Flowers

I believe that the most stressful part of the whole creation process of anything in the wedding including the cake, has been the flowers. I think this is mainly because my experience with them is almost squat and they are one of the focal points of the wedding. There are also many elements that involve flowers. If people would have just bathed more than once a year in medieval times, we would not have to carry a bouquet because it was tradition in order to cover up the brides stink and then you and I would not be worrying about this flower business. But alas, here we are.

Alright, so down to business. My advice here is to find your favorite silk flower supplier. I got most of mine from Old Time Pottery because they are cheap and really nice there. They also have good sales almost all the time on some flowers or another. I also used the Home and Gardens Brand from Wal-Mart. These were more expensive, but they had some styles that I didn't find at OTP.

So what you will need: A good pair or wire cutters, flowers (about 2-4 bunches per bouquet and 1 bunch for 3-5 corsages/boutonnieres), floral tape (1.29 from Joann's), hot glue gun and glue, ribbon, and probably another set of hands.

Your first step will be cutting the flowers apart. I went ahead and cut them as close to the bottom as possible. You can always cut off more stem, but you can't add it back on so better safe than sorry. I got all of the flower cut apart that I wanted to use for the arrangement. Then I started arranging them until I found something pleasing. Then I would wrap between 3-7 stems together with the floral tape. The tape is self sticking when it is stretched. This means that it will be sticky afterwards too so be prepared for sticky fingers. But the best part is that it is easy to get back off if you finish and decide you don't like your arrangement. And it is cheap so you don't feel bad arranging it like 6 times. Keep arranging until the look like you want and then secure them well with the tape. Cut off the stem ends of the flowers to an even and appropriate length. Try to cut them straight so that you don't have wires poking out and stabbing you. Then hot glue the ribbon over the stems. You can also layer ribbon for a different look. And that's all to a bouquet.

Here are pictures of the mess:) :

Boutonnieres and corsages are a little different. Those are just a couple flowers or elements added together. The fun part about these, is that they don't have to be flowers. They can be scrabble pieces or test tubes or anything else that shows off your personality if you chose to go down that road. Feathers are particularly popular right now. Check out this site http://www.ohweddings.net/accessories-original-boutonnieres.php for some ideas. If you go with flowers. You again cut them apart. Then arrange a couple to how you want them to look. Cut off the ends and wrap with floral tape. These you don't have to wrap with ribbon, but we chose to tie a bow around them with either ribbon for the girls or twine for the boys. These just need to be secured to the clothing with a pin that you can pick up in the bridal sections at Michael's or Joann's. They usually have a pearl looking thing on the ends.

While you have your flowers out, this would be the perfect time to make your guest book pens. We have all seen those huge daisies on pens at stores so that we don't walk out with them. This is the same idea, but I would suggest toning down the flowers so that the pen is not unbalanced and it makes it easier for the guests to write with. Anyways, you can just take a stick pen like a Bic in the color of your choosing and cut off the end farthest from the writing point. You should then be able to stick the stem of the flower down in the pen. If you can't you need to cut a little farther down on the pen until you can. You will need to stick the flowers around the ink tube instead of in. If you need extra room, you can always strip the plastic off the wire on the flower stems. The starting at the writing tip of the pen, wrap the pen in the floral tape. The stickiness will eventually dry and wear off. Wrap all the way up to the flowers as far as you can for the best hold. Ta-Da. You have your own flower pen. I made two of these for the wedding just in case. I also made the different so you have choices later down the road.

Here are the pictures of the final look: