DIY Wedding Flower Arrangement

Those who came to our wedding remember that I made our centerpieces out of silk flowers. While I was planning my wedding, I met with a florist who, rudely (not to mention unprofessionally) told me that I had “champagne tastes on a beer budget!” Champagne tastes, yes. Beer budget, absolutely not!

Sorry sister, you lost a good chunk of business!

I took our six month engagement and created silk centerpieces, managing to purchase glass vases that she wanted to rent me for $40 a pop. I bought them for $12 each, and my guests got to keep them as well. How’s that for a beer budget?

A few months ago I made a silk flower arrangement that I’d like to share with you. I chose peonies because they are timeless, and most importantly because the blooms are huge (equals less flowers purchased)

What it cost me:

Peony bush (40% off Michael’s): $6.59
Bronze square planter box on clearance: $2.79
The green foam box inside was about $1.

That’s less than $10!!

You’ll also need a glue gun, glue sticks, and wire cutters. Here’s how I did it:

First, make sure that your foam fits snugly inside the planter. I purchased both at Michael’s so this was easy. The last thing you want is to have the entire arrangement slide out of the planter!

I only had to glue two sides of it. Don’t go crazy with the glue. You need just enough so it doesn’t wiggle. After you glue it, give it a minute or two to cool down. You’re done with the glue gun at this point, unless you want to reinforce the stems once inside the foam.

I cannot emphasize this enough: DO NOT CUT YOUR STEMS TOO SHORT!!! It is always easier to cut them shorter if it doesn’t work in the planter. My general rule of thumb is to aim to cut them below a leafy portion. This ensures you are not cutting the stem too short. Once it’s cut, it’s permanent!

I then inserted it into the green foam. DON’T WORRY about the placement for now. Aim to have the largest, most open bloom at the very center at the top. All the other blooms should be placed in a rough circle underneath and around it for support. My “bouquet” had 7 flowers, an odd number, so I had some gaps in the arrangement between flowers. You will also have some left over leaves. DON’T throw them away!

You’ll end up having something like this:

By the way, I did not end up with my arrangement looking like this on the first try. I repositioned just about every bloom in the arrangement at least once. My goal was to create the least amount of gaps between each bloom. ( If you don’t like the orientation of the bloom, just rotate it around its plastic stem.) Remember the gaps I told you would happen? Well this where those extra leaves you saw in the above picture come in. You will use them in the gaps that naturally occur between the flowers:

Please note that I did NOT use the hot glue gun on the stems as I placed them. The green foam should be dense enough that you shouldn’t need hot glue for it.

And here is my finished product.