DIY Wedding Forum

DIY Real Flowers

Anyone have any photos of their DIY Real flower bouquets and centerpieces?

Re: DIY Real Flowers

  • This is a pic of the Sam's flowers I ordered for my parent's 50th Anniversary party...  I ordered them delivered on Thursday in June for the Saturday party, it was SUPER warm and humid but they held up great...  It was by far the way to go - chop off the bottom and plunk them into a vase that morning (which takes time!!!!!)...  In the bottom of the vase were some gold things I got from the craft department for putting in the bottom of vases for a few bucks..
  • Pretty! How did you transport all of your flowers to your venue?
  • alhaley88 said:
    Pretty! How did you transport all of your flowers to your venue?

    They were delivered to my house (about 4 hours from the venue - there weren't any florists we could have used locally other than a grocery store within 50 miles - so this was pretty much necessity)...  I left them closed in the box they came in until the absolute LAST second down in my basement.  Then I put them with the base wraps (its like a piece of sponge with a plastic wrap) still on into mid-size storage bins (like those Rubbermaid/Sterlite type ones) to transport.  I just loaded those into the back of the car.  It was a rather tight and unenjoyable four hour drive with H & the kids to say the least LOL..  The nice thing is I didn't have to worry about having enough buckets when it came time to cut the bases and put them initially into water (at about 4AM the day of the party while in the hotel room), It made a quick load back up to drive to the hall.  The stem cutters the flowers came with sucked, so it's worth spending some money on a decent pair so you can cut through them quicker (I got some Fiscars ones from the Lawn & Garden Dept.)

    The one thing I botched was the size of the vases I needed.  I bought some vases thinking they'd be large enough only to discover the opening was about half the size I needed (think cupping your hand into a capitol "C" shape - is about the size the arrangements were, the vase openings were unfortunately meant for an "o" shape...) so added over hour of time I didn't have to go find/purchase some new vases. 

    At the end of the day, I'm so glad I purchased them already arranged because it saved so much time over if I'd have purchased the individual blooms and assembled that many arrangements myself even though I've got the basics here at the house to do so.  It still took a ton of time just cutting all the stems, moving stuff, water and the packets into the vases, moving around to individual tables, etc.  It wasn't an option for us to not DIY given that we had no florists nearby to the venue.  I figured "oh, it'll only take an hour at the hall to put everything together" - it took me about five hours by the time all was said and done to do 100% of the setup.  If I could have ordered FTD or a local florist and been assured that a florist would have delivered the blooms I wanted (Roses & Callas) I'd have been time ahead, but that wasn't an option...  Time is the big thing, you can't be late to your wedding because you're arranging flowers, so really take into account what kind of time you've got available even if you order them already arranged. 

  • Right. I was thinking of prearranging them (if not bought prearranged) the night before. My biggest concern would be the transporting and unloading to make sure nothing breaks or falls apart or droops. I don't want anything complicated, just some hydrangeas with roses blended in. Im curious if it would be easier to transport already arranged, or arrange them in my hotel room the night before. Our wedding is in a hotel ballroom, so we would just have to get the staff to carry them downstairs if we arranged in the hotel room.
  • Hydrangeas are incredibly tempermental!  Roses are easy... 

    One thing to be aware of if you arrange them yourself is that it's a super messy process.  You may not want to do it in your hotel room because of the cleanup...

  • Definitely don't try to arrange them in a hotel room. PP is right, it gets messy. And you'll need plenty of space. 

    I made all my centerpieces at home on Thursday before my Saturday wedding. I used mostly roses and peruvian lilies because I knew they would hold up well. The night before the wedding, we packed them into shallow boxes with bubble wrap in between the vases to keep them from smushing together. We also made the bouquets the night before and just carried them with us when we went to the venue on the morning of the wedding. I was afraid that my bouts and corsages would wilt if made from real flowers, so I made them from artificial flowers several months in advance.

    I don't have any pics on my work computer, but my photographer put a couple good shots of the flowers on her blog here.(disclaimer: I let my BMs make their own bouquets and didn't really like how they turned out...but it wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things)
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  • We did them in a hotel room, just brought old sheets to throw on the floor for my best friend's wedding. It was fun, we had champagne and got all of us together the night before. Below is a picture of how her bouquet turned out.


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  • I had my flowers delivered two days before the wedding, prepped them (which takes a good few hours and plenty of research) and left them to hydrate in my cool basement overnight, then arranged them the day before and put back in water until the next day. I loved it, and it was super fun, but it's very time consuming. For 6 bridesmaid bouquets (tulips and hydrangea), one bridal bouquet (hydrangea, peony, tulip and ranunculus), two bouts, two corsages and 4-5ish small hydrangea center prices, it took about 2-3 hours prep work two days before with two people and about 2 hours arranging the day before with two people. If you have the time to do your research, the budget to order more stems than you'll need (because some inevitably won't work out) and a lot of patience, it can be a really great experience.
  • Thanks @kkcc2015. Those centerpieces are gorgeous!
  • I ordered my flowers from Costco and did the arrangements and centerpieces the day before the wedding. Our wedding was 2 days after Christmas so we had the flowers delivered on that Tuesday and kept them in water and a cool location, 55 degrees, until Friday.

    My biggest recommendation is to get practice. I made my SILs bouquets and centerpieces and also made my bouquet for bridal pictures to get practice.


    Like a PP said, hydrangeas are very temperamental and will wilt quickly. SIL used hydrangeas and we had to put them in water after pictures because they started wilting and we wanted them to look pretty for the ceremony.


  • Thanks @alhaley88, those are actually just our bouquets stuck in vases so we didn't have to carry them around at the reception :)
  • I am in a similar boat. I would like to do my own flowers, but am worried about keeping them fresh for the wedding day. My wedding is on a Sunday, and the flowers could be delivered Thursday or Friday. I have space at our house to keep them cool and in water, but Saturday we will be going to a hotel near our venue, since our venue is two hours away and we don't want to have to make that drive the morning of the wedding. So I'm worried about keeping the flowers fresh and cool in the hotel Saturday night so that they'll still look great on Sunday. We would be arranging them Saturday night/Sunday morning, and it would be hydrangeas, roses, carnations, and baby's breath. Any advice on keeping them looking tip-top overnight in the hotel?
  • I found out my venue has a large refrigerated area. Even if we were to do a florist, most of the local ones we like are closed on Sundays. I'm okay with scrapping/limiting hydrangeas though. I think I will get some silk flowers to practice with before we have to decide.
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