3 O’Clock Wedding

Plenty of wholesale stores sell silk flowers at a greatly discounted price.  Working with silk flowers is easy and can be done by almost anyone. 

In order to make your own wedding flowers you will need some basic equipment - you will need floral wire, floral tape, wire cutters, flowers, greenery and decorative accents such as baby’s breath and smaller flowers.  These instructions are mainly for silk flowers but can be used for real flowers too.  Silk flowers can be manipulated much easier than real ones, so keep that in mind!

Tips for creating your own flowers are abundant.  A beautifully simple idea for a gorgeous bridal bouquet is to take several white roses, bunch them together into a bouquet, wrap the bottom tightly with floral tape and wrap satin ribbon around the stems.  Finally, attach long pieces of satin ribbon to flow down as you hold the bouquet and it’ll be stunning!

You can use this technique with either silk or fresh flowers and it doesn’t have to be all roses.  For a unique look, try out different flowers in your wedding colors.  You can also buy plastic nosegay holders at many discount stores that make preparing bouquets super easy!

Don’t worry if you can see the tape or wire.  You can always disguise it with ribbon or filler.

For your bridesmaids, you can have them carry the traditional nosegay.  Assemble it in the same way outlined above for the bridal bouquet.  A very elegant look is to have each attendant carry a single flower or a few flowers put together with greenery and ribbon that they carry cradled in their arms.  These are super easy to put together.  Just take a few flowers, greenery and accents, gather the stems together, wrap with floral tape and add ribbon.

For the boutonnières, simple is best, especially since they will be worn by the men in your wedding party.  Most guys don’t want garish flowers adorning their bodies – it’s just a guy thing! 

To put together a boutonniere, take a single flower, add a few green leaves and maybe a sprig of baby’s breath.  Then wrap the stem tightly with floral tape and voila!  Your bout!  You can, if you wish, add a little bit of ribbon but don’t go too overboard – remember the “guy thing”!

To make corsages, use an odd number of flowers, preferably 3 or 5.  Make it just like you would the bout - gather the stems, then add greenery and filler.  You’ll want the corsage to be round in shape or a long row.  Once you have gathered all the flowers together, wrap tightly with floral tape and adjust the stems for comfort.  Be sure to add some pretty ribbon for accents.

Many people aren’t sure how to pin on a corsage, so here’s a helpful tip!  The corsage should bend slightly over the collar bone, so don’t pin too far down.  The wearer should be able to tip her head slightly to smell the flowers.

Stick the pin into the fabric at the bottom left corner of the stem.  Weave the pin back out from under the fabric.  Push it through about 1 inch, laying it at an angle over the top of the stem.  Stick the tip of the pin back into the fabric on the other side of the stem.  Ensure that the stem is tightly in place with the length of the pin pushing it down.  Weave the pin back out of the fabric once more.  Be sure that the tip of the pin does not stick out, nor does it poke under the fabric and touch the skin.

Don’t forget the pins!  Go for the straight pin with a pretty pearl head on it.  They can be found at most craft stores and are normally inexpensive.  Have plenty on hand – just in case!

The flower girl basket is probably the easiest of all wedding ceremony flowers.  Just take a small basket – preferably white – and decorate it with ribbon and small flowers.  Many local florists will sell you rose petals for the flower girl to strew down the aisle quite cheaply.  If they have some roses that they aren’t able to sell that are going bad, they will normally part with the petals at a low price.

Just as important could be the ring bearer pillow.  Want to know how to make your own?  Click here!

This is an extract from our eBook ‘Planning The Perfect Wedding On a Shoestring Budget’, it’s packed with ideas to help you plan your perfect wedding without having to remortgage your house! If you would like to download our eBook, please click here.