For some reason, I decided it would be a good idea to start my journey DIYing my wedding flowers with the big fish... my bridal bouquet. Despite the fact that I had no experience with floral arrangements, or that I knew I wanted a big, bold, beautiful (read: more time consuming) bouquet. But alas, I had found my inspiration and was committed to seeing it through. Below is my step-by-step process to create a beautiful cascading bouquet that will look gorgeous on your walk down that aisle and for years to come!
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Step 1 - Choose Flowers and Filler for Your Cascade Wedding Bouquet
I did a bunch of research on what fake flowers are most realistic, and landed on sola wood flowers! Sola wood comes from the shola plant that grows quickly and abundantly in marshy areas. The plant can then be transformed into delicate flower shapes, either with the bark intact or bark removed. Once this occurs, sola wood flowers can be kept forever, making them an eco-friendly alternative to cut flowers. They look more realistic than silk flowers, and have a texture more similar to real flower petals. They are also less expensive than silk and real flowers, and you have the ability to make them any color you want.
I had found some estimates about number of flowers needed for a small vs medium vs large bridal bouquet and ordered my flowers and filler from Sola Wood Flowers. However, once I started working on this project I realized I needed more filler and less flowers. I ended up using about 30 flowers of varying sizes- you will want 1 focal flower that is the largest one (mine was a 4 inch) and then a range of 1-3 inch flowers. You can choose a couple flower styles or you can use multiple. For filler, I used mainly preserved eucalyptus greenery, but also some fake eucalyptus and baby's breath.
Once your flowers have arrived, you will want to open the packaging as soon as you can to help prevent moisture from accumulating. This will prevent any issues with molding.
Step 2 - Dye Your Flowers
Your next step once you receive your flowers is to dye them. One of the benefits of wood flowers is that you can really make them any color you want! You can use a flower dye or any acrylic paint to dye your flowers. I chose a few different shades of white to give some depth and make the flowers look even more realistic.
Additionally, during this step you will want to soften your flowers. Doing this will make the flowers more pliable, easier to work with, and less prone to cracking. Luckily, you can dye and soften your flowers all at once! You can use softener made for the wood flowers or you can use a vegetable glycerin. I got this jug on Amazon.
To make your dye/softener mixture, you will add an 8:1 mixture of water to softener/glycerin to a Tupperware container or bowl. I dyed my flowers in bulk and started with a 2 cup water:1/4 cup glycerin mixture, which I ended up refilling a few times. However, if you are only making your bouquet, you can probably do quite a bit less. Then, you can add your dye/paint. There is no set ratio for this, it will depend on what color you are trying to achieve. If you want a more muted color, you will use less. If you want a brighter color, use more. Once you add your paint, shake up your mixture and you are ready to dye!
The dyeing process is super easy (and a great place to get your soon-to-be spouse involved to make it go more quickly!). All you need to do is dunk your flower in the mixture to get it saturated, shake off the excess, and place it on parchment paper to dry. I found it helpful to place the flowers upside down so that any extra liquid wouldn't pool at the base of the flower.
Pro Tip: If you are dyeing any flowers that have rolled edges, they can be a bit more finnicky and like to unroll while drying. If you carefully tuck the rolled flower (right side up) into an egg carton, this can help the flower to retain its shape.
Your flowers will take about 24 hours or so to fully dry. Some flowers with many layers may take a bit longer. Wait for the flowers to completely dry before moving onto the next step or placing them into unsealed bags for storage. It can also be helpful to use the gel packets that came in the original packaging if you need to store the flowers for later, just in case! I'm not sure if this is necessary, but I figure better safe than sorry :)
Step 3 - Stem Your Flowers
Your next step in this project will be to add a stem to the flowers. You will need some floral stem wire, a hot glue gun (I have this one) with glue sticks, and a vase or container to store your flowers upright while the glue dries.
For this process, all you will have to do is add a small dab of hot glue onto the end of your floral wire and stick the floral wire into the base of your flower. Some flowers are super easy because they have a wide base, and others you have to be a bit more precise. Your goal is to stick the wire in far enough to create a secure connection, but not too far that you stick the wire through the front of the flower!
Step 4 - Prep Your Supplies
Once you have all of your flowers stemmed, you can get ready to create your bouquet. I would recommend prepping your filler before getting started, because it will make the bouquet creation process go much more efficiently. To do this, you will want to break apart your filler into smaller individual pieces. Some filler strands will have a strong enough stem to be added directly to your bouquet. Other pieces will be smaller and you may need to attach a smaller length of floral wire (see photo below). You can use leftover floral wire and use a wire cutters to cut it to the length you want. Then take a piece of floral tape to wrap around the wire and the filler stem.
Pro Tip: When using floral tape you need to pull the tape taut. Once there is a bit of tension on the tape it will become sticky! Otherwise, it will not stick to itself. It can be helpful to practice rolling the tape around a piece of floral wire before you get started to get the technique down.
Your last step before making your bouquet is preparing your actual bouquet holder. After some research, it seemed easiest to me to shape floral craft foam into a cage as a base that you will add your flowers to. You will want to make sure you use dry craft foam, which is meant for fake flowers, and not wet foam that you would use for real flowers. You can take the top off of the cage and use it to make a mark of where to cut the foam. I cut the foam with a regular kitchen knife. Once you have your foam cut you can place it inside the cage and you will be ready to go!
Step 5 - Add Your Filler
For a cascading bouquet, it is easiest to add the filler first and then add the flowers at the end. To get an idea for the size/shape of your bouquet, you will want to hold your cage perpendicular to your belly button. This is how you will hold the handle while walking down the aisle. You will want to add pieces of filler in a cross shape first to create the borders of the shape that you want. It is also helpful to start with your fullest, cheapest filler to create your shape and fill in most of the backdrop for your flowers. Like I mentioned earlier, you are going to use a lot of filler! I added my longest piece to the bottom first as a guide for how big of an upside down teardrop shape to make. As you start adding filler, you will want to make sure you are sticking pieces into the foam at all different angles. This will secure all of the different pieces.
Once you have added your fullest filler type, you can start to fill in with your other types. Triangles are visually appealing, so consider adding pieces in groups of three to create a triangle shape and then spreading those triangles out throughout your bouquet. You can make your bouquet as orderly or as wild as you want! Once you feel like your bouquet is filled to your liking, you can start to add your flowers.
Step 6 - Add Flowers
You have made it to the last step of the process- adding your flowers! I started with adding my largest, focal point flower to the top left (when looking at the bouquet; top right when you are holding it). Your focal flower will help to add some interest and a starting point for the eye. Because of this, you probably don't want to put your focal flower dead center on your bouquet. Instead, start it at one end and your eye's gaze will flow nicely across the piece.
After adding your focal flower, you can follow that same triangle rule of thumb to add the rest of your flowers in any open spaces. As you go along, you may need to cut your floral wire to the right length depending on where you want to place the flower. I found it helpful to keep my larger flowers in the upper 2/3 of the bouquet, and added a few smaller flowers to the bottom. This helps your bouquet taper towards the bottom to keep that upside down teardrop shape.
You did it!
Congrats, you have made a beautiful DIY cascade wedding bouquet! After taking some time to admire your work, you can cross this off the list and start your next DIY project :) I can't wait to see what you have created!
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