I love the do it yourself wedding bouquet entry from msblossom. Absolutely stunning.

Like most of the brides in this economy I couldn’t afford a $200+ bouquet so I decided to try my hand at making my own bouquet. I decided to do a trial run before actually making the real bouquet for my wedding day. With a little bit of patience and lots of excitment you can create your perfect bouquet. It’s extra special because I know it’s exactly what I want and I saved some money along the way.

Materials:

• Half a dozen of roses of your choice. I used pink and red intuition roses for texture and dark red roses for color contrast.
• Half a dozen of red and pink gerbera daisies.
• One string of red feathers I purchased from TonyHill.net
• One string of burgandy eyelash feather
• 30 sprays of beads
• Dark red ribbon to cover the stem
• Tassels for decoration
• Some floral wire and rubber bands
• Floral tape from Hoby Lobby
• Floral pin without pearl head from Hobby Lobby

Tools:

• Scissor to cut flowers
• Wire cutter for the bead stray

Assembly:

Take one rose and put three spray around it and then bind them together using floral tape. Do this for about 3 flowers. When you’re done hold the three flowers together and make sure the heads are level and they don’t stick up. This is thecore of the bouquet.  Use floral tape to bind them togehter so it’s easier for you to hold. Now you can add bead sprays and flowers as you go. I add 2-3 sprays for each flower. Don’t worry about the spray running in each other since it’s wire you can adjust them afterward. I added each flower around the core and keep going in a circle. Till the bouquet toward you to make sure it’s a dome shape, pull the stem a bit lower to make sure that the flowers around the core is a bit lower. Keep adding flowers in a circle around the core until you’re happy with the size.

Once I’m happy with it, I used floral tape to go around the top of the bouquet making sure it’s secure. I only did the top and then i used rubber band to secure the stems. I used one near the head of the bouquet, one 3 inch down and one at the end about 7 inch from the flower head.

Now you can hold the bouquet up and cut the stems so it’s shorter. Depending how big your hands are you can cut accordingly so it’s comfortable for you to hold your bouquet. I left 2-3 inches longer since I will be storing the bouquet for the next day. This way you can submerge your bouquet in water without wetting your ribbon and cut the stem before you use your bouquet.

I use floral tape to tape around the stems creating my bouquet’s handle. Floral tape will create a stickiness that will help you wrap the ribbon around easier and secure your bouquet.

Now I add the feathers. My feather came in a string so I pin one end of the string to the stem and then rotate my bouquet and keep pinning the string to my bouqet. Go around in a circle and it will create a nice look from the top of your bouquet. I added the eyelash feather first and then the red feathers.

Once I’m done with the feathers I used a red damask red ribbon to wrap the steam hidding the floral tape and the bottom of the feathers. I started from the top and pin my ribbon to the handle of my bouqet. Keep twisting and pulling until you reach about 2-3 inches from the bottom of the handle. When you’re done use a couple of pins to secure it. I use a tiny white pin without pearl head so it can be hidden when I pin it in the ribbon. I aslo pin a few more pins along the handle to make sure the ribbon doesn’t infold itself.

Now I just tie my tassles around the handle in a knot and I’m ready to go.

Here are a few pictures of the finish product.

Hope this inspire some of you to make your own bouquet. It’s really a fun experience for me and I would do it over and over again. I spent around $24 for flowers, $15 for feathers and tassles and $5 for beads and floral tape. A total of $44 for my bouquet.

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You still have time to submit your entry for the Do It Yourself Wedding Challenge and win the $500 grand prize, or $250 runner up prize. We open entries from anyone - brides, grooms, vendors, friends, family - all are welcome. The contest ends next week, so submit yours now!

Here’s one of my favorite entries so far, from the very talented bride mhudnall :

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Materials:

• Purses purchased from http://www.myglassslipper.com and dyed to match the girl’s dresses.
• Floral foam blocks
• Orange soft touch orchids purchased from Stats
• Various silk flowers and greens purchased from Michael’s.

Tools:

• Knife (To cut down floral foam)
• Scissors 
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Assembly:

• Take the empty purse, and cut down your floral blocks using your knife to easily fit inside.

• Cut down your flowers to the right length and begin inserting flowers in the floral foam securing the flowers into the foam with the hot glue gun after it is in the place you desire.  Be sure to place the larger flowers in first, and then add smaller flowers and filling.

• Once the flowers are set up as you like, create a duplicate pattern on the other side of the purse so the arrangement looks the same from either side.

Because the flowers are silk, these can easily be made in advance.  If you do make in advance, I suggest covering with a plastic bag to protect from dust.  

Final shot of the flowers in action.

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I just love this navy blue and gold Victorian-inspired locket.

Source

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I was so pleased when Caroline, also known as pudgefeet in our community, has become a professional photographer and pointed me to one of the most gorgeous fall weddings I have ever seen! Angela and Charles were married in November and infused a lot of red, orange, brown, and gold into their wedding.

See more of Caroline’s work. Congratulations to Angela an Charles, and thanks for sharing this gorgeous wedding with us Caroline!

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My dear sister sent me the most adorable baby shower invitation from her friend Ann at Hello Studio. Isn’t it absolutely adorable and so creative?

It’s a baby shower invitation, but could easily translate into a lovely bridal shower invitation. I love how the outer envelope is a tea packet with just enough information to make your guest want to open it up to see more! On the inside is a gorgeous detailed invitation with the look and feel of actual tea! Absolutely gorgeous. And not to mention the gorgeous match of green and orange textures with a charming focal point offset from the middle.

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I am so excited about our new feature - wedding maps! My hubby Joe has been working night and day to bring couture wedding maps to fruition, and I couldn’t be more proud of him. Wedding maps are a perfect way to guide your guests to your wedding. Best of all, Joe has been working with THE best wedding invitations to ensure that each map is as chic and stylish as the matching wedding invitation and website. Yay Joe! Please check out the fruits of his labor in the wedding map gallery.

View wedding map in full screen

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I love the idea of attaching an antique pendant to your bouquet as that special “something old,” as Elizabeth Messina in her lovely lavendar bouquet in the picture below.

Image courtesy of Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Adding the delicate vintage touch can be done for less than $3! I found a website called MJTrim that sells velvet ribbons starting at just $0.79 cents. SewitchStiching sells really cute cameo pendants for just $1.75.

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I am a huge fan of utilizing red into the color scheme of a wedding. A red wedding will exude glamour and make a big impression on your guests. Even better, red is an excellent choice because it pops in photos, such as the table decor from this beautiful Maui wedding.

This wedding was designed and coordinated to a T by Events by Evonne and photographed by Amity Mason. And can I just say… WOW. This makes me want to drop everything and go to Maui. To see more of Evonne and Amity’s work from this absolutely stunning wedding, click here.

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I absolutely adore these vintage style luggage tags from pear papeterie. It’s just $4 for 6, and makes for a beautiful wedding or bridal shower favor. It could also doubles as chair decor by hanging it on the side of a beautiful chiavari chair.

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