How to Make a Wedding Bouquet Yourself and Save Some Wedding Budget?

Undoubtedly, a wedding bouquet is an integral part of a bridal look and its choice is also very important. In fact, there are many cool bouquets of various flowers, shapes, colors and styles. The average price for a bridal bouquet ranges between $50-$200. But if you seek for something really unique, be ready to pay more.

To save some money from the wedding budget as well as to get a bouquet of their dreams, some brides prefer to make their own bouquets. Basically, it’s not very hard to make a bouquet with your own hands. Have a look at our tutorial on how to make a wedding bouquet and make sure that it’s the task you can cope with.

What Flowers to Choose?

Winter wedding bouquet

When you choose flowers for your wedding bouquet, think about your wedding theme. Actually, there are three basic ways of understanding what you need. You can go for seasonal flowers, choose flowers taking into account the color of your wedding or opt for the ones which ideally fit your wedding style.

Seasonal flowers are a guarantee that you will have the freshest and pretties blooms. Moreover, they cost less as they aren’t shipped from abroad and you can save much money by choosing them. For example, sunflower wedding bouquet is the most affordable in late summer and early fall, chrysanthemum is an ideal variant for fall wedding bouquets, peonies are in season from mid-May to early July while ranunculus is a summer flower.

When you want your bouquet to fit the color scheme of your wedding, the things seem to be quite easy as you just opt for the flowers which are available in the picked colors. However, sometimes, it’s hard to make a beautiful composition in some colors. And so, we recommend to pick up the basic flowers of the necessary color and enhance the bouquet with some other hues.

For instance, if you have a wedding in purple color and have already found cool purple anemones, use them as a focal point and add some flowers of other color. Thus, you can add pink or white roses as well as some greenery and decorative elements. As a result, you will get a beautiful bouquet which fits your wedding theme though it’s not entirely purple.

The style is also important. Some flowers may don’t work with some styles. For example, gerbera bouquets look very contemporary and they will be inappropriate for vintage or shabby chic weddings. At the same time, some field flowers may be out of style at luxurious weddings though they can be added in small amounts.

Keep in mind that tight compact bouquets of peonies or roses are traditional and suit almost every type of wedding. Lush arrangements of soft, big blooms are ideal for creating romantic mood at your wedding. Sleek minimalist arrangements, like a calla lily wedding bouquet, look very modern while loose clusters of flowers in combination with greenery give a rustic feel.

Actually, there are thousands of fantastic wedding bouquet ideas. So, your task is to understand what color and style of the bouquet you want. Then you pick up the necessary flowers and décor. By the way, while buying flowers, order 20% more flowers than you will actually need. When you make the bouquet yourself, you can make some mistakes and so, it’s good to have some flowers in reserve.

How to Choose the Décor?

Wedding bouquet with berries

The majority of wedding bouquets are adorned with ribbons. Usually, you will need about 1-1.5 m of ribbon to adorn the bouquet. Many brides opt for a white or ivory ribbon, which will suit the color of the wedding dress. The pop of white against the green stem ties any bouquet into a dress.

However, it’s not obligatory to have a white ribbon. You are actually free to choose any color corresponding your wedding theme and style. Thus, if you have burgundy bridesmaids dresses and burgundy wedding décor, a ribbon of this color will be an astonishing choice.

Or, the bouquet ribbon may match the flowers themselves. For instance, if you have a bouquet of pink peonies, you can adorn it with a pink ribbon. And if you have a bouquet containing flowers of various colors, try to choose a ribbon suiting them all. For example, a ribbon of green color is a universal variant as it’s of the same color with stems and bouquet’s greenery.

However, ribbon isn’t the only possible variant of bouquet décor. It can be replaced with lace or decorative burlap. Moreover, the bouquet may contain beads, crystals, feathers or whatever else. The most important is that it looks beautiful and suits your wedding style.

How to Arrange Everything?

Romantic wedding bouquet in pastel colors

Now, let’s see how to make a bridal bouquet and arrange flowers plus décor beautifully.

You will need:

Flower Shears (or scissors)

Floral Tape (can be bought at gardening stores or online)

Bouquet Pins

Bouquet Wrapping (usually a ribbon)

Flowers

1. As soon as you get your flowers home, cut the stems with garden shears and put them in buckets of fresh, room-temperature water so that they stay hydrated and healthy. Store the flowers in a dark and cool place until the time to make a bouquet comes.

2. Now, let’s start the process of creating your DIY wedding bouquet. First of all, you need to get rid of any foliage on the stem. Do that carefully not to damage the stems. Also, make sure that all stem lengths are approximately identical.

3. Take a flower which will serve as a focal point of the bouquet. You should add the next one at an angle but the bloom must be at the same height with your focal flower. Bunch the stems together and wrap them with a floral tape. As a rule, bigger flowers serve as focal ones while smaller blooms are used as fillers.

4. Add flowers around the focal ones to make a bunch. Don’t be afraid of mixing textures and colors to create a beautiful composition. Finish your bouquet with a ring of greenery around the edge and a few sprigs of greenery dispersed throughout.

5. Wrap the bouquet with a floral tape but leave about 3-4 inches in the bottom. Now, hide it under a ribbon which must be attached to the tape horizontally and wrapped around the stems. Make sure that the tape is fully hidden under the ribbon and secure the ribbon with a pin. That’s it!

Wedding Bouquet Preservation Tips

Peonies Wedding Bouquet

It’s great if the bridal bouquet is made not less than an hour before the ceremony. However, if you need to store it for some time, have a look at the following tips.

Place your ready bouquet in a vase of fresh water and store it in a cool (but not freezing) location. If you're storing it in a fridge, put it closer to the front as the temperature isn’t so cold there as at the back part of the fridge.

A couple of hours before the ceremony, take the bouquet out of the water and wrap it with a decorative element like a ribbon or lace. Place it in a vase containing enough water to cover the bottom of the stems but it mustn’t touch the wrapping.

Directly before the ceremony, take the bouquet out of water and dry the stems with a paper towel or napkin.

Will a Fake Flower Wedding Bouquet Save Your Wedding Budget?

Artificial flowers wedding bouquet

It’s a fact that artificial flowers are cheaper than fresh ones. So, they can definitely be a good choice if you are short of money or don’t want to spend $100-200 on a bouquet, which will fade pretty soon.

On Youtube as well as many websites, you may find many tutorials on how to make a wedding bouquet with artificial flowers or how to make a paper rose wedding bouquet, etc. They can be of different level of difficulty. For instance, the easiest way to create a wedding bouquet is to buy artificial flowers and arrange them in the same manner as we do with fresh flowers.

While the process is quite easy, the choice of the good-quality flowers can be a challenge. Of course, there are many artificial flowers for sale of various types and colors. However, when we talk about a wedding bouquet, it’s important to choose the flowers which look realistic. As a rule, they cost a bit more but they may help you to create a bouquet which looks no worse than the one of real flowers. At the same time, by using the cheapest flowers, you can really spoil your bridal look.

Moreover, in addition to flowers, we recommend you looking for some cool decorative elements. Thus, brooches look very cute in artificial bouquets. Also, you may add some beads or crystals. Other cool variants are artificial berries and cotton flowers.

Moreover, your bouquet can be made of other materials. Thus, a bouquet made of pearls or crystals may add a cool accent to your bridal look. Or, you can have a bouquet made of ribbons, fabric or paper flowers. Everything depends on your fantasy.

However, you may find some cool and affordable fake flower wedding bouquets for sale and spend no time on their creation. There are many craftsmen who create adorable things and sell them at affordable prices.

While, it’s cheaper to create a bouquet of fresh flowers yourself, the things can be absolutely opposite with artificial ones. The thing is that when you seek for artificial flowers or some other decorative elements for your bouquet like beads or artificial berries, many retailers sell them in bulk. And it’s very inconvenient if you need to make just one bouquet. Moreover, by buying such things in bulk, you will hardly save the money.

In their turn, craftsmen buy all the materials in bulk and use them for many pieces. That’s why, the final price for their bouquet can be lower than the one created by yourself. Moreover, you don’t need to spend your time on the bouquet creation. You just choose the bouquet you like the mots and make an order for it.

Now, you know how to make a wedding bouquet and are ready to start the preparation. Don’t be afraid of being creative and show your inner artist. Also, as we have already showed, it’s not necessary to opt for fresh flowers as you may also make a fantastic bouquet of artificial flowers as well as some other materials.