brooklyn-based florist Ingrid Carozzi reveals her secrets for creating flower arrangements that are modern, original, and organic in style. Organized by season, the book presents simple step-by-step instruction (how to measure, cut, and place each bloom) for making more than 35 arrangements. Whether you want to learn how to work with chicken wire and tape to create a simple framework or try your hand at arranging delicate and oversize blooms, Carozzi offers a detailed tutorial on her tricks of the trade. Readers are encouraged to source, make, or upcycle unexpected containers, such as rough-hewn wooden crates or vintage pots, jars, and vases. Full of natural floral compositions that marry the modern with the rustic, Handpicked is a lushly photographed, practical guide to creating your own exceptional flower arrangements at home....
The Art Of Wearable Flowers
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Author by : Susan McLeary
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2020-03-03
Publisher by : Chronicle Books
ISBN :
Description : The Art of Wearable Flowers reveals the secrets to creating gorgeous floral accessories that you can wear. This guide book provides how-tos for 40 floral wearables, including an eye-catching succulent ring, gorgeous hyacinth hoop earrings, a fabulous petal necklace, and a luxurious headpiece, plus bracelets, corsages, headbands, and more. ,br>Renowned floral artist Susan McLeary shares this stunning collection of 40 flower- and plant-based designs that you can try out for yourself. • Each project includes an ingredients list, styling tips, and easy-to-follow instructions paired with step-by-step photographs. • This flower arrangement books gets the ultimate makeover to elevate every outfit with natural beauty • Filled with essential information on tools, design techniques, and plant care, making it easy to create these remarkable arrangements at home Featuring hundreds of inspiring photographs presented in a beautifully designed book, The Art of Wearable Flowers is a must-have accessory for any modern woman. Susan McLeary's expertise in styling flowers—combined with breathtaking photos of her signature arrangements—makes this a wonderful gift for the florist-frequenter. • Not your average flower book, this book is for anyone who wants to make a show-stopping appearance at a wedding, birthday party, or any special occasion • Great for brides (and as a bridal shower gift!), florists, crafters, flower gardeners, and flower stylists • Perfect those who loved Paper to Petal: 75 Whimsical Paper Flowers to Craft by Hand by Rebecca Thuss and Patrick Farrell, The Flower Recipe Book by Alethea Harampolis, Seasonal Flower Arranging by Ariella Chezar, and The Flower Chef by Carly Cylinder...
Charlotte Moss Flowers
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Author by : Charlotte Moss
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2021-04-06
Publisher by : Rizzoli Publications
ISBN :
Description : Renowned interior designer and tastemaker Charlotte Moss celebrates flowers and offers endless inspiration in their use as glorious additions to decorating, entertaining, and everyday living. Charlotte Moss encourages readers to bring the garden indoors--with ideas for arranging flowers, selecting containers, and placing blossoms around the house. An inviting cluster of blooms on a guest room's bedside table, lavish floral displays for parties and holidays, single stems adding life to any corner of a room--Moss has been photographing her flower arrangements for over a decade. This book is a celebration of her artistry and a testament to flowers as part of day-to-day life. From Moss's grander displays in the city to her more informal and breezy creations at her home in the country, as well as in the refined interiors of her clients, the visual result is a chronicle of the myriad ways flowers provide inspiration--indoors and out. Readers will be further motivated as Moss describes the contributions of past tastemakers: Gloria Vanderbilt for her ingenious use of floral patterns in her licensed products, Pauline de Rothschild for her fantastic tablescapes, Bunny Mellon for her profusive use of topiaries, Constance Spry for the use of inventive containers and for her groundbreaking artistry, and Lady Bird Johnson for her embrace of the simple, exquisite wildflower. With nature as her muse, Moss implores us to create the backdrop for a life well lived, imbuing every day with flair, beauty, and elegance....
Floral Design
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Author by : Bo Morgan
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2019-05-11
Publisher by : Independently Published
ISBN :
Description : Master The Art of Livening Up Living Spaces And Special Events With This Unconventional And Powerful Guide To Floral Design. Floral design can be surprisingly difficult. It may look easy at first-since flowers are already beautiful, throwing together a few flowers and making a bouquet should be easy and pleasing to the eye-but that's not often the case. Coupled with the dearth of authoritative information on floral design, it easy to see why a lot of floral patterns may look colorful, but lack depth and a certain something that gives a flower arrangement that conveys a tangible feeling, atmosphere or mood. Unlike other books on floral design, most of which are often outdated and ill-adapted for the tastes of the modern world, Rebecca Wellner and Bo Morgan have teamed up to create a masterpiece on floral design that is as timeless as it's effective. While other books focus on step-by-step instruction on how to create particular floral designs, Wellner and Morgan show you how to actually think about floral design like an expert and intuitively make floral arrangements that are perfect for any and every occasion. Here's a preview of what you're going to discover in this guide: The five basic elements required for breathtaking floral designs Essential floral design tools you need to have How to think about colors and matching the right colors for your floral arrangement Foolproof flower identification guide to help you pick the right flowers for any event Mind-blowing floral arrangements for any event and how you can make them ...and tons more! Although designed for beginners and jam-packed with creative insights and indispensable techniques, Floral Design: A Beginner's Guide To Floral Arrangements contain a wealth of effective advice that can be implemented by anyone, regardless of skill level. Ready to take your floral design skills to the next level with awe-inspiring arrangements? Scroll up and click the button to purchase now!...
Floret Farm S Discovering Dahlias
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Author by : Erin Benzakein
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2021-03-09
Publisher by : Chronicle Books
ISBN :
Description : A stunning guide to growing, harvesting, and arranging gorgeous dahlia blooms from celebrated farmer-florist and New York Times bestselling author Erin Benzakein, founder of Floret Flower Farm. World-renowned flower farmer and floral designer Erin Benzakein reveals all the secrets to growing, cultivating, and arranging gorgeous dahlias. These coveted floral treasures come in a dazzling range of colors, sizes, and forms, with enough variety for virtually every garden space and personal preference, making them one of the most beloved flowers for arrangements. In these pages, readers will discover: • Expert advice for planting, harvesting, and arranging garden-fresh dahlias • A simple-to-follow overview of the dahlia classification system • An A–Z guide with photos and descriptions of more than 350 varieties • Step-by-step how-to's for designing show-stopping dahlia bouquets that elevate any occasion Expert Author: Erin Benzakein's gorgeous flowers are celebrated throughout the world. Her book Floret Farm's A Year in Flowers was a New York Times bestseller and her first book, Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden, won the American Horticultural Society Book Award. Filled with Wisdom: Overflowing with hundreds of lush photographs and invaluable advice, DISCOVERING DAHLIAS is an essential resource for gardeners and a must-have for anyone who loves flowers, including flower lovers, avid and novice gardeners, floral designers, florists, small farmers, stylists, and designers....
