Building your DIY Bouquet: Tips and Tricks
I recently shared with you my fabric flower DIY adventure. While those flowers are great for centerpieces and combs, most brides will be looking to use those masterful patterns to build a bridal bouquet. So how would a new DIY bride even start? How early should brides start building the bouquet of their dreams? What should brides even start on first? Building your own bouquet can be scary at first, especially if this will be your first experience with Do-It-Yourself, but here are a few tips to make it a little less frustrating:
Know the Shape you Want
Before you start building a bouquet out of your selected medium, know what you want your end result to look like. If you can’t find a suitable image online that features just the right bouquet in just the right shape, find a bouquet made of real flowers in the right silhouette instead. Do you want the bunch of flowers that hangs down on a silk ribbon? A classic mid-80s cascading bouquet with hundreds of blooms? Bunches of wild-looking fabric flowers? Find the shape first – that will decide the sorts of materials you use to build it.
I recommend printing out an image of the shape you want and keeping it near your work station as you craft. Most of us don’t have a stock pile of supplies just sitting around, so when you have a shape in mind, you can prevent the over-buying of supplies you won’t use.
Build an Army of Starter BloomsDon’t go for the perfect bouquet of expensive materials on your first shot. Make an cornucopia of blooms in your chosen medium that fit the bouquet shape you’re looking for, and experiment with different styles and designs. Make a number of “practice flowers” in less expensive material before you go for broke and build the real thing. This is also a good time to practice assembling boutonnières and corsages if you want to make them out of the same material.
If you’re asking your bridesmaids to assemble their own bouquets out of your chosen medium, think about the time commitment you’re asking them to sacrifice. If you’re really set on each bridesmaid carrying a design of her own creation, try to make the individual blooms yourself and host a “bouquet building” party to cut down on the work for your girls. If you’re staying up every night to build your bouquet, can you really expect your ‘maids to do the same?
Begin Building Early in your EngagementThe earlier you start the process of crafting your own bouquet (out of seashells, buttons, fabric, paper, or pretty much anything else), the less stressed out you’ll be right before the big day. Don’t make more work for yourself by putting it off until you’re up every night the week before your wedding gluing doilies together. Having a consistent DIY project to return to every night will allow you to de-stress after a long day and commit your brain to something other than the stresses of the world.