There is something incredibly clean and simple about bouquets containing only one type of flower. Ever since Mr. Penguin’s step-sister carried a bride’s bouquet made up entirely of stephanotis, I was hooked. I really want my bridesmaids and I to carry bouquets containing only one flower.
Images courtesy of theknot.comBeauty aside, one bloom bouquets are a great option for going the DIY flower route, which I’m strongly considering. I hopped on over to the San Francisco Flower Mart this past June to find some pretty blush blooms that I could possibly use for bouquets at my wedding. I went one weekend in late May, and one weekend in June, since my wedding is in early June I wanted to make sure the blooms that I saw were the blooms that I would see next June for my wedding. I found some beautiful Spider Mums (at least I think they were Spider Mums) and threw in some Freesia, but I think I’ll forgo the Freesia for a cleaner look.
Here’s my trial bouquet. I threw them against a grey background because the bridesmaid’s dresses will be grey. They’re not perfect, but they’re getting there, and hopefully I can do one more trial before “the big day”.
The cost? Unbelievebly low. The flowers cost $6 for 10 blooms, and I used 5 blooms per bouquet. The floral ribbon cost $10 for an ungodly amount (like 100 yards) but I think come wedding day I’ll use a more luxurious and wide satin ribbon, which might cost $10 a yard or so. So all in all, I anticipate the bridesmaids bouquets to cost around $8 each.Which is brilliant considering I blew 1/2 my floral budget on glass vases.
Are you DIY’ing your bouquets? Where are you buying your flowers for the big day?
My bouquet is mostly spider mums too only green. I think they’re so pretty. For the ‘maids bouquets, we’re using green poms (which I think look like baby spider mums.) 
Love it! I might do something similar. I love the look of spider mums!
SF flower mart baby! I’m getting married on Friday night, so I am shopping for my goods Wednesday morning. I’m having a flower prepping party that Weds. night to de-thorn and prep and clean everything up.
Those look great! I DIY my flowers too, although I went the route of ordering online. It was really alot of fun. I used spider mums too ’cause they were so cost effective for how much space they filled up. I used them mostly on the table decorations, not too much in the bouquet if you want to see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52522962@N00/sets/72157602269768189/
Good Luck!
Looks wonderful! Are you using spider mums for your bouquet too, or something different?
I’m a fan of the single bloom look too. I did DIY BM bouquets using silk stephanotis and thought they turned out great. I couldn’t find any silk roses I liked for my bouquet though, and didn’t want to DIY fresh flowers, so used a florist for that…a simple hand tied bouquet of ivory and light and dark pink roses.
Ashley - have you seen this Melissa Sweet dress? I really fell in love with it.
http://www.melissasweet.com/dress_detail.jsp?gid=50&sfid=1085
These look awesome Miss Penguin! I’m not going the DIY route for flowers because I want something more complicated than my DIY-impaired self can handle, but if I were going the one-bloom route I might consider it.
I’m using http://freshroses.com/ for my DIY flowers!
I’m thinking of just using blue and white hydrangeas now. No need to mess around with all different types of flowers!
I’m currently doing all roses for my flowers and love the one bloom look - i don’t want to be distracted!
if i was getting married in the bay area, then i’d get them at the SF Flower mart. but since we’re in the LA area, most likely the LA flower district.
I’ll be doing all of our centerpieces, but leaving the bouquets and such up to the pros…your does look verrry pretty though!
Looks beautiful!
I toyed with the idea of just picking up some flowers from a local farmer’s market and tying them together for the big day, but with a Friday wedding, the blooms would have sat for a week before the wedding. I’m so glad to know there’s someone out there going the DIY route for this.
How long did it take you? Did you run into any problems? Oh, and are you doing the bouts too?
I recently diy’d the bridesmaid bouquets, boutoniers, corsages, and flower girl baskets the night before a wedding, on an emergency basis. The MOB, a dear friend of mine, was planning on putting them together, but had a meltdown at about 9pm the night before the ceremony. It took two bridesmaids and me about 4 hours and $60 in supermarket (Costco and Fred Meyer) roses and hypericum berries to make 3 bouquets, 5 corsages, 7 bouts, and two flower girl baskets. I used ribbons from my stash. They were all roses. We looked up how to make them in a book on the spot, because we were clueless. A florist made the bride’s bouquet.
They turned out fabulous. I think it’s really hard to make flowers look bad. If I’d planned in advance on doing them, I would’ve stressed and fretted and fussed.
The reception centerpieces and altar flowers were gorgeous lush bouquets of pink lilies and dahlias from the Pike St Market in Seattle, costing $5 each for the bouquets and $2.50 each for Ikea vases. Put together by the bride’s grandmother.
Those look fantastic. I really want to do my own flowers, but the thing I am most confused about is how to keep them fresh overnight if I do them the day before. Once the loose flowers are wrapped up into a bouquet, how do they get water? I don’t know how to make it work unless I put the flowers together the day of, and that sounds like a dangerous idea.
This reminds me…I had to help assemble boutonnieres the night before my MIL’s wedding.
A tip: to keep them overnight, place a damp paper towel in a ziploc bag with the finished flowers. Close the bag with lots of air in it, so it’s puffy. Place them on a try in the refrigerator and they’ll stay fresh for the next day.
Wow, Miss P., those are really stellar! They’ll look gorgeous against the dresses in your photos…. Can’t believe how easy and inexpensive they are — they look very modern and expensive!
laurak - for each bouquet, put about 1 inch of water (or less if you’ve already wrapped the stems with ribbon, etc) in a vase. then cut the stems to the length desired and place in the water. just keep the flowers in a relatively cool room, and you should be fine. for the day of, it’s a good idea to place a paper towel with each vase so your bm’s can blot off any drips when they take the bouquets out of the water. good luck!
We used OrganicBouquet.com when I couldn’t find any local flowers for late August. I had a friend arrange them into my bouquet and corsages. Worked great!
they look great! I was thinking I wanted to buy some of our flowers wholesale too–and I also live near Sac-town–but it seemed like a trip to SF so near the wedding might be a pill. How’re going to schedule the purchase?
Or do you have someone whose able to pick them up for you?
Brendalynn-
I live in the bay area so I typically shuttle back and forth between Sac and SF, but I agree, its quite a drive if you dont plan on making it out to SF for any other reason than to just buy flowers. I’m going to try to see if any farmers markets in the area have flower vendors that can accomodate me…but chances are I’ll be in the Bay area anyways during the week of my wedding.
The flowers looked great for a whole week after I bought them. I plan on taking a trip to the SF flower mart on Thursday, unless I’m able to find the flowers that I want more locally. There are some great online vendors like fiftyflowers.com, but they do sell in bulk, and I wont need as many as they are selling, but if you plan to just use one or two different types of flowers for your centerpieces and bouquets, you might want to give them a try, they deliver to your doorstep. GL!
I’m using http://www.flowerbud.com on the recommendation of another bride. Her flowers were gorgeous and the people running the site give great responses if you email them with questions.
These will cover all bouquets, boutonnières, and corsages. I’m unsure what I’ll do for centerpiece flowers.
By the by, I REALLY like the idea of one flower type bouquets.
Also, one of my BMs worked at a florist for a year and she is beside herself with excitement in helping put together these flowers. Who could ask for more?!
Mrs. Penguin, Sacramento
Age and Occupation: 26, Video & TV Producer/Director/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I'm a silly mess of a girl who, above all else in this world, LOVES the Spice Girls. I eat sushi at least 3 times a week, and feel guilty about how much it costs the other 4 days a week. I love designer jeans and cheap accessories. I don't like sweets, but I love the UCLA Bruins!
Hi Miss Penguin!
thanks!!!! love your posts!
Just realized you are having Gray bridesmaid dresses- me too! Have you found any you like so far- I have been scouring trying to find dresses that arent ridiculously expensive too! Please post if you find any cocktail type gray ones!