Almost done with the flowers!

So I had all the flowers and other floral supplies ready in the apartment, just waiting to be put together. I waited and waited, first playing with this combination and then that combination. Eventually, I decided I just had to get them done already! So I did a bunch last night.

The absolute hardest part was cutting the stems. I had a wire cutter, but it was difficult to use on the really thick wired stems. I had to draft the help of my fiance in the end, but I did most of them myself. All in all, I think they turned out very nicely. I finished the bridesmaids' bouquets, my bouquet, the groom's bout, the groomsmen's bouts and my father's bout. I still have to do one more bout and the corsages for our moms. So I'm mostly done with the flowers. I thought about also doing corsages and bouts for our siblings, but my fingers and hands are bruised right now and the thought of doing another 3 corsages and 1 bout is just too much work right now. Anyways, I'll be posting photos as soon as I get them off my camera.

So for the bridesmaids' bouquest, I used:
- 3 cream gerbera daisies
- one bit hydrangea ball that came with three big leaves
- 4 lavender roses
- floral tape
- floral wire
- ivory ribbon
The first thing I did was pull the leaves off the hydrangea stem and using floral tape, attached them to floral wire. The lavender roses came with two sets of leaves, so I snipped off the ones that were lower on the stem. Those will be used for the bouts. I composed the bouquet and decided to cut the stems about two to three hands' width down from the flower heads. Once the stems are cut, I placed the gerbera daisies into the hydrangea ball and stuck one lavender rose in the middle of the bouquet. With the remaining lavender roses, I bent the heads until they were almost a 90 degree angle, then fitted them to the outside of the bouquet, where there were gaps. They generally ended up against the gerbera daisies. Once that's put together, I wrapped the stems tightly using floral tape. You can tape each stem, one by one, which I did for one of the bouquets, but it takes more time and effort. Once that's nicely wrapped, I fitted the leaves to surround the bouquet and then attached them using floral tape. The last thing to do was wrap the sticky floral tape part in ivory ribbon. I folded the tip down to make a triangle at the end and wrapped the stems going up. Once at the top, I folded the ribbon down again at an angle and wrapped the stems going down. Then I taped the end. I tried to use a corasage pin, but it was too hard to insert.

For my own bouquet, I used:
- 3 hydrangea balls
- 6 lavender lotuses
- and marabou feathers attached to floral wire using floral tape.
I used the same process as the bridesmaids' bouquets. I particularly like the effect of the feathers in the bouquet.

For the bouts, I had to wire the individual blossoms onto floral wire. The groomsmen got one small daisy blossom and two hydrangea blossoms. I used the rose leaves I cut off from before as the backdrop for the flowers. I ended up attaching the blossoms one by one with floral tape. The groom's bout has one larger mini lotus blossom and one smaller mini lotus blossom, 3 hydrangea blossoms and a set of rose leaves. My father's bout is one lavender rose and one set of rose leaves. I have to make another lavender rose bout for my fiance's stepfather.

For the corsages, I'm thinking a lavender rose and two small daisy blossoms with hydrangea blossoms as filler flowers, if needed. I'll need three of these. I'm planning to attach them to navy blue ribbon that they can tie onto their wrists.

Once all this is finished, I'll have some flowers leftover. I'm thinking I can use them in the centerpieces. I'm not sure I'll get around to making centerpieces, but if I have the time, at least I already have some of the supplies. :-)