DIY - A lovely floral bouquet

Flowers are an expensive part of any wedding budget, but let's face it, those little guys do really dress up a room! Adventurous and craftsy brides are beginning to take on the enormous task of doing their own flowers for their wedding. If you've got time, patience, a great group of helpful friends, and some serious free refrigerator space, then I say, go for it!

I am doing a trash-the-dress session with my lovely friends Lisa and James of Lisa and James Photography. I'm thrilled to be working with such talented photographers, and you definitely need to check out their work!

A few of my bride-to-be friends have already done their shoots, and one recommended that I take a bouquet along. I loved the idea, but was not too keen on spending another $245 for a bouquet as I did on my first, so I decided to do a little DIY. The first stop was my local grocery store. Why not a florist, or a wholesale place? Because for this project, I'm going cheap and lazy. That's why. =P

I found a lovely little bunch of bright yellow flowers (a color used in my actual wedding) and bought them on the spot. $7.99. Score! I went home and about 20 minutes later, I had a lovely little bouquet, I'll be proud to carry for the shoot. Is it as great as the one I paid $245 for? Not a chance. But it's darling, and will do very well indeed, and for the price, can't be beat.

To make your own bouquet, you can follow the steps I took:
1. Buy a bunch of assorted flowers in coordinating colors.

You'd be surprised at the variety your local grocery store has, and they've really started to come up with some really stylish mixes. A far cry from the "wildflower medley" complete with copious amounts of babies breath and fernicus nasticus (that's my latin for "ferns of nastiness") of the 80s. My local grocer actually had a section where blooms were separated by type into small bunches and you could choose any 3 for $12. A nice way to get the variety you want, if you can't find it in a pre-mixed bunch.

2. Take the flowers out of their package and remove the rubber band.
3. Put the flowers in a sink full of cold water to keep them fresh while you work.

4. Take each stem individually and clean off any excess foliage towards the middle and bottom sections so you have a clean stem to work with. Lay your cleaned stems aside and arrange by type of flower.

5. Start with a single stem and work your way around, adding various stems and turning your bouquet as you go. Having my stems arranged by flower type really helped me to evenly disperse the blooms, and rotating the bouquet as you form it makes sure it's nice and even by the time you're done.

6. When you've finished building your bouquet, secure with floral wire or tape. I had neither, so I used the rubberband that the bunch came with. Trim the stems to the desired length.

7. All you need now is to cut a length of any ribbon you like and wrap around the bouquet stem to cover any of your bindings. Tie an exaggerated fluffy bow, or tuck neatly under, and secure with a pearl-head pin.

8. Marvel again at your handiwork and enjoy your new bouquet!