Did anyone DIY flowers for their entire wedding?

[Brizzit]

I'm trying to decide if its worth the time to do ALL my wedding flowers (centerpieces included) for my wedding. Any horror stories? did you love it? how did they turn out? etc. pictures would be amazing! I'm doing roses and gerber daisies. any input would be much appreciated! thanks!

[WebLady]

I did this for a friends wedding a couple of years ago. I made all the bouquets, bouts, corsages, and did the centerpieces too.

It was a small wedding so it really wasn't a lot to do, but the MOB and a friend helped finalize everything the night of the rehearsal.

[Brizzit]

I did this for a friends wedding a couple of years ago. I made all the bouquets, bouts, corsages, and did the centerpieces too.

It was a small wedding so it really wasn't a lot to do, but the MOB and a friend helped finalize everything the night of the rehearsal.
was it pretty simple to do? or did you end up pulling your hair out?

[WebLady]

It was pretty easy, just took a little time; we did simple designs so that helped too.

But I have to admit, I had worked around it before (former wedding photographer and wedding coordinator) so I sort of knew.

[Brizzit]

I want to do things that are simple yet, don't look like i made them in my living room. any pics or ideas?

[WebLady]

Hand tied nosegay bouquets (round shape) are the easiest to do. You pretty much just group the flowers together, trim the stems and wrap them. Depending on the flowers you use, you might need to use some floral wire to get them to stay in place or bend them out to form the shape.

I can see if I can find a tutorial online; I think there is a corsage & bout tutorial on here somewhere, I will try to find that too.

[WebLady]

Here is a good one on corsages -
http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=15380

Here is one for bouts -
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/corforgroom.html

Here is some bouquet making basics -
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/makbouqandga.html

And more wedding DIY (love the save on crafts site) -
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/weddingcrafts2.html

[Docsgirl]

I'll be doing all of ours the morning/day of. We have a 5:30pm wedding, so we're just going to go a few places around town to pick some flowers up and make them. I'll be making little crystal and black accents before hand to stick in them too. It just saves so much this way. The toss bouquet will probably be made out of the true touch flowers from Hobby Lobby.

[BarceloMayaPalaceBride]

I made the BM bouquets and the GM's bouts. To me it was worth saving the $200.00+ to just make them myself. It would be more time consuming than anything, but I'm sure it would be lots of fun :) Let me see if I can dig up some pics....

[BarceloMayaPalaceBride]

The bouquets are tiny in this pic sorry....And the bouts :)
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp138/Davematthews16/MEXICO/Wedding.jpg

[BarceloMayaPalaceBride]

http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp138/Davematthews16/bouts.jpg

[DennissBride]

I just bought all my fake gerber daisies, haven't gotten them yet, but they should be here tomorrow. I got a great deal on them too...I bought 120 Baby blue, 120 yellow and 48 white, all have a 4" flower head...and I only spent $140. I'm gonna do all the bouquets and centerpieces myself. You ought to check out this website, if you decide to DYI flowers! www.save-on-crafts.com (http://www.save-on-crafts.com)

[mitch]

I did My own Bouquet. Cost about $40 to make. And about an hours work between drinking Tea and a few swear words at the Cat for running off with the ribbons. LOL.

I used Red and Ivory Roses. Black Feathers. Black Beads. Black Ribbons and a Bouquet Holder for Dry Flowers.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w229/mitchymoomoo/wedding/11102008670.jpg

[bluejay]

I'm going to do all flowers for my ceremony, and if my florist(in season flowers come in my venue package) can't do what I want done for the reception I might embellish there. I can get more flowers for my buck if I buy wholesale. I have a good friend who is a floral manager and she's gonna place my order.

[Gertie]

I've done all the flowers for a number of weddings, those of friends, and my own. There are lots of how to instructionals on the web. The main concern is do you want real flowers or silk? If you don't mind at least some silk or dried or paper flowers, then it will be really really easy, you can make them well in advance and spare yourself the agony at the time.

I actually made one friend a bride's bouquet in the last 45 min before the wedding. The florist had somehow forgot it, and there wasn't time to go back and get it. We pulled a few flowers out of each of the decorations for the reception and I wired it up, and the bride liked it better than the one the florist had shown her! Still, I don't recommend this. If you've never done any floral arranging before, see if you can find a free or inexpensive class at your nearest hobby shop.

Your best bet is to buy some flowers (doesn't have to be the same ones you want for the wedding if they are expensive, just try for similar size) and make up one of each thing ahead.

Also remember less really can be more. One of the most elegant weddings I ever saw was a fall wedding. Each bridesmaid had a different jewel tone gown, with a double handful of gerber daisies in all the gown colors tied up in ribbon matching their gown. Groomsmen wore just a simple gerber daisy in the color of the gown of the bridesmaid they walked with. Groom wore a creamy gerber daisy as boutineer that matched the bride's gown. Bride's bouquet was like the bridesmaid's only creamy ribbon to match her elegant and creamy gown. Each table had a grouping of eiffel tower vase with gerber daisies and some large pillar candles in creamy color of the bride's gown on an old mirror. They had collected the mirrors from local thrift stores. They had napkins in each of the four bridesmaid's colors embossed in silver and each table seated 8 so...rainbow! at each place was a small creamy box containing one very excellent chocolate truffle with a gerber daisy matching the place setting napkin tucked in where it came together.

Definately do not select some sort of flowers that don't hold up well if you are insisting on real.

Another great idea, try some potted flowers. For my daughter's wedding, we're planning to buy silver tin buckets and tie them to the ends of the pews with a length of tulle. The morning of the wedding, I'll drop a previously well watered bedding plant in each small bucket, then cover the top with some creamy white florist moss or shredded paper. At the front of the church on tulle-draped pedestals hubs is making from leftover scraps of lumber and painting white we will place large silvery metal buckets of potted plants similarly topped with creamy white florist moss or shredded paper. I'm thinking of trying to find some inexpensive tall glass vases, put something pretty inside, then hot glue a medium tin bucket to each and drop more potted plants in each for the table centerpieces. Haven't made up our minds on the flowers, I'm rooting for something like roses, gerber daisies, sunflowers, or the like tied up in ribbon for the bouquets, and simple boutineers and corsages out of the same flowers for everyone else, but it depends on how elegant a dress she ends up with.

[Katiegirl]

I'm doing the flowers for my wedding, but I'm actually growing them too! :bbeek: A coworker is also helping me. I think we'll need to make the bouquets and centerpieces the morning of the wedding. The wedding starts at 4, so if we start in the morning we should have enough time.

The centerpieces are going to be fairly simple....just a bunch of flowers (like wildflowers) in mason jars. The bouquets are also going to be fairly simple, just an assortment of flowers wrapped in a ribbon to match the dresses. I'm going to have people helping me, so I don't think it will be too hard to get it done. My sister ordered tulips online when she did her wedding. She also assembled everything herself.

Oh, and I did talk to a local flower farm the other day. They're a back-up in case my flowers don't bloom. :o

[PGDesigns]

I ordered our roses from Sam's Club. We got 100 red roses shipped in for about $95. (They also have bigger packages for those who need more flowers.)

I had NO flower experience but was determined to do all of our bouquets to save money. (The bouquets were the only flowers we did... no floral centerpieces or bouts for the men.)

The instructions were SIMPLE, and everything turned out very well! The night before, I assembled my girls at the hotel. We all removed the outer petals that showed any signs of damage, one plucked the leaves, one cut the thorns off, and the other two wrapped each bouquet with duct tape (lol) and then the ribbon and fastened it with corsage pins (the pins with the pearl heads.) We assembled 6 bouquets in no time, and our guests kept commenting on how beautiful our flowers were. They were amazed to find out we did them ourselves!

I say as long as you have a few people willing to help assemble, then go for it!

[mnickerson23]

I'm having my wedding next August and am planning on doing all the flowers, bouquets and centerpieces by myself. I don't know what your color theme is, but i just discovered a beautiful flower called a gerbera daisy!

[Bride_Craft]

I would suggest doing either the personal flowers OR the centerpieces, not both. At least if your doing fresh, anyways. They have to be made close to the wedding day, and it can become hectic. If you decide on silks or alternative materials...go for it all...you can do it forever in advance.

[igurbisz]

I plan on DIY the centerpieces and they are very simple.

[Jacobs_Girl]

my cousin did her bouquets for her wedding, the BM flowers were ok because they were silk flowers.

Her bouquet on the other hand was wilted. I guess she didnt have anywhere to store the flowers before the wedding.

I didnt make my own bouquets but our florist gave us 3 vases (one for each flower) to put them in when we didnt use them.

We did half and half on our centerpieces. I made half of them and we used flowers on the other half. Like mix and match.

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z303/b3m3rchic/Pro%20Pics/DTL_4886.jpg

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z303/b3m3rchic/Pro%20Pics/DSCF5644.jpg