DIY Bridal Bouquet
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When Lauren and I started to plan the style and look of her wedding, it was Downton Abby that popped up as an inspiration. We knew that we wanted an English garden look for her lush bridal and bridesmaid bouquet as well as the centerpieces. Of course peonies are perfect for this look, but as they are not in season in August our immediate choice was to use the gorgeous crepe paper peony that I designed earlier this year. I love mixing paper flowers with fresh flowers for any occasion and this wedding was the perfect occasion to showcase this look. Though I once owned a flower shop when I lived in Idaho, I knew my plate was full in decorating the event and called on my talented flower designer friend Kyla Beutler. I met her when I owned my shop many years ago and we have since become like sisters. She came from Idaho to Portland for the wedding weekend and together along with my little team, we put together a jaw dropping event. Of course it helped that the bride and the wedding party were oh-so-lovely too. This was the first time I had teamed with Kyla using paper flowers and fresh and we hope to do it again. As she designed for this wedding she shared some pointers and tips and with that and my flower shop memories, I created this tutorial for you on how to make your own DIY wedding bouquet using the fresh blooms and paper flower combo. I made the DIY reproduction of Kyla’s bridal bouquet design for under $50 and you can too. Stay tuned for a full tutorial on how to do the DIY centerpieces to match. ~ Lia // Photos: Image above and the close-up below is the DIY bouquet in the tutorial. Photo of bride and bridesmaid are Lauren and her sister and showcase Kyla’s designs.
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39 Comments
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Sara
January 14, 2020 at 9:49pm
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Leave a CommentI love your tutorials! I am planning on mixing crepe paper flowers with real greens for my upcoming wedding. After doing a trial, I have a couple of questions:
-Do you have any advice for preserving the shape of the crepe paper flowers when they are put up against real greens? My rounder flowers (the tulips and heirloom roses) keep getting smooshed out of shape/closed when I try to add greens around them.
-Have you tried with using the crepe paper flowers in floral (wet) foam? Any advice?
Thank you SO much in advance for your help!
Hi Sara,
Try adding the crepe flowers into your arrangements last so you can place them gently. We do not use wet floral foam with our flowers. However you can if you use floral wire that is not paper wrapped you don’t want the water traveling up the paper to your flowers 🙂
more of a question for a florist most likely… but how far in advance can this be done? I am doing my own flowers for my wedding and love the idea of adding real greens to the arrangements but I obviously will be already very busy the day before and of the wedding!
Hi Christy! Some greens will last a bit longer than others but you will still likely need to add fresh greenery as close to your wedding as possible. You can check with a florist or a local market that carries greenery to see what they suggest. Obviously the paper flowers can be made any time 🙂
I am so happy I came across this post! I have been making some of your paper flowers for my wedding, but a lot of florists are hesitant to partner with me and use some of the flowers in arrangements. Have you had any issue with moisture from the real flowers affecting the crepe paper ones? This seems to be their brightest concern. Thanks!!
Oh how exciting! Just don’t use a paper or cloth covered wire (to avoid the water absorbing up to the flower), and cover the wires in floral tape. And you can also cut the wires a bit shorter so they don’t touch water. There’s still a chance the flowers will absorb moisture but these things should help 🙂
Oh wow! This is inspired! Absolutely stunning! I love everything you make and you really have inspired me in my crafts. I’m still trying to find my exact style to define what I do, but seeing all that you have achieved is so encouraging! Thank you for sharing your craft and making other women believe in themselves to make their business dreams come true. (PS were you at Paperworld in Frankfurt this year? It was only for a moment, but I think I saw you, I wanted to say hi, but lost you in the crowd – if it was you)
Thank you so much, your comment means so much to me! I’m so thankful I can share what I have learned. And yes I was at Paperworld 🙂
Lia,
Your designs and tutorials are superb!
I’m getting married in 2017 (always seems like plenty of time until you decide to dyi 😉 I really want to use Star Gazer Lilies in my bouquet and a combination of two paper peonies with one live peony in vases for table centerpieces. Do you think the paper peonies are too big to place with the lilies in the bouquet to combine paper and live flowers there too, or if a smaller flower would work better? Do you also have a tutorial on stargazer lilies?
Thank you kindly,
Wendy
I think you could mix the two. I do have a few different lily patterns here, but have yet to make the print for a stargazer. You could easily make them on white and paint or use markers for the color too.
How did you get the crepe peonies to stay in the arrangement? Did you use floral wire? I’m a DIY bride, and I am thinking of making my bouquet with real roses along with some of your paper flowers made from book pages. I’m wondering how I would mix the real and paper flowers without the paper flowers falling out or looking out of place.
Exactly! Floral wire is the way to go 😉
Hi! I love how you made the bouquet. I wanted to make one for my co-worker’s wedding, but her colors are royal blue and gold. I’m not so sure how to go on about how to make a bridal bouquet for her with those colors. Any suggestions or tips please? Thank you!
hmm, well since royal blue isn’t really a flower color, I would say to stick with light neutral colors- creams, soft pinks, maybe some pastel yellows. And then you can add some little gold accents as you like. You might be able to find some gold berries, glittery gold branches, things like that. I hope this helps!! It is very sweet that you want to do this for your friend’s wedding 🙂
I just thought of this! To add a pop of royal blue you can find some nice ribbon to tie it all together 🙂 Feel free to send us a photo of your finished result and we can feature in on our Facebook page!
Hi Lia – I just came across this post since I was researching paper + real flower wedding bouquets. I am planning to put together the bouquets and centerpieces for my own wedding next year. Your posts are fantastic on this topic, and I cannot wait to try them! I have one question: did you need to use waterproof crepe paper? In case the flowers are wet, I was wondering if the paper colors would run.
Thanks! Sarah
Is there such a thing? I have never tried it, I usually work with the crepe paper from Carte Fini. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!!
Great idea! An easy solution for times when peonies are not in season.
Thank you so much! I am longing for spring, can you tell;-)
I’ve been looking forward to this post and it did not disappoint! The mirror pointer was such an “Ah ha” moment. The photographic steps help so much. That is one of the things I love about your tutorials! Thanks so much to you and your crew.
You are welcome! The mirror was an “ah ha” moment for me too, I am thanking my florist friend Kyla for that one. Secrets of the trade:)
Simply gorgeously breathtaking! Looking forward to the centerpiece!!
Thank you Karen! I am also looking forward to sharing the centerpiece blog. It turned out really nice!!
I have been to 3 weddings this year and all had really pretty and very different bouquets…but, I have to say none were as lush and stunning as this amazing paper combo..Words fail me.just so beautiful like holding an english summer garden in your hand x
Thank you Sue! I also love the lushness of the big bouquet, the bride was tall and skinny so it sort of balanced out having a large bouquet. It was my first bridal bouquet mixing in paper flowers but I think it was such an unexpected and whimsical twist that I will always do that now;-)
Absolutely stunning! I would never venture to try a bouquet, but I love the idea of taking some crepe paper flowers down to my friend the local florist! I will be having some fun this winter.
Thank you! I love mixing different media and it is such an unexpected but fun twist! Have fun;-)
I realy feel so lucky to be able and watch all of your new…accomplishments…keep on going..and we’ll be watching you with admiration..Your friend from Greece…Xrisa Karioti
Thank you! Maybe I can do a post from Greece one day, that would be a dream come through!
Absolutely beautiful!
Thank you Sue!
Where were you when I was getting married??? This is what I wanted for a bouquet! I guess I will tell my husband that we have to have a wedding again!
I just love the use of the dusty miller. It looks so good and gives such contrast and softness.
Mary
You could always renew your vows;-) We had so much fun working on this wedding, Lauren and Nelson who got married are absolute sweethearts and Lauren is gorgeous so it was so fun to photograph her. We are using the same flowers for a centerpiece arrangement that could be used for any occasion (not just a wedding) Stay tuned!
would love to have something like this for my wedding..
And now you know how to make your own bouquet;) Stay tuned for more wedding posts.
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