DIY WEDDING BOUQUETS

As any bride to be knows, weddings are bloody expensive and costs creep up out of nowhere! When I was planning our wedding we had just bought a house I was trying to study at uni and we were living on one very small income. Even though my now husband had gotten a much better paying job that wasn’t due to start until after the wedding so budget was a big thing for us even with help from his dad and my mum. Also, it’s just one day, yes you want it to be a nice as possible, within reason. If you can save money why the hell wouldn’t you?!

So when I was trying to organise flowers I quickly realised what I wanted wasn’t going to be cheap and even my compromise wasn’t going to be cheap. The venue we picked had the centrepieces included in the cost so I only had to organise the bouquets, so I got a quote from the florist taking care of the venue and few other places as well. I knew what I wanted, peonies. Luckily the time of the wedding they would be in season but they are pretty expensive flowers and I was told last seasons lot weren’t that good and they may need to import them, at an additional cost of course. So I thought maybe I’ll just have the peonies and the bridesmaids can have filler flowers like baby’s breath (gypsophelia), surely filler flowers can’t be that expensive? I was quoted between $75-$100 per bouquet of filler flowers, my bouquet of peonies was going to be well over $200, maybe I’ll just have normal roses, still around $200.

I started toying with the idea of maybe doing the bouquets myself. I started looking at flower wholesalers trying to figure out if I bought the flowers the day before if I could put the flowers together the night before the wedding, what a logistical nightmare that would have been. Then I thought of artificial flowers. Artificial flowers don’t have the best reputation, often they can look cheap and nasty so I was pretty hesitant.

We were out and about one day and I said to my husband can we just quickly duck into spotlight and see what they have. Not only did they have some absolutely gorgeous flowers they were also on sale at 40% off! I took it as a sign, quickly had a play around with them trying to figure out how many I needed and bought them then and there. My husband was shocked at the price but little did he know how much I had actually saved ha ha. I contacted the florists and told them I had organised something else and I got started. As for the centrepieces I sent the florist a photo of the finished bouquets and just asked her to colour match as best as possible and that I didn’t mind what flowers she used. So in the end doing the flowers myself only cost me around $200 for 4 bouquets.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Artificial flowers of your choice (it doesn’t hurt to buy more than you think you’ll need, you can always return what you don’t use)
Hot glue gun
Glue sticks
Wire cutters
Fabric of your choice

1. Play with the flowers put together your bouquet, play around with the arrangement until you’re happy. Take a photo so you can copy it. Trim the stems with wire cutters to your desired length (leave a little extra you can always trim them a bit more later), it doesn’t have to be pretty you can neaten it up at the end.

2. Now time for glue. Start at the middle of your bouquet slowly working your way out. Allow the glue to set each time before adding another flower otherwise you’ll end up in a hot mess. Be generous with the amount of glue you’re using, you don’t want those suckers to move. You also want to graduate the height of the flowers down as you work out from the centre.

3. Once you’re happy with your bouquet glue the fabric at the base of the bouquet and wrap the stems, still gluing as you go for added security.

You can also keep some extra flowers so you can match with your wedding cake.


I received so many compliments on the bouquets, they were impressed I made them and couldn’t believe they weren’t real. The best thing is 2 years on and they’re still on display in my living room.

I'm hoping to post a step by step tutorial in the future, hopefully before the start of next wedding season. With bubs due in the coming weeks there won't be too many post before then, so make sure you're following me on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date!

Photo's by Passion8 Photography
Cake by Grace of Cakes