Weddingbee Blog

With the wedding less than two months away (yikes!), it’s time to dust off the DIY projects that were started (rather, the supplies were bought) over the past 4 months. I knew it was a mistake to buy the last novel in the Twilight sequel this late in the wedding planning game, but Edward was calling me from the stacks at Costco and I succumbed. Well, the book is read, and now it’s crunch time. So, most of my free days and nights have been spent crafting.

I posted a while ago about styling the aisle, and had a lot of great feedback from all of you. I loved the look of flower garlands hanging from the altar, but our florist’s ri.dic.u.lous. prices prompted a day of DIY. I love the results. LOVE. I can picture them swaying in the Caribbean breeze as we softly whisper, “I do…”

Oh, who am I kidding?! With my luck, they’ll be a tangled mess, and Mr. Quiche will be yelling, “Ya mon!” Moving on…

The altar at Coyaba

Supplies:

• NICE Fake Hydrangea bunches (there are cheap ones and nice ones - you can tell the difference, TRUST.). Mine had over 50 blooms per bunch
• Clear fishing line
• Large sewing needle
• A Nip/Tuck marathon (optional)

Step 1: Figure out the length you’ll need. I just guesstimated by using the top of our door moulding, since I can’t figure out a way to work in another “research” trip.

Step 2: Tear off flowers from stems

Step 2: Tie a knot at one end of the fishing line (actually, a series of 4 knots on top of each other, or the flower might slip off!)

Step 3: Thread the needle and first bloom—this will be the bottom flower. I figured out that for the bottom part of the garland, you can go straight up through the bottom of the flower (the plastic stamen part?) so that when hanging, you’ll see the most petals.

Step 4: Tie another knot approximately 8 – 11 inches above the previous flower, then repeat Step 3. Tip: don’t measure the distance between blooms! I had to suppress my OCD after recognizing that the strands will look better with the blooms scattered, rather than in a straight line all the way across.

For the middle of the garland, I threaded the needle through the flowers at an angle. For the top, I inserted the needle through the top of the bloom, so when looking up, you’ll see the most petals.

Step 5: After the last bloom is on the fishing wire, tie another knot right above it to keep it from coming off the top.

Step 6: Hang and admire. Then get back to work!

Repeat all steps until you have the desired amount of strands. It may seem like it takes a while to do these, but once I sat there and worked, it took about an hour to do half of them. Not too shabby!

Project cost for 9 flower garlands:

2 bunches of flowers @ $4.50 ea.

Fishing wire I found in the junk drawer - free

Total: $9.00

I also made a strand with rhinestones, but they were a pain in the as*, and didn’t photograph well. It’s possible that they would look much better once outside and sparkling in the sun, but I haven’t decided if we are going to use them or not.

When did the DIY bug kick in for you?