DIY Grocery Store Bridal Bouquet

So, remember the post about grocery store flowers. Right – how could you forget?

As promised, I tried it out myself. I ventured out in the cold and rain this morning and paid a visit to Trader Joe’s. I bought 2 bouquets of flowers for $5.99 each. One was a red/orange/yellow mixed bouquet and the other was just solid red roses.

I stripped all the leaves, thorns and extra stems. This was pretty easy except for some of the yellow flowers, which I think may be mums, unless you want them all grouped together, the stems end up pretty short once you separate them from the main stem.

I started grouping them together in my hand. There was no particular order to it – I just tried to mix up the the flowers so that there weren’t large groups of any one flower. This was a little challenging with the shorter stem flowers because they kept popping out and didn’t want to cooperate at times. I didn’t have any wire, which i looked at in the store and decided I wouldn’t need, which also made this part a little challenging. I ended up just wrapping the floral tape directly around the stems. As I’ve read before, the tape sticks better to itself if you pull it just a little taut.

The flowers were pretty secure with the tape but the stems were jutting out left and right. The ribbon would’ve looked just as uneven. So I needed something smooth and sturdy to serve as a base for the ribbon. First thing I thought of was a paper towel roll. Go figure, but I couldn’t find one anywhere.

The roses came wrapped in some semi-thin corrugated cardboard. It was perfect because it was smooth on one side but pretty sturdy so you wouldn’t be able to see the stems through the ribbon.

I bought a roll of clearance ribbon when I got the floral tape. I wrapped it all the way around the stem-handle and put in a column of pearl pushpins.

It’s by no means perfect but pretty good for a first try (I think).

What do you guys think? Any tips or tricks to share with the rest of us?

——————————————–

Cost:

$5.99 mixed bouquet

$5.99 rose bouquet

$1.59 stem tape

$1.00 ribbon

=14.57

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Technorati Tags: Bouquet, Bridal, DIY, Flowers, ribbon

17 Comments so far

I think it looks awesome for a first try!! I’m hoping to DIY my flowers to so this is super helpful.

Cut the stems shorter. About the length of the width of a hand. Right now you have it about that width plus the length of two thumbs.

Heck maybe its about half a paper towel roll length? Then you could use that for the smooth grip.

And my guess is you’ve already been told but Costco does bulk flowers.

[...] Vote DIY Grocery Store Bridal Bouquet [...]

Love the look – yes. ) I agree with the other poster that the stems should be a bit shorter. Great price for such a beautiful bouquet.

I don’t know if you have a location set yet but I found an idea from another wedding blog that’s new to me. The wedding was held at a historic library in Detriot. Here’s the link:

http://anneruthmann.blogspot.com/2008/09/mary-matts-wedding.html

Looks FANTASTIC!

That looks terrific. This is an excellent idea. I am now thinking about doing this myself. I have pretty classic colors for my wedding (black,white and silver) so a DIY rose bouquet in this fashion would be spectacular. If you cut the stems a bit shorter, you’d have a perfect bouquet. Good job!

Anyone interested in DIY flowers should check out the Floral Design Institute’s webpage… they have a great video library (http://www.flowerschool.com/page004.11.02.904.67.htm) of tons of techniques (some are on youtube, search for flowerschool) and a huge archive (http://www.flowerschool.com/page004.11.01.01.000.htm) of text and photo instructions for bouquets, corsages, centerpieces… pretty much anything and everything. I’ve learned more from their website than two years working at a flower shop! another great idea would be to ask around and find a retired florist willing to trade a few technique lessons for a pecan pie, or take a community education class. I’m always amazed at how much faster, easier, and more consistent things are after I learn the “right” way to do things… could save you hours/days and be far less frustrating!

One last tip: buy a giant bottle of Crowning Glory. It’s a product that you can either spray on the flowers or dip flowers into that makes them last SIGNIFICANTLY longer (weeks instead of days, in the case of Gerbera daisies) and is worth its weight in gold when flowers have to be out of water or exposed to heat/ dry air. Basically it’s a wax emulsion that soaks into the petals of the flower, reducing water loss in a huge way. I would recommend not trying to save $10 with a different brand – in my experience the difference has ALWAYS been worth the extra money (and I don’t say that lightly, I’m a HUGE fan of generic products and bargain hunting!)
Good luck!

First try?! Those look great for any number of tries! The flowers look like you could’ve gotten them at a fancy florist.

What a money saver! Keep up the good work!

Lady, you are too fly! I love it.

Great first try! When I was feeling super ambitious and thought I’d do my own bouquet, I found countless help from YouTube. They have many many instructional videos (some good, some bad). I want a cascading bouquet and it’s actually not as hard as you think! You might’ve already done this, but just type in bridal bouquet and a bunch will come up.

Beautiful colours! Good job!

Looks beautiful! Gives me hope that I’ll be able to make my own bouquet as well.

Wow- looks good! Great thinking on the paper towel holder/corrugated cardboard idea. Looks like it made a world of difference.

I think you’d did a great job!!!

Wonderful! I will definitely be putting your tips to good use while doing my own bouquets. It looks great!

That looks fantastic, like a sunset!

im getting married in 2 months, my wedding cost 1000 aus $ 12 grand is way to much.

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