How to Make a Beach-Themed Bridal Bouquet
Coordinate your bridal bouquet with the overall aesthetic of a beach wedding by integrating elements such as shells, seaweed and starfish with floral elements and other natural pieces such as raffia or twine. Use an all-white motif, natural shades of white and off-white, or coordinate the colors to your wedding colors by adding artificial flowers, feathers, sprays of pearls or crystals. A compelling mix of natural and artificial elements as well as floral and nonfloral pieces make the bouquet as distinctive as the person carrying it.
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Things You'll Need
- Floral wire
- Fresh flowers
- Artificial flowers
- Shells
- Starfish
- Seaweed
- Raffia
- Twine
- Floral tape
- Straight pins
- Crystal sprays
- Pearl sprays
- Styrofoam ball
- Wooden dowels
- Craft glue
Instructions
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Preparation
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Coordinate your bouquet's colors and textures with your wedding's color scheme. Use sea greens, bright tropical corals, oranges and reds or deep sparkly blues. Tailor the size and style of the bouquet to the feel of your overall wedding -- consider informal versus formal styles, size and shape. For example, use bright stargazer lilies, powder-blue hydrangea and crisp white roses and peonies. Add shells in natural shades of off-white and pink to echo the shape of the peonies and complement with sprays of pearls. Garnish with small starfish, sand dollars or seaweed rosettes and trail seaweed and ribbon from the base.
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2
Design a mock-up of your bouquet and evaluate the different types of floral and nonfloral elements within the arrangement. Use straight pins, floral wire, floral tape and Styrofoam to create the basic shape, as well as a mixture of colors from your palette.
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Determine which floral and nonfloral elements you wish to include in the bouquet after evaluating the mock bouquet. Mix fresh seasonal flowers with shells, shell flowers, sand dollars and natural and colored starfish.
Design and Construction
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Create a base for your bouquet using Styrofoam or floral foam for nonfloral elements and loosely bound stems for floral elements. Start by loosely binding the stems of your flowers with a piece of ribbon, raffia, twine or a rubber band.
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Attach shells and starfish to wooden dowels or floral wire with craft glue. Intersperse them among the flower stems, leaving the binding loose so that you can rearrange. If you are only using nonfloral pieces, you can anchor the shells and other pieces in Styrofoam or floral foam.
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Bind the stems and dowels with floral tape before adding crystal sprays, pearl sprays and any artificial flowers. Artificial flowers may be preferable when using several types of shells and starfish because they are less fragile and can support the weight of other elements.
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Wrap the base of the bouquet in ribbon, raffia and seaweed to create a layered effect, adding strands of shells for a musical touch. Using solely raffia, ribbon or seaweed can create a more uniform look when used as tails coming off the bottom of the bouquet as well.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Dynamic Graphics/Creatas/Getty Images
