DIY wedding flower bouquet

For our wedding, I made my own flower bouquet. I was absolutely crazy. I very much underestimated the time it would take me because I also decided it was a good idea to make my three bridesmaid bouquets as well. Which, I do think makes a nice keepsake. I definitely wanted to have something to hold on to forever with my bouquet. There was a lot of trial and error since I'd never made one before, but I'll give you a brief overview.

Photo by ee photography

Basic supplies:

1. Bouquet holder-This is from Save-on-crafts. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. I just used a plain straight one since I was planning to cover it.

2. Floral picks and sprays-This is the exact one I used from Hobby Lobby. You can split each of them up in a couple of bunches of three.

3. Fabrics-The white one is Nylon Chiffon from Amazon and the purple one is Satin. Nylon is very flammable so keep away from heat! I bought my lace from Joann's. It was definitely my priciest fabric, but it was so pretty I couldn't resist.

4. Satin ribbon-This one is from Joann Fabrics. Hobby Lobby has a great selection too. 

Extras: Boutonnière pins, floral wire, matte acrylic spray, ostrich feather sticks (from Hobby Lobby!) and vintage jewelry.

I used three types of flowers:

1. A pretty multi-layered white "rose" using satin. I got the template from Martha of course. I did about 7 layers for each flower, bunched up the bottoms and sewed them around a wire floral stem.

2. For the purple ones, I cut out a circle. You can find a template online or use a glass to trace. Then I cut lines starting from the outside to the center. Don't cut all the way through the circle, but you can round the edges if you want. Then, we used a heat source to roll up the edges a little bit. This step isn't really necessary if you don't have the patience! Then, I stuck them in the foam with boutonnière pins. I used "diamond" top ones from Save-on-crafts. We made the flowers in various sizes. Here's what the basic template looks like:

3. The white ones with lace I made the same way as the purple, just larger. However, I used layers of chiffon and lace. I also used a "diamond" floral stick as my center. I just stick that through a hole in all the layers. No sewing on this one. I did spray the flowers when they were done with a sealer to stiffen them and then I hung them upside down to dry.

Now, here's my big secret:

This is your average everyday toilet paper holder! I wrapped satin ribbon around it and glued underneath the last edge. Then I wrapped a strip of lace around it and glued. Last, I added a vintage earring for a little sparkle. Again, hot glue it.