One of the most beautiful parts of your ensemble on your wedding day aside from your dress is the bridal bouquet of flowers that you carry down the aisle. Bridal bouquets can be expensive when you figure that you not only should have a bouquet for the bride, but also for all the bridesmaids as well. The good news is that making a beautiful bridal bouquet is not as difficult as it may seem and that with just a little bit of time and effort you can make your own bridal bouquet. Here are some tips on how to make your own bridal bouquet.
To begin with, choose the flowers that you want in your bouquet. Roses are always lovely in wedding bouquets and come in a wide array of colors, however choose whatever flowers you think look beautiful and enhance the theme of your wedding. Be sure to buy enough flowers to fill out your bouquet – you may need more than you think. Also pick up any extra greenery that you want to add like fronds or leaves to fill out the bouquet.
Begin by laying out your flowers flat on a countertop interspersing greenery here are there if you are adding any. Once all your flowers are all laid out, scoop them up into a bouquet. This will help your bouquet to have more roundness than if you tried to arrange it by hand. Hold the bouquet firmly by the stems just under the bottom of the flowers and make any adjustments as necessary to get the shape of the bouquet right. You may want to have some flowers higher than others, or you may want it to be even all around so it almost forms a ball, so do whatever you think looks pretty.
When you have everything arranged how you want it begin wrapping the stems of the flowers tightly using floral tape. Start at the top of the bouquet underneath the flowers are work your way down, wrapping the tape as tightly as you can to secure the stems in place. Typically the stems on a bridal bouquet are kept short, so when you get down 5-6″ (or however long you want the stems) stop wrapping and cut off the excess stems so they are all even.
Next, take a wide satin ribbon and wrap it once around the bottom of the bouquet, securing it with a pearl topped stick pin. Wrap the ribbon around again tightly, overlapping it with the first wrap but making sure it is above the first stick pin you placed. Place another pearl topped stick pin directly above the other to secure this wrap. Continue this procedure pulling the ribbon as tight as you can until you have reached the top of the bouquet.
You should now have a ribbon wrapped around all of the stems with a pretty row of pearls up one side of it. One your last wrap, cut off the ribbon, fold the edge under, and secure it with a final stick pin or two. Make sure everything feels sturdy and like it is going to hold together. Carefully adjust any of the pins if necessary or add extra pins where needed.
