My friend asked for help with her wedding by making my gift to her the centerpieces and a few other crafty notions. I immediately had a million ideas and obviously said yes, in that order. Thus, my debut into DIY wedding flowers.
The most outrageous wedding flower story I’ve heard was from someone whose friend told them to budget $3,000 just for the flowers in her wedding. Excuse me? I plan on buying a dress, shoes, jewelry and ideally a honeymoon with that kind of money for my wedding so.. no thanks. I knew I could do this much more efficiently for my friends.
Picking Wedding Flowers
I started by contacting a great local florist that Kevin uses for me. However, the price point was quite steep for what the couple wanted, and I knew I could make something more gorgeous and closer to their vision, so I couldn’t justify it. There’s no greater feeling than being able to make something for your friends that they actually need.
Check Your Local Grocer for Wedding Flowers
Check your local grocer’s floral department. If you’re in the Chicagoland area I highly recommend Mariano’s, particularly in Skokie, or another store you trust. I say trust because there are plenty of grocers near me that I won’t even shop for groceries at, nonetheless invest in their floral arrangements for something as important as my friend’s wedding.
Make sure you not only really like the quality of the product you see, but just as importantly, make sure you like the service. I felt so comfortable with the options and products, and the woman who helped me was amazing! She was helping me make mock-up arrangements within minutes of me walking up, it was such an easy choice to work with them. Mariano’s totally hooked me up! They even gave me a bucket for all of the bouquets when I picked them up so they could be in water for the commute home.
Check Your Local Florist for Wedding Flower Options
No luck at the grocer floral departments? Maybe you’re just not digging the selection? Never settle. Try checking out the local florist scene. You can still order large bouquets without the store arranging the actual centerpiece for you.
Visit their store to price out different types and amounts of flower options. Then, take to Pinterest for some inspiration with your options. If you think you’ve found your solution you can either head back to the store or order over the phone now that you’ve seen everything in person once.
DIY Wedding Flower Vases
Start by thinking about the theme. Below are a few examples of a direction I’d take for DIY wedding flowers based on the wedding’s theme:
- Country: Mason jars (see also these gorgeous pink mason jars)
- Rustic: Stemless wine glasses
- Elegant: Tall, thin cylindrical vases
- Modern: Cube vases
If you have a good amount of lead time, keep an eye out anywhere and everywhere you go: Homegoods, Pier 1, Walmart even, you never know where you will find exactly what you’re looking for. No rush to pick the vases at the first store you go to if you have the time; shop around.
Making the DIY Wedding Flower Centerpieces
This was the best part! The bride provided me with exactly what she wanted which is surely what made it so simple, so don’t underestimate good ole’ fashioned preparedness. Whether it’s yours or a friend’s wedding, have an agreed upon prototype so there’s no guessing or surprises.
It’s also important, for your sanity, to have an organized work station. Keep trimmings in one spot (or directly in the garbage), keep the finished arrangements away from all the scraps and debris, and be careful when trimming the stems because the harder-to-cut ones will fly all over the place with zero warning.
DIY Wedding Flower Tips
You live and you learn. Here’s what I can tell you from my personal experience making DIY wedding flowers.
- For flowers with bigger stems you may want to remove the leaves if they are disproportionate to the vases. Do this by gently pulling the leaf straight down the stem for the cleanest break. Example:
- Pull any discolored petals off the blooms. If there’s only a few, no one will notice a missing petal. But if left, people will definitely notice brown spots.
- If you have a couple of smaller blooms that would look better combined, fasten them together close to the buds with a tiny rubber band that come with the bouquets you bought. The dual stems in the clear vase is subsequently a great look.
- Cover any larger gaps on your main blooms with larger cuts of the filler pieces. This is a great way to showcase the gorgeous filler flowers where there is already a [literal] void.
- Don’t completely fill the vases with water, “less is more.”
- Don’t underfill the vases either though, make sure the bottoms of the stems are completely submerged to keep the flowers fresh all day and night.
Making My Exact Wedding Flower Arrangements
Total Centerpieces: 6 smaller for tabletops, 1 larger for the card/gift table.
Vases: 6 stemless wine glasses ($2.99/each pre-sale pricing) and one taller vase ($3.99/each pre-sale pricing) – which were perfectly on theme in the cellar venue, and can clearly be used after the event if desired. Total vase cost came out to about $25, which is less than what I was originally quoted for one of the centerpieces from the first florist I asked!
Flowers: Three bunches of 3 Hydrangeas each (needed 6 total), 2 bunches of Gypsophilia (used just under 1 full one total), and 1 bunch of 10 mini Calla Lilies (used all). I also had white asters (the mini daisy looking flowers) but ended up not using them based on preference. All in, going this route cost about $55, for all of the centerpiece’s flowers (and I had some leftover).
Total approximate cost for 7 arrangements: $80
First, I picked the best looking Hydrangeas for my 6 vases. I trimmed the stems down to a length where they barely touch the inside of the vase so it is actually sitting on the top of the vase. This prevented them from wobbling/moving at all. Then, I pulled the leaves off gently, where needed, and placed the bunch in the wine glass vase. To polish the look, I trimmed pieces off of the white Gypsophilia filler and placed it in sporadically to create volume and dimension.
That’s all there is to it, my friends! A big perk? Using all the extra flowers around your house.
Share your experience with DIY wedding flowers in the comments below. Any tips or tricks I missed? Fill us in!
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