DIY Flowers and Centerpieces

My bridesmaids and I did flowers for my wedding. It definitely can be stressful but it all worked out and was a lot of fun! I ordered them wholesale (after looking at and sending them pictures of bouquets I liked) and got them delivered to my house I think Wednesday for the wedding on Saturday. We put together out bouquets and simple centerpieces in mason jars on Friday morning and kept them all in cold water. Luckily they all looked great still for the wedding. The most stressful part is probably just keeping them healthy and transporting them to the venue. Definitely order extra in case some wilt, which was the case. But I think it was a cool and fun experience for all of the bridesmaids and moms to get together and DIY their bouquets. Everyone's was original and showed their personality, but still went together. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Be careful if you are not comfortable with the flowers, the extra stress may not be worth it. Look into non floral centerpiece options too with candles etc. Costco has good prices and some bouquet/wedding kits. Bloominous is another diy flower company. You want them to arrive a few days before your wedding so that the flowers have time to open.

Melanie those came out awesome! How did you go about transporting, just in boxes? And do you put the flowers in water immediately when you get them and then just take out to make the bouquets? I know so little about flowers its embarrassing so I am nervous about a DIY project.

futuremrsp I really love the candles idea. I saw a wedding where they did just candles and some greenery on the tables and it looked really classy! I will check out Costco, too!

I ordered flowers for two different weddings from Fifty Flowers it worked out beautifully. If you plan ahead and have helpers its really not hard to do. We saved thousands . I was very impressed with the quality of the flowers. We did the arrangements two days in advance and the bouquets the day before the wedding. We had a lot of flowers and a large bridal party it took 6 hours with two people to do all the flowers. It was a bit of a hassle the day of the wedding since my husband and I did most of the flower delivery. If you have help to deliver the flowers on your wedding day you are all set. I enjoyed the process and they turned out exactly as my inspiration photo. You need to have help the day the flowers are delivered and be prepared with large tubs of cool water and plant nippers. You need a cool place to store the flowers once they are arranged. I emailed photos and measurements to Fifty flowers and they helped me place the order.

Bouquets are really simple to make. I'd reccommend looking up BootahJardinFlorals on youtube--she gives a lot of detail. I am doing the BM bouquets (there are only 2) myself, and I have a non-floral centerpiece that I am also diy'ing. That opened up our budget for lots of other things too!

I dont know what your budget is, but ours is $500. I ordered flowers from our local grocery store. $100 for 10 simple centerpieces. I did this one myself as a trial, but they will do it for me the day of for no extra charge, I just have to bring the vases. Im ordering my bouquets and bouts.

I'm going back and forth on this myself. I don't think I'll do floral centerpieces either way. The bouquets will be fairly easy. I'm only worried about my skill with the corsages and boutonnières. I may get a dozen roses at the grocery store and practice between now and then.

Paging @Centerpiece IMO I'd rather pay a professional and not deal with the headache. And in that case I know they are going to be exactly what I want. Also I don't want to play delivery woman and work on my wedding day. ETA a while ago a bride was doing this. And it was a huge project. I didn't see her finished product but hopefully she sees this and can provide insight.

Karen thanks for the tip, I might check out our grocery stores. 500$ is reasonable - I honestly do not want a lot of flowers but I am thinking growler centerpieces with just a few flowers in each.

Kayla I think I will do the bouquets myself, I want something very simple - I am not super into flowers but I do feel like it would be awkward if we were not holding something!

I am actually thinking about nixing the boutonnieres. My FH does not care for them and I don't really feel that they add much to the look.

@Teresa - Thank you! Don't worry, I knew very little about flowers too. My fiance was home when they were delivered during the day and he didn't put them in water right away but luckily they ended up being fine. I would put them in cold water right away unless there are any different instructions. Transporting them is a pain - we had all of our table arrangements in mason jars so we put all those in a box with high sides and then had bouquets in jars and vases and put them in a box as well. Good luck!

I did mine, and I can tell you the storage, delivery and construction is key. I would never do it again. It took more time than I thought, it was harder than I thought, and the timeline for making everything happens at the exact same time that everything else comes to a head.

It's honestly not worth the stress.

I tend to steer brides away from these projects. As a professional, I took it upon myself to do my daughter's wedding flowers -- everything from personal flowers, ceremony decor, reception decor to bar, ladies' room, gift table, sweetheart table, and guest book table. With clients, it's still a lot of work, but the focus of the project is a job, not a job AND being a VIP at the wedding. I missed the second half of the rehearsal dinner because I had to get back to finish the flowers, stayed up until almost 4:00 AM, and then boxed up everything and drove over to the hotel to hand out bouquets, drove to the church to set up decor, and then drove the reception venue to set up centerpieces, sweetheart table pieces, and various other large pieces. All the while, there were hair and makeup people in the suite waiting for me (ran out of time and didn't get my hair professionally done). Actually, when I got the warning that the limo would be outside in ten minutes, I looked at my MOB gown and wondered if I could actually take a three minute shower. Suffice it to say that a thorough sponge bath was the only option that made sense.

Sure, everything looked great and I was given lots of praise, but I kept thinking about my "regular" hair and missed shower (not to mention the frayed nerves and speeding from one location to another to get this project done) -- and I won't even get into the jungle of mess spread all over my house.

Secondly, I really don't see the big money savings -- especially if you buy from Fifty Flowers (who do supply a good product). A medium to large professional piece takes mechanics that include wire, oasis, glue, drop-in dishes, and knowing what size vases can support what size arrangements (eiffel vases are notorious for tipping over), and unless you want simple stems in water, they are not a picnic to put together. There have been a few brides who have posted pics of their large, mechanics included centerpieces, and aside from the bride who did hundreds of yellow roses, and only yellow roses, I don't typically weigh in on the complicated finished products. There was one bride who went out of her way to tell everyone just how much fun and how easy floral design is the night before your wedding -- which I think is unfair (and untrue) to other brides, because it isn't easy, and the fun becomes drudgery after the first three hours of designing. In any event, when I saw her final product...it was beyond amateurish -- it was just strange and almost looked like a big insect head (I know what she was trying to duplicate, but she missed it by miles). BTW, not a single photo on this post looks strange to me. In fact, I'm wondering, Sim, is the photo with the tall, branched centerpieces your work or an inspiration photo?

The bottom line is that you're dealing with a living product, and you've got to present this product at the apex of it's life. You're always worried about the stems passing their prime and beginning to wilt before the wedding day.

If you want to save money on flowers, try the grocery store floral department (no hand-holding, no never-ending communication, and perhaps a limited selection, but ultimately, a very good, professional looking result) or Sam's Club (again, very affordable, good product, and they will send you pre-made bouquets and single stems that you need only set in vases. This is an excellent option).

Doing everything a few days before the wedding with no training and no prior experience? I wouldn't recommend it to an enemy unless, as I said, you're putting a few stems in a vase of water.

I had planned on DIYing my flowers to save on cost, but my DOC directed me to an amazing florist who was able to get me everything I wanted for about the same price. We just booked her on Saturday and I'm so relieved that I won't have to worry about caring for and assembling my flowers the few days before the wedding. Maybe do some more research on florists in your area? Start with a budget and ask if it's realistic for them to design within it.

Thanks CF! I am leading more towards grocery store or a Sam's Club. I am looking for simple but it sounds like even DIY'ing something small is still a hassle. At this point the food and the alcohol price is eating up so much of my budget that the floral arrangements need to be minimal.

I deeply considered DIY. I have a friend who is a florist where I live (which is not where I'm getting married) and she was going to teach me and FH how to do a few things and we were fine with super simple. In the end, I found a florist who was willing to work with my $1000 budget and went with her.

I wasn't planning to do floral centerpieces on the tables. I was thinking of getting the boutonnières and corsages package from Sams Club and either doing bouquets through them as well or doing those myself with bulk flowers. I wouldn't try to tackle centerpieces. I'll try my local grocery store too!

Ladies, I do florals to keep my bills paid, but I have to be honest. Whenever these questions about flowers vs. budget come up , I take off my florist hat and put on my guest hat. I have the utmost respect for brides who are facing a choice: gorgeous decor vs. kick ass hosting. Kick ass hosting wins every time. There are so many ways to do simple, pretty centerpieces, and I'll help anybody figure that out. What I don't want any of you to do -- not one of you -- is to take the money that you'd spend on hosting a restaurant meal (vs. pizza or tacos) and spend it on flowers. I don't want you to take your wine/champagne budget and spend it on flowers. That's not to say flowers are not important; I think they make the event gorgeous and celebratory, but they don't trump good food and alcohol.

LeahH, what you're planning is perfect. There are some awful, non-floral DIY centerpiece ideas being floated on this forum, but a stem or two of real flowers trumps one gold glittered wine bottle, two silver glittered beer bottles, and random, obvious tree branches from the backyard decorated with ribbons and hanging whatevers...any day of the week. Hydrangeas are beautiful, and they are the go-to stem for countless florists. Your tables will be gorgeous and your guests will be happy with the way you spent your wedding budget. As I always say -- the trifecta: good food, good alcohol, and good entertainment.