Make Your Own Cascade Bridal Bouquet

The bridal bouquet is an important part of wedding fashion and decoration. The flowers are usually the bride's favorites. A cascade bouquet can be made with any flowers, real or silk. The cascade is usually made in the classic round colonial shape with the cascading flowers descending from the bottom at the center front of the bouquet. It is a very popular arrangement.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bouquet holder 12 to 15 silk or fresh roses 12 to 18 silk or fresh rose buds 12 stephanotis blossoms or other filler flowers 6 yards satin ribbon Florist tape 18 inches of florist wire Wire cutters

1. 

   Build a base with leaves. Cut the stems about 3 inches long. Push the leaf stems into the foam all around the outer circle of the bouquet holder, where the plastic meets the foam.

2. Cut silk or real roses for the bouquet, leaving the stems 3 to 4 1/2 inches. Insert the roses into the foam, above the leaves.

3. 

   Cut a rose so the stem is 4 inches long. Push the rose into the very center of the foam, near the front of the holder. This is the focus flower. Cut more roses at 3 1/2 to 4 inches long. Place four roses at the angles around the center rose. Fill in with more roses. Add sweetheart roses or rose buds between the larger roses. Add stephanotis blossoms or other small filler flowers.

4. Tape a stem of sweetheart roses or rosebuds to an 18-inch piece of floral wire, using floral tape. Wrap the floral tape tightly to secure the rose to the wire. Add a second piece of wire to extend and add more flowers to the piece. Keep at least 5 inches of the wire exposed at the top.

5. 

   Keep adding the small roses and tape each one securely. Add 3 to 5 stephanotis blossoms or other filler flowers to the cascade piece. End with one or two small flowers at the bottom. The piece will resemble an over-sized corsage.

6. Make sure a portion of foam is exposed at the center of the front of the bouquet.

7. 

   Push the exposed wire up into the foam. Make sure it is firmly embedded into the foam.

8. 

   Cut an 18 inch piece of ribbon or lace. Lay it flat across your work surface. Cut two to three more pieces of ribbon, lace or netting in lengths varying from 12 to 24 inches. Lay the pieces across the center of the 18 inch piece of ribbon. Pull the ends of the 18 inch piece up and tie it tightly at the center to firmly secure the other ribbons. Place the knotted ribbon cascade against the top of the bouquet holder handle. Tie the 18 inch ribbon tightly at the back top of the handle. Tie again for a very secure knot.

9. Trim the ends of all the ribbons at an angle.

Tips & Warnings

• Soak the bouquet holder, foam portion down, for at least 3 hours when working with real flowers. Hold the completed bouquet in front of a mirror to see if there are any gaps in the flowers. Check the sides too.
• The bouquet holder is a plastic unit that has a foam piece secured into it. Take care not to split the foam by taking flowers out and putting them back in frequently or the unit will be ruined.