I love DIY weddings.
They make the event so much more customized and personal and extra-special because someone took the time to make something by hand. When my best friend got engaged, I made my crafting skills available: to help them keep their decorating costs within budget, produce any Pinterest project that caught her eye, or just provide advice and support in any task the bride and groom might possibly find me helpful for.
I had acquired a book on paper flowers and was keen to build my skills at the more complicated blooms. I had previously mastered tissue paper poufs at my brother and sister-in-law's wedding and I thought perhaps that I could use paper flowers in place of the more expensive silk ones I was using on diaper cakes. So when the bride wanted to do some paper flowers for her wedding, I happily lent them my book to browse through and pick some they liked.
They picked three different styles. After discussing the steps involved in each one, the choices were narrowed down to one that was relatively easy to create. Because we were using 4 different colors (royal blue, purple, pink, and lavender), I thought it would be best to use simple shapes. We were also running out of time before the wedding. The final choice was a five-petal bloom, around a ball of cotton wrapped in yellow, green, or white tissue, which formed the center and was also surrounded by pearl stamens. To give the final arrangements (of which there were to be two) more interest, the designated flower style would be done in both a small size and a large one, rather than making the flowers all uniform. I also improvised a bloom that would be stacked from petals cut using a paper punch, threaded onto the wire stem and stamens, and finished with some floral tape. This second finished flower came out as small ruffles, and helped to add more texture. The greenery was simple blade-shaped leaves cut from dark green card stock paper.
Originally, we imagined the entire bridal party coming together to help assemble the flowers. I would practice making the required blooms ahead of time, and be able to help others form the finished flowers. The less crafty would cut out petals and leaves, strips of floral tape, and wire stems. By the time we were ready to pick a night to craft, our work force was eventually whittled down to just the girls.
We got into a groove, and had all the pieces cut, and about half of the finished flowers created on the first night. The second night had us finishing the flowers and me cutting them down to shape the final arrangements in the vases. We had forgotten about vase filler, but shredding some of the green and yellow tissues that we had been using to form the flower centers worked in a pinch.
Since there were so many colors being used, the flowers were grouped together by color rather than being scattered randomly, otherwise the arrangements would have just looked like a big mess. Putting them together with the warm pink flowers as the focal point and the blues and purples in the background gave it some organization and sense. The larger blooms were set at the bottom of the arrangement, the medium ones filled in around them, and then the smallest flowers were inserted here and there for interest and to trail down towards the bottom. Making the whole thing asymmetrical elevated what could have been a grade school art assignment to something fun and funky, but also sophisticated.
While the start of the project was was a bit bumpy, overall it was fun project for a Girl's Night, and something I would definitely repeat again.
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