Things You'll Need:
- Flowers
- Floral tape
- Scissors
- Pearl-headed pins (10)
- Wide neck vase
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Step 1
Start by choosing your flowers. You can get lovely blooms from farmers markets, upscale grocery stores, or bulk stores like Costco. I bought mine from an online retailer, www.freshroses.com , that sells long-stem roses for around $1 each. Buy your flowers the day before, or no more than two days before (if they haven't started blooming at all) the wedding. Trim the stems making diagonal cuts to let the most surface are get at the water, and then put them in a vase with room temperature water and flower food.
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Step 2
If your wedding is in the morning or early afternoon, make your bouquet the night before. If it is in the evening, do it the morning of. Put aside about 30 minutes to an hour to work on this. I did this in my hotel room the night before while my bridesmaids did their bouquets and the boutonnieres.
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Step 3
You will basically build the bouquet in your hand and then tie it off when you're happy with how it looks. Start with the flowers you want in the center of the bouquet and then add flowers around it so you are working out. Vary the heights of the flowers to give you more texture. Work with flowers first and then stick in filler where you want it.
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Step 4
When you're happy with the way it looks, have someone help you use the floral tape to secure the bouquet. Start up as high as you can and wrap the tape around and around as tightly as possible down the stems for at least 6-8 inches. Keep wrapping in floral tape until you're sure the bouquet is secure.
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Step 5
Now wrap your ribbon over the floral tape covering it completely. At the end of the ribbon, fold the frayed part in to hide it and secure with the pearl-headed pins by sticking them straight into the stems. Cut the stems about an inch below your ribbon.
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Step 6
Put water in the vase such that only the very tips of the stems will touch it. Place your bouquet in the vase until you're ready to go. Just make sure you dry it off first!
