How Much for a Bouquet?!

As I mentioned in my first post, in order to save some money on our tight budget of $15,000, I have decided that I am going to do all of the flowers at our wedding, including the bouquets. Now I know to many out there, $15,000 is not exactly a "tight budget". However, here in Palm Beach where the wedding industry is an ever-expanding monster, you would be surprised at how little $15,000 gets!

Anyway, I will admit, despite my love for crafting and being creative, I was very intimidated at the idea of making my own bouquet. I thought it would look too homemade and not have the type of bridal quality I was looking for. I have no problem with something looking homemade, as long as it does not look sloppy and cheap. This was my biggest concern.

But despite all of my concerns, I ultimately thought, "Just how hard can it really be?" I then went on YouTube to look for some DIY videos to help me and I found a pretty good one that proved to be very helpful with my creative endeavor. The video I used is above.

After I watched this video that made bouquet-making appear exceedingly simple, I decided to go to my grocery store to buy some stems as I am not aware of any floral shops close by - I also figured the grocery store would be cheaper. And I was right! Publix offers certain varieties of flowers for only 3/$12 - that is only $4 a bunch! I grabbed one hydrangea bunch, one baby's breath bunch (this will be the most used flower at the wedding - I just love those big bunches of it!), and one bunch of blush pink/peach spray roses. The three bunches together gave me a large volume of flowers and again, for only $12!

Considering bridal bouquets can be $100 or more, I was more than happy to spend the $12, even if it was just for practice.

When I got home with my flowers, I pulled up the video again as she does show a bit about how to clean the flowers and trim them before assembling the bouquet. I trimmed my flowers and went for it. I will admit, my first try was not so beautiful. My baby's breath was sticking out in some places and the bouquet looked lopsided. Studying my bouquet, I saw how I needed to place my flowers differently and tried again. And guess what - it came out great! I was totally impressed with myself!

The end result was beautiful with the flowers more evenly dispersed throughout the bouquet and some taming of wild and unruly baby's breath. The bouquet was exactly what I wanted. Hydrangeas are my favorite, I love how casually chic baby's breath is, and the roses were the perfect shade of blush. which is our accent color. I am so happy with my bouquet -- not only was it incredibly cost-effective, but it was also personal, easy to make, and very pretty. If anyone is looking to cut costs somewhere in their wedding, I highly recommend making your own bouquets! Buy some cheap flowers at the market, take them home, and practice. Eventually, you will be sure to create something beautiful and personal to your own taste.

(My kitty, Jane Eyre, wanted to get in on the bouquet-making fun, too!)

Also, with some of the extra roses and baby's breath I had to trim in order to "tame" my bouquet, I made a practice boutonniere for just pennies! I was pricing boutonnieres in the Palm Beach area for $15/piece! $15 x 5 = $75 saved for something else! While the boutonnieres weren't exactly free, they also did not cost me anything extra than the cost of the flowers for the bouquet. So essentially, they will end up being kind of free!

The only thing I was not able to do was make it a little prettier with ribbon -- I only had tape on hand. For the real thing, I will definitely add the finishing touches.