Mrs. Plum, Dallas
Age and Occupation in 06: 22, Accountant by day/Floral and Event Designer by night and weekends
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Security Admin
Engagement Date: December 31, 2004
Wedding Date: June 29, 2007
Venue: Marie Gabrielle Restaurant and Gardens
About Me: I have been engaged for about two years now - yes, a long engagement, because my fiance and I wanted to wait until I graduated college, which I did this past summer! He proposed after dating just two months - crazy, I know, but 2 years later, here we are, still crazy in love :-). We are having not one, but TWO weddings and TWO receptions in one weekend - American-style and Vietnamese-style - in Dallas, Texas, where I was born and raised!
Bouquet Tutorial
April 19th, 2007 @ 8:32 am by Mrs. Plum
1. Gather supplies and purchase desired flowers - in this case, I used Weber parrot tulips, green viburnum, cream roses, and cream ranunculus. You will also need floral wire (I like to use 26 gauge or another thin wire - it’s easier to work with), sharp scissors/pliers, floral tape (green is better, it’ll blend in with the stems), corsage pins, and your desired bouquet ribbon - I used the extra material from the hem of my wedding gown for a perfect match (just ask your seamstress to save it when she is in the process of altering your gown!)
2. Cut your flower stems at a steep angle and immerse in water. If they are still in bud form and/or are not as “open” as you would like, repeat this every day and change the water, adding flower food - your flowers should bloom in no time.
3. Once you have all your supplies and the flowers are ready to be made into a bouquet, wire each bloom individually - this is typically only necessary if you have a delicate bloom and/or want to “shape” your bouquet. In this particular bouquet, the tulips were really opening up, so I had to wire each one to slow down the natural drooping tendencies of the tulips.
You wire a bloom by taking a piece of the aforementioned floral wire and hook it through the center of the bloom. Then you twist the wire around and around the stem all the way down to the end of the stem - this reinforces the bloom and makes it easier to work with. In this case, I did not need to use this method - for the weaker-stemmed flowers, I took the broken end of the rose stems and tied them together with floral tape to the weaker ranunculus stems and short green part of the “stems” from the viburnum.
4. Just keep adding one stem at a time until you get your desired shape. Personally, I really like the rounded dome shape. Once you have some in place, wrap it around a couple times to make it stay put with some floral tape.
5. Turn the top of the bouquet towards you to check to make sure you’re getting your desired shape and adjust as necessary.
6. Wrap the stems up one more time in floral tape and reinforce the stems (if your bouquet is especially heavy/large) with floral wire. Just wrap it around 2-3 times at the top, middle, and close to the bottom.
7. Once you have finished tying up the stems in floral wire and floral tape, you are ready to wrap with your desired ribbon.
8. You can use a small corsage pin and/or needle to secure the ribbon in place.
Et voila - Instant bouquet.
p.s. As an aside, although I did it by myself and purchased the materials (most) wholesale through my floral business, I still spent a little over $150 on my own bouquet - the weber tulips were $80 alone for 30 stems because my usual supplier did not have them in stock. (Although I must say, they were worth every penny - they were unbelievably fresh, beautiful, and I LOVED them.)
I can only imagine how much it would’ve retail for, had I purchased the bouquet from a florist! 
23 Responses to “Bouquet Tutorial”
Thanks! What a FABULOUS tutorial!
My only question is, in your expert opinion, how easy would the bouquet you made be replicated by a novice? And second (ok, two questions! I lied), if I’m having an evening (5pm wedding), what is the earliest that the bouquets could be made and set aside in a fridge? I really don’t want to work on them the night before, or the day of. Would it be too early if I were to work on them the morning of the day before?
AXS - it;s actually quite easy and I think with maybe 1 or 2 practice sessions, you’d have it down pat 
I would recommend doing them the day before - depending on the type of flowers you are using; if you are using sturdier flowers like roses, you could probably make them 2 days ahead! but make sure to keep them refrigerated - after a 1 whole day of being dropped, turned, out of water, my tulip bouquet started to wilt a little bit, but once I put them back in water and let them sit in a cool place/like your fridge (but make sure its not TOO cold where it’ll get freezer burn), they should perk right back up!
In Singapore, our bouquet is prepared by our bridal studio and it is part of the package…
the flowers in ur photo are lovely…
how i wish i cld do the same thing for our wedding….
our brides in Singapore are lazier in this aspect n we just pay for them
Gorgeous bouquet! And thanks for the tutorial. I’m going to make my own bouquet, and those for my bridesmaids—my sister and MOH is helping me, by doing hers and some of the bridesmaids. We’re sticking to roses, mostly, so it should be easier. I’ve already practiced with some amazing Vendela roses I got from BJ’s warehouse that lasted for a week and a half. Gorgeous, fresh flowers, 24 stems for $14.99. Wow. Although we’re getting the wedding roses from freshroses.com. I made some great bouquets and it was very easy. The only wrinkle is that I want to include lily of the valley in mine and my sister’s bouquets, and I don’t know how difficult that is going to be, because I can’t afford to get them to practice with! Not until the ones in my sister’s garden bloom. Anyone have any experience with lily of the valley? It’s a very small and delicate flower, so I’m not sure it’s worth it. Maybe we should just douse ourselves in Diorissimo and forget the actual flowers!
Pencils, it’s funny you should talk about perfume - both my girls have the same favorite flower of gardenia, but after finding out how expensive the suckers are, I’m just going to give them gardenia spray that we can attack our bouquets with!
Miss Plum, where did you get the brooch/pin? It’s gorgeous!!
kandaceandjason–Crabtree and Evelyn used to make a fabulous Gardenia perfume, but I don’t know if they do anymore. I have Floris lily of the valley toilet water, come to think of it. I may cancel the lily of the valley, just because they’re difficult to work with and VERY expensive, even at the cheap freshroses.com rates. I wanted to include them because they’re my sister’s favorite flower, and she wanted them for her bridal bouquet years ago, but it was September and the florist just laughed. For years she tried to grow them in various gardens, but they always died. The first spring in her current house absolute swaths of lily of the valley came up in her garden. Hundreds of them. She had no idea they were there, but she knew then that she had bought the right house!
Thanks so much for your help! You’ve reassured me.
One last question - Are peonies sturdy flowers? What would the bouquet making time frame be for them? My bouquet will be solely peonies. The bridesmaids flowers will be a mixture of peonies and something green (haven’t decided yet on what green flower to use!).
I have 2 questions! In case you haven’t been bombarded with enough. I’m planning on doing my own flowers.
1.”You wire a bloom by taking a piece of the aforementioned floral wire and hook it through the center of the bloom”
What does that mean? I’ve been trying to figure out what goes into wiring a flower besides just winding the wire around the stem. Does the wire actually go through the flower head?
2.Also I don’t get what you did with the ranunculus and rose stems, did you just wrap a rose stem with the ranunculus? Could you do the same thing with a piece of straight floral wire (those fake “stem” things)?
Your flowers look gorgeous!! I love the tulips. I didn’t realize flowers could be so expensive even before the labor.
You’re so talented! I’ll have to save that in my “wedding binder” just for the heck of it. Just curious..where did you buy your pin from?
I got my pin at Sam Moon - an accessories store here in the Dallas, TX area… I don’t think i’ve seen them in the store for a while…
Thanks for sharing! You’re bouquet is so beautiful. Green and white for a bouquet is so classy and fresh-looking. I’m thinking about mixing green orchids and white roses. I applaud the DIY route!
your bouquet looks great! i used to work in a flower shop in high school so i know a thing or two about flowers/bouquets. i wouldn’t recommend putting the flowers in your fridge if its full of food. food + flower do not mix well.
If I’m using gerbera daisies, would I still need to wire the stems? Also, if I do them the day before and the ends of the stems are still out, could i just put them in water, or do you really think they should be in the fridge?
thanks for your help! I’m sure it won’t be that bad, but people keep looking at me like i’m crazy!
Gorgeous!
Wrapping with a vintage hankie and vintage pin would also look great (bonus of added sentiment if they are family pieces).
CA Girl - I’d be careful about working with gerbera daises - they have a tendency to be very flimsy and they constantly droop - that’s why you’ll often see a plastic straw around the base. If you are set on using them, I would definitely use a straw to keep them standing up! Otherwise, I’ve never done a bouquet with ONLY gerber daises… if you use other blooms, they can support the daisies, but otherwise I’m not familiar… good luck!
How long did it take you to assemble your bouquet?
I also live in the Dallas area; may I ask where you purchased your flowers?
The bouquet that you have created is exactly what I am looking for with ranunculus and the different greens….it’s absolutely gorgeous.
I purchased my flowers online at http://www.flowerbud.com hope it helps!
can you just pls. make a video about bouquet making…. whole video since youve prepare all of your needs..pls….. ill keep on checking this website until i find out you granted my request… thank you very much……….
can you make a bouquet tutorial using cheap flowers so that i can afford….. and can you please include it in the video…. pls. name the flowers so that i can identify them easily….. thank you…. i do really love this website! have a nice day…
your bouquets are absolutely beautiful!!!! can you make a bouquet using malaysian mums, jerbera and roses? please….. i live in philippines… in our hometown, we use this flowers….. thank you very much i hope you’ll make my tutorial request
good day!!!!:) if the motiff of the wedding is pink, what flowers can we use for the bouquet? just hoping you’ll reply once you read this message. thank you very much
