Budget Bridal Bouquet: Kathleen Pickens
Since this class is chock full of "Here comes the Bride"...I thought it would be a lot of fun to show a fast, cheap, and easy way to create a bouquet for your wedding day. I myself became frustrated when trying to find a bouquet that would match vintage dress that I am wearing for our pre-ceremony "destination shots" (I do not want to be seen in my formal gown until I actually trip, er, walk my way down the aisle). The florist could not seem to understand what I meant by "blue wildflowers" and kept designing hideously expensive monstrosities, so I decided to create my own bouquet using artificial stems. Easier said than done! All of the stems I found with blue in them looked like plastic flowers that you may leave on your grandmother's burial site...if you did not like her. Imagine my glee when I found the perfect flowers, all bundled together in an arrangement at Hobby Lobby for $9.99...AND 50% off! All I had to do was figure out a way to turn the arrangement into something that would pass for a handheld bridal bouquet and that would not look like I only spent $5.00 on it! Here is what you need!
What You will Need
Your "Perfect" Bouquet
Ribbon Color of Choice
Florist Tape, preferrably in green, but I used brown
Extra stem clippings from whatever artificial flowers you have on hand (or buy super cheap flowers and cut the heads off)
Strong wire cutting tool
Scissors
Step One: Take approximately three stem clippings and use the florist tape to secure them to the arrangement's original "stem". Be sure that the tops of the clippings are hidden naturally within the floral part of the bouquet. See below!
Step Two: Continue to add additional stems in groups of three, until the "handheld" portion reaches your desired girth.
Step Three: Use the floral tape to double wrap the completed stems, ensuring that the piece is secured. The image below shows the piece securely wrapped.
Step Four: Use the wire cutters to trim the bottoms of the stems to your desired length. I cut this one about two inches shorter.
Step Five: Cut your ribbon piece at least three feet long. Now, wrap the ribbon from the "back" of the arrangement toward the front, securing the front in a double knot.
Step Six: Take the ends of the ribbon and wrap them around the back, then bring them back toward the front. Again, double knot the ties as shown in the picture below.
Step Seven: Repeat Step Six up the front of the bouquet until you reach your desired stopping point. You can either tie the remaining ribbon in a bow, tuck the ends into the back, or clip the ribbon down and secure with a pearl headed pin. I simply knotted this one in the back to secure it.
Step Eight: Try the bouquet on with the dress and pat yourself on the back for spending $5.00, not $200.00, on your perfect bouquet!
Additional Ideas:
Use a different colored "base"ribbon before knotting your bouquet and allow the base color to show through the spaces in the knotting. This will create the popular "french knot" look.
Instead of using one long ribbon to knot the entire way up, use several different colors of a thin ribbon and allow the ends to stream loosely every few inches to add visual interest to the bouquet.
You can use pearl-headed pins in each of the knots both to secure them and to add interest to the handpiece. Bobby Pins that have dragonflies, butterflies, and glittery shapes can also accomplish this in a creative and unique manner.
Add visual interest to the floral arrangement itself by inserting stemmed beading into the piece. It will capture the light in photographs and reflect the colors of your arrangement.
Clip a few of the flowers from your arrangement to make a complimenting boutiniere for your future husband. This is even more simple than creating a bouquet! Just cut 2-3 of the flowers down to approximately 3", now use that florist tape to secure the stems together. Wrapping it with leather, suede, or rafia will add texture to the piece and make your fiancee happy that you created it with his masculinity in mind!
A Lesson Learned:
While I hope this page has been helpful for anyone in the class arguing with their florist, I also hope that it demonstrates the practical way that digital images can be used for learning. I feel that showing the bouquet being built was MUCH more demonstrative than simply trying to write out the steps because the pictures are what really portray the process. I hope they are also convincing that it IS really easy to do and that having things "your way" does not have to cost you a week's salary. Thank you for checking out my learning tool!
