3 Spectacular DIY Wedding Bouquet Ideas
In this excerpt from The Flower Workshop, floral designer Ariella Chezar shares instructions for gorgeous flower arrangements.
By Ariella Chezar
Bridal Bouquet in Shades of Peach and Yellow
Season: spring, summer
Once you choose a basic color—in this case a yellowy peach—search for a variety of blossoms that fit this category. The challenge is to find flowers that take your basic color and run the scales with it, from taupe-yellow to butter, from gold to cream, from citrus to speckled.
It’s particularly exciting when you find flowers that use the same color in a variety of ways. In this bouquet, for example, the veins of the striking variegated pitcher plant pick up the same burgundy that dots the freckled Vanda orchids and leaps from the heart of the tree peony.
What You'll Need:
- Rubber bands
- Floral tape
- 2 yards each pale pink, mauve, and burgundy ribbon, 2 inches wide
- Straight corsage pins
- Stapler and staples
- 8 variegated pitcher
- Plant stems
- 8 variegated solomon's seal stems
- 3 yellow peonies
- 6 pale pink carnations
- 5 'caramel antike' roses
- 5 champagne roses
- 3 yellow gloriosa lilies
- 3 speckled vanda orchid stems
- 1 peach-burgundy tree peony
ALTERNATE FLOWERS In fall, use dahlias as a focal flower, freesias or snapdragons as secondary flowers, and sweet autumn clematis for a vine. In winter, orchids are a good choice for a focal flower, as are amaryllis.
1. Start with the pitcher plant, trimming the stems but keeping them long so they can be clipped later. These will form the base of the bouquet.
2. Trim and place four branches of the Solomon’s seal, making sure to keep the greenery behind the flowers.
3. Trim the flowers and add them to the bouquet, alternating the roundness of the peonies, carnations, and roses with the leggy petals of the lilies. Check the bouquet in a mirror as you proceed. Add more Solomon’s seal, placing it toward the back of the bouquet. When the stems get too bulky to hold, wrap them with a rubber band.
4. Place the orchids strategically, making sure they fit between the roses and yellow peonies. Position the tree peony at the top of the arrangement so its full glory can be viewed by the bride.
5. Finish the bouquet with floral tape, ribbon, and a bow as instructed in sidebar.
6. Finish the bouquet with floral tape, ribbon, and a bow as instructed on slide 3.
Once you choose a basic color—in this case a yellowy peach—search for a variety of blossoms that fit this category. The challenge is to find flowers that take your basic color and run the scales with it, from taupe-yellow to butter, from gold to cream, from citrus to speckled.
It’s particularly exciting when you find flowers that use the same color in a variety of ways. In this bouquet, for example, the veins of the striking variegated pitcher plant pick up the same burgundy that dots the freckled Vanda orchids and leaps from the heart of the tree peony.
What You'll Need:
- Rubber bands
- Floral tape
- 2 yards each pale pink, mauve, and burgundy ribbon, 2 inches wide
- Straight corsage pins
- Stapler and staples
- 8 variegated pitcher
- Plant stems
- 8 variegated solomon's seal stems
- 3 yellow peonies
- 6 pale pink carnations
- 5 'caramel antike' roses
- 5 champagne roses
- 3 yellow gloriosa lilies
- 3 speckled vanda orchid stems
- 1 peach-burgundy tree peony
ALTERNATE FLOWERS In fall, use dahlias as a focal flower, freesias or snapdragons as secondary flowers, and sweet autumn clematis for a vine. In winter, orchids are a good choice for a focal flower, as are amaryllis.
1. Start with the pitcher plant, trimming the stems but keeping them long so they can be clipped later. These will form the base of the bouquet.
2. Trim and place four branches of the Solomon’s seal, making sure to keep the greenery behind the flowers.
3. Trim the flowers and add them to the bouquet, alternating the roundness of the peonies, carnations, and roses with the leggy petals of the lilies. Check the bouquet in a mirror as you proceed. Add more Solomon’s seal, placing it toward the back of the bouquet. When the stems get too bulky to hold, wrap them with a rubber band.
4. Place the orchids strategically, making sure they fit between the roses and yellow peonies. Position the tree peony at the top of the arrangement so its full glory can be viewed by the bride.
5. Finish the bouquet with floral tape, ribbon, and a bow as instructed in sidebar.
6. Finish the bouquet with floral tape, ribbon, and a bow as instructed on slide 3.
Published 03/14/2016