How to DIY Wedding Flowers: All the Gritty Details and Tips

Hopefully my post sharing all about the arrangements that my Mom and I made for our family friend’s wedding has convinced you that this project resulted in beautiful arrangements for a beautiful day.  It did!

However, like any DIY project, not all moments and elements of it were beautiful, and a big part of the fun was embracing mess and and uncertainty.

One big unknown is that we didn’t know what flowers we’d be working with until they were delivered the day before the wedding!  We bought from a local, small farm and that is just the nature of the seasons.  It was dependent on what bloomed that day!  We were able to give a little bit of guidance (i.e., saying that we needed at least some yellow flowers to feature in the bridesmaids bouquets) but otherwise it was going to be a big surprise.

We also didn’t know where we would be working out of, only that the venue owner would set up some tables for us somewhere in his big barn (where it would be cooler than being out in the sun).  We ended up in a toolshed-like basement area of the barn – nice and cool, but perhaps not the most glamorous place for flower arranging!

And that’s the bottom line: it isn’t particularly glamorous.  I think DIYing wedding flowers conjures up images of laughing in a grassy field, lazily arranging bouquets.  Really it’s a lot of work, planning, and time spent focused on details.  A lot of fun but not a project that you should take on unless you like projects!

I thought a lot about how it would be best to talk about how we pulled this off.  As much as I would like to tell the narrative of the day, I figure it will be the most helpful to lay out some of the details directly.  So below I talk about what it takes in terms of flowers, supplies, and time, and then I also get into a bunch of key tips, big and small, that made the day a success.

DIY Wedding Flowers: What Does it Take?

What does it take – that is the big question!  This can definitely vary depending on how involved you want the flowers to be.  We didn’t do anything insane, but we also wanted to have a lot of elements involved, so it wasn’t simple.  We made two large arrangements for the aisle/buffet tables, eighteen centerpieces, eight aisle markers, six accent arrangements, a bridal bouquet, a maid of honor bouquet, and four bridesmaids bouquets.  (I’ll share about the bouquets in a future post.)

How Many Flowers We Used

We ordered about 450 stems from Stow Greenhouses, the local, organic farm where we got our flowers.  We also brought about two buckets worth (maybe another 20-30 stems?) of greens/branches cut from bushes in my Mom’s neighborhood.  If this sounds like a lot of flowers, it is!  This is what they looked like when they arrived:

Pretty cool, right?  Buckets of peonies (delivered unopened, as they open FAST  in the heat and don’t live that long), hydrangeas, lilies, sunflowers, etc.!  With the extra greens we brought from home, this was the overall bulk of the flowers we were working with:

Of course, this amount of flowers was for a pretty big wedding where we wanted the flowers to feel spring-like and plentiful.  It was an eighteen table wedding, and we used these flowers to make two large arrangements, one large greens-only arrangement, eight aisle markers, eighteen centerpieces, six small accent arrangements, a bridal bouquet, a maid-of-honor bouquet, and four bridesmaids bouquets.  So these flowers did a lot!

To get a bit of a sense of how many flowers you might need for a differently sized wedding or one where you make a different assortment of arrangements, here is approximately how we used them all:

• Bridal Bouquet – about 22 stems
• Bridesmaid Bouquets – about 20 stems each
• Table Centerpieces – about 8 stems each (remember, ours were in small jars in a boot, so a more substantial arrangement might take more stems)
• Aisle Markers – about 8 stems each
• Large Arrangements – about 28 stems each, some of which were large branches

What Supplies We Used

Of course, you’re not dumb, so you know that flowers aren’t the only thing that you need!  I am also going to assume that you’re way ahead of me on knowing that you need vases or vessels of some kind.  Here are some of the other supplies and tools that we had:

• Wide, Solid Ribbon – used this for wrapping bouquets
• Decorative Ribbon – can be patterned or sheer, we used this to decorating jars and streaming from the aisle markers
• Fabric Scissors – to make clean cuts on the ribbon
• Floral Pins – used to attractively pin the ribbon to the bouquet
• Double-Sided Tape/Fabric Glue – for attaching decorative ribbon to jars
• Floral Tape – for binding the bouquets (under the ribbon)
• Floral Wire – generally useful, used to secure outdoor arrangements – can also be used to re-enforce stems of weak flowers
• Chicken Wire, Wire Cutters, and Sturdy Gloves (not pictured) – used in the base of large arrangements to help them stand up
• Flower Food (not pictured) – add to the water to help the flowers last when taken home by guests
• Good Floral Scissors/Pruning Tools (not pictured)
• Extra Vases (not pictured) – trust me, you can’t have too many!

How Much Time We Needed

This is definitely not a project that you want to rush!  Flowers are delicate to work with, and if you’re rushing you’re going to end up breaking them and causing yourself more problems.  You will also want to take your time to play around with things to see what feels right.

We started the day before and had four people working on the flowers.  The day started with just my Mom and me receiving the flower shipment at around noon.  We had a couple of hours with just us to divide up the flowers and plan things out (more on why this is super important below!) before being joined by two neighbors, Marcia and Harriet.  Over the course of about five hours of steady work, the four of us made pretty much all of the arrangements and bouquets for the following day!  Here was the space as we left it that evening:

The only things we had to do the next day was supplement the arrangements with extra flowers (we had started out conservatively to be sure that we’d have enough for everything) and make a few of the smaller accent arrangements.

So, that was about 25 hours across all of us to deal with about 450 stems plus additional branches from home.  (That is a rate of about 18 -20 stems per person per hour, for anyone following along on your calculators.)  That may seem a little slow, and I’m sure we could have sped it up, but we didn’t want to rush it!  Some parts – like the bouquets or the large arrangements – take longer than others.  We also were a little slower because we didn’t have a set flower order to work with, so we didn’t have prescribed arrangements to follow.  That added in time to divide up the flowers deliberately and a need to be thoughtful throughout.

DIY Wedding Flowers: Key Tips

In addition to those big picture benchmarks of what it takes to do DIY wedding flowers, we also picked up a lot of great tips and tricks along the way that I know will be helpful for anyone taking on this project themselves!

Use Pinterest to Define Style

One of the best things we did to be sure that we were all on the same page in terms of style was to create a group pinterest board for inspiration images.  Those of us working on the project went on and pinned a bunch of stuff that we found really pretty, and then the bride and her mother and maid-of-honor/sister were able to go through and comment on the pieces that resonated with them.  That way, we all had an idea of the overall look and feel, and it was easy to go from there!

We were then also able to share the board with Barb from Stow Greenhouses so that she could be sure that the flowers she provided us aligned with this vision.

Buy Local

I’ve already talked (extensively) about all of the environmental, health, and ethical reasons why you should go with local and organic flowers.  However, there is a practical reason, too.  They will be a lot fresher and so will last longer!  This is key if you’re making them the day before or even a couple of days before and storing them for the wedding.  They will also last longer when the guests take them home to enjoy afterward.

Bring Flowers/Branches from Home

Even if you’re buying flowers from a local flower farm or a florist, you can still cut down on costs by supplementing with flowers from your or your friendly neighbor’s garden.  (You could also take them from an unfriendly neighbor’s garden, but you didn’t get that tip from me.)  We brought a bunch of branches from home, mainly from flowering bushes.

Vibernum – a pretty common bush that a lot of people have some variety of – was great to use, with its delicate flowers and vibrant greenery.  However, you can pull from whatever you’ve got!  I even used some grass seeds in the little bonus bouquets that I made for the flower girls, so be creative!

Bringing greenery from home did a lot to stretch out the flowers that we got into a lot of arrangements that still seemed plentiful and vibrant.

Budget Carefully and Think about your Flowers in Three Categories

It’s really important to get the amount of flowers right!  Be realistic about what you’ll need to make each piece beautiful.  My Mom thought all of this through with the guidance of Barb from Stow Greenhouses, and came prepared with a clear budget of how many stems we were expecting to use for each piece.

This was INVALUABLE throughout the day, for planning out what we needed to reserve for which pieces, as well as for our friends to refer to so that we could have multiple people working at once.

However, it is probably pretty obvious that not all stems are the same!  Some flowers are commanding, some are oddly shaped,and some are tiny or fragile.  Setting aside 22 hydrangeas would be an impractically huge bouquet, while 22 snap dragons would just be a strange shape.  It was really helpful for us to think about the flowers in three categories:

• Main Flowers – These are the bulky or substantial flowers that make up the base of a bouquet or arrangement and give it its scale.  For us, these were mainly hydrangeas, peonies, and lilies.
• Accent Flowers – These can be equally striking, but you can’t really “build” a bouquet around them because they’re small, delicate, or have a strange shape. Examples of these in our arrangements were wax flowers, lisianthus, delphinium, queen anne’s lace, etc.
• Greens – Pretty obviously, the stems without flowers, or with minimal flowers.

Following these as guidelines made it a lot easier to be sure that we were setting ourselves up for success when it came to the bouquets (which rely on the main flowers to hold a good shape, especially for beginners like us) and a even spread of flowers throughout.

Plan In Time to Thoughtfully Divide Flowers

If you are ordering from a florist and are specifying exactly how many stems you want of what flower, this is less important.  However, in our case, we knew that we were going to get a bunch of beautiful flowers, but not exactly what they would be!  The key to us being able to pull off a bunch of pretty arrangements was taking time on the front end to budget and divide them thoughtfully so that the colors, vibe, and scale would work for each individual piece.  It was also important that we did this with just my Mom and I, as I could see this part getting very hectic and confused if there are a lot of “cooks” trying to help!

We started with some of the more critical pieces, like making sure we had the exact right elements set aside for the bridal bouquet and the big arrangements, and worked our way from there.  As you can see from the flowers we set aside from the bridal bouquet, below, we made sure to have a mix of mains, accents, and greens for each!

It took us about two hours to divide them all up.  We knew the approximate amounts that we had budgeted for each item, and we worked within that framework to be sure that we had enough set aside for each aspect of the wedding.  The thinking/planning alone would have taken less time, but it was very slow going to actually physically separate the flowers from each other!  They are delicate, and so you need to be careful as you move each piece.

Here is how the space looked once we had divided the flowers out between the big arrangements, each type of bouquet, and the centerpieces, and set up separate workstations for each:

I really think getting this right was the most important part of the day!

Have Help!

This one is pretty straightforward, but so important!  It takes longer than you think.  Have people to help you – it is more fun and goes so much quicker!  We were joined by neighbors Marcia and Harriet, who were amazing and willing to jump in on whatever needed to be done!

Have A Designated Spot for Broken Stems

Flowers will get broken as you work.  That is just the nature of working with something fragile!  Unfortunately, when the stem breaks high-up, you can’t use those flowers in the bouquets or large arrangements, which is a bummer.  A really convenient thing that we did was to set aside a couple of jars as a designated place for broken stems.

As we worked on the more substantial pieces, we could just stick the broken ones or discarded pieces in here.  They were a great bonus when we got to the end and started putting together the smaller accent arrangements.  I’m glad we didn’t just toss them as we went!

You can never have too many containers

Seriously.  You’ll want containers for everything.  You’ll need extra containers to divide your flowers out into different groupings.  You’ll need containers to hold half-done arrangements, or broken stems, or extra flowers.  You’ll need a vase for each bouquet to stand upright in.  You’ll need to carry water.  Bring extra.  You’ll thank me.

Keep Things Cool & Clean

The key to making flowers last is to keep them cool and very clean.  It is a good idea to work with sterile scissors/clippers when you cut the stems, and to have sterile vases (that have gone through the dishwasher, for example).  A big part of what makes flowers wilt and die is when bacteria builds up in the water, which can be delayed by starting with everything very clean!

Also, if you’re making the arrangements the day before, plan for a cool place to store them in!  Flowers bloom faster and also wilt and die faster in the heat.  We used the cool basement of the barn, which worked great.  I’ve heard mixed things about refrigerators – some say that regular refrigerators (rather than ones made specifically for flowers) will dry them out.  Does anyone know?

Use Chicken Wire for Big Arrangements and Floral Wire to support arrangements outside

I shared a tip in the post about the various arrangements about how to use chicken wire to support large arrangements, making them more sturdy and easier to put together.

We also used floral wire to support the arrangements that were outside during the ceremony.  I had visions of these tall pieces falling over right in the middle of the “I do”s!

To keep them in place, we used a loop of floral wire around the back, securing them to the arbor.

So much peace of mind bought with that little piece of wire!

We also used a loop to keep the aisle markers upright.

It is totally invisible when looking at them from any normal angle!

Get Double Use Out of your Arrangements

If you’re going to invest in making a gorgeous arrangement, you want to look at it as much as possible, right?  Think about which of the pieces that you’re using for the ceremony can be moved and used for the reception/party as well.  This will definitely help the flower budget go farther.

For example, the large arrangements that we used on the arbor were also the main decoration for the buffet tables for dinner!  It was just a matter of remembering to grab them and move them inside.

Have a Plan for Taking Everything Home

Think ahead to whether and how the guests can bring flowers home.  Can you give away the vases, or do they need to be returned to their owners?  If you can’t give them away, having some extra buckets, jars, or cups for guests to use is great.  We just bought a pack of those red party cups that folks could grab and transfer flowers into!

Thanks for reading this far!  (I can hardly believe I wrote 3000 words about flower arranging.  This is not where I thought I would be with my life.)  I hope that you found it helpful, at least!

Have any of you done DIY wedding flowers before?  Or are you researching doing it yourself?  What other tips or tricks do you know?