Flower HIB's and anyone else who can help, Make my own bouquets?

Sounds a good idea, but think you are being too ambitious. If you are using fresh flowers, they would have to be done day before at earliest, and quite honestly, the day before, you really wont feel like it

not a HIB, just know what the day before the wedding is like hth

Hi, if you can get some help I don't think you are being too ambitious. You would need to do them at the earliest the day before but it can certainly be done. Another forum I frequent has some ladies who have done their own and they have looked fab.l Best thing to do though would be to have a practice. Not sure how you would do corsages but button holes are relatively straightforward and a handtied bouquet isn't too complicated either.

We are doing our own as I love flowers and just cannot afford the costs I've seen. So we are off to New Covent Garden Flower Market for a reccie this weekend.

We are having one handtied bouquet for me, two posies for the flowergirls. Three button holes and three lapel corsages. 8 vases for the tables at the venue. We will be using roses (possibly avalanche), sweet peas (maybe) and peonies.

I've already practiced doing a button hole and it turned out really well. Will post a photo when I'm not on the laptop as they're on the main PC.

You will need some specialist equipment. Some florists wire, tape, wide ribbon for the handtied bouquet and some pearl headed pins. Depending on the flower it may need to be wired to make it hold up.

Have a look on youtube as there are loads of videos posted of people making handtied bouquets. I've also got a mag with instructions for two types of bouquet and buttonhole instructions if you would like me to scan it and send it to you?

Hello

I trained as a florist, and have done several weddings of my own. Personally I'd not recommend it. If you really want to do it, then I'd go on a course before-hand. It's not just about the technique, but it is also the time involved. For me to do a full wedding I'm up the day before at 4am, off to market to get flowers & work all of that day. And then the brides bouquet is done on the morning of the wedding, so will be up early then too. It can be very stressful, and if you are panicking/nervous it'll take twice as long. Sorry if I sound negative, but this is just what I think.

If you don't know the correct techniques of things - bouquets & button holes could literally fall apart! There are some people who make their own floral decorations, and look very nice, I'm not saying otherwise - just thinking about the stress of it all. There's no way I'd do my own wedding flowers! I'd work VERY closely with a florist I knew & trusted, but I'd want to be chilling out in the lead up to the big day, not worrying that my gerbera's will droop!

Katie

To be honest, unless you know what you are doing, you could be struggling. Although some people do manage to buy their flowers and put a bouquet together, you need to be aware that it's not as easy as it looks and unless you know what you are doing with regards to buying the flowers, conditioning them, wiring etc etc, it could end in disaster on the day before your wedding which is too short notice to find someone to do it for you. If you buy your flowers from the florist, you would need to order them well beforehand and she may not be able to guarantee the flowers you would like, and would probably only save a small amount of money. If you are lucky enough to gain access to a wholesale market, you will have to buy everything in minimum quantities so could end up paying even more than you would if you went to a florist. Anything wired eg, wrist corsages, buttonholes, corsages are something which takes a long time to learn to make and not something easily done. In addition to this, you would also end up with quite dirty and broken finger nails (florists are well known for having horrid hands!) which is probably something you wouldn't want the day before your wedding. All this may sound like sour grapes etc, but not meant to, just sound advice. Why not work out a budget and go and see a couple of florists to see what they can come up with and save yourself the worry.

On another note, you said about it maybe being cheaper - but you would definitly need to practice which would involve a lot of flowers being purchased way before hand for practice runs which would add to the cost.

I'd definitly go for having a go with silk if I was going to do it as would have lots of time to play around with what I had, or get someone else to do it from a stress point of view xx

What I will do when I do them for real is if I decide to do them the night before, is leave the stems a bit longer without the florist tape in water to keep them fresh. They will just need binding on the day then.

I have to echo other peoples advice - making your own flowers will be very stressful and will probably end up costing near enough as much as having a trained florist do it for you. Wiring wrist corsages and buttonholes could end up being a nightmare for you. You would need wires, florist tape, ribbons, pins, wrist corsage braclets and any other items you are adding.

Silk flowers are more realistic these days as long as you order high quality ones - here are some pictures of one of our brides who has gerberas mixed in her bouquet and other silk gerbera items... if you decide to go for silk ,i am sure suppliers will be happy to send you a sample before hand so you can check the quality.

Also agree with the other posters I wouldn't attempt it and it is a lot to take on. Silk is an option if you wanted to do them yourself, much easier than working with real flowers (says she who has been doing it for donkey's years!) If you wanted to have a go at making your own I would be happy to give you any advice.

Here are a few examples of Gerbera designs I have done to give you some idea of how realistic they can look:

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I'm still not sure about silks as my mum says she can tell they aren't real and i can see her point. I can't really explain it, but when you look at them they are all the same stage of openness and it doesnt really look natural to me. There are some beautiful examples on here though!

I'll have another chat with OH and mum and see what we come up with.

Unfortunately, Gerbera don't come in stages of openess I'm afraid. They are already open when they are picked and sold this way at the wholesale markets.