How to Make a Red Rose Bridal Bouquet

Create a wedding bouquet with red roses.

Brides often have particular tastes when it comes to the flowers for their wedding bouquets. Some carry only one flower while others prefer bunches of flowers that trail elegantly from their hands to the ground. Whatever your wedding bouquet style, you can’t go wrong with red roses. Not only are these roses a symbol of love, they set off any white flowers in the bridal bouquet nicely with their vibrant color. Plus, if you want to preserve your bouquet, red roses retain most of their color when dried.

Things You'll Need

• 30 long-stem red roses Scissors Water Floral tape Ribbon, any color

Instructions

1. Fill your sink with cool water and gather about 15 roses together in a bundle. Hold the stems under water and cut about 2 inches from the ends of the roses. Repeat with the other roses. This allows them to drink for a few minutes and bloom later on.

2. Pick up four roses and hold them so the blossoms form a square shape. Add four more roses, placing one against the four spaces between the center roses. This should create a diamond shape.

3. Place four more roses at the flat edges of your diamond shape to create an eight-pointed star. Slip eight more roses in the spaces between points in the star shape. Continue this way until you’ve gathered all 30 roses in a slightly domed bouquet.

4. Wrap floral tape around the roses about 3 inches from where their heads meet the stems and again about 4 inches from the ends of the stems. Trim the stems with scissors so all of them are even and flat.

5. Snip a piece of ribbon about four times the length of your stems. For stems about 10 inches long, cut a piece of ribbon 40 inches long. Secure the ribbon to the tops of the stems with a small piece of floral tape. Wrap the ribbon down the stems, then back up the stems in a spiral until you run out of ribbon. Tuck the ribbon securely between two rose stems. Your bouquet is finished.

Tips & Warnings

• Add other flowers to your bouquet by leaving out 10 to 15 red roses and replacing them with one or two other kinds of flowers. White roses, lilies, white stephanotis and cymbidium orchids work well in wedding bouquets because of their hardy stems. They also come in various shades of white and pink that complement red roses well. Add embellishments like pearl- or crystal-topped hat pins to your bouquet. Simply slip them between the flowers after wrapping the stems.

References

• Visions of Silk: Rose Wedding Bouquet
• The Knot: Homemade Wedding Bouquets
• Links 2 Love: Wedding Flowers