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Did you see yesterday’s eight-dollar bouquet adventure yet?
So I went to Trader Joe’s today to find some egg salad, and instead left with my arms full of $1.99 bunches of flowers and not one morsel of food. You know what that means? Yes, I’m really hungry at this point…and it’s grocery-store-bouquet time, Part 2!
Our inspiration:
“OMG, those flowers are so lovely! Please tell me who your florist is so I can have this same look at my wedding.”
“Thanks, but I just picked them out of that field and tied them together with twine scraps I found out in the barn to make this totally affordable yet oh-so-chic bouquet…in less than five minutes.”
*Jaws drop, everyone thinks you are a complete DIY goddess, and they are also envious of your entire life.*
So here’s what I started with (I was going for a wildflower-ish look, but I know nothing about wildflowers, or any flowers for that matter):
The goods from left to right: Red berry-things apparently called Hypericum; green Leucadendron (which smell awful); snapdragons; and a bushel of purple fluff I don’t know the name of. Eight dollars total.
The smaller, first bouquet that our sweetie MillieDog really liked, hence why she is sitting like a good girl. Bridesmaid material for just four dollars?
Larger, more colorful second bouquet that I think a country bride would carry. Well, I’m going to be a country bride, and I would totally carry it AND not feel bad if I sat on it during dinner because, like the first bouquet, it only cost four dollars.
At that point, like a true money-saving crazy lady (I’m a freak about a deal, I tell you what), I immediately ran into the house and hauled out some of our wedding decorations. Why stop at bouquets? Why not do mock-up centerpiece clusters—despite the thirsty, droopy flowers—too?!
OK, so that wasn’t too exciting. But at least it was fun. And everything pictured was less than a dollar. Bonus: I got a tan on the back of my neck from working out in the sun all afternoon.
Even bigger bonus: we get to decorate our house with fresh flowers. Unfortunately, we will find them scattered throughout the house because the cat pulls them out and runs around with them in her mouth. Seriously, as I type this I can hear her in the dining room gnawing away on a snapdragon.
Anybody else thinking of DIY-ing their flowers? Or do you think these are terrifying and tacky and we should just suck it up and pay for a florist, even though we’re going for a messy, just-plucked-from-the-field look? PLEASE somebody tell me they are going through this flower hell, too! Comment and share your horror stories…or your happy endings.
Nice! However, I like the first batch you did, with the sunflowers. Much more brighter colors!
I am putting off my search for a florist. I have no idea what I want, know it needs to be cheap, and an just overwhelmed. Urgh.
I think those were pretty, the flowers look a little tired, but I think the arrangements are really nice.
I think you did a great job with the bouquets! If I had any skill whatsoever I would do that. Every time I look at florist quotes I become horrified - and I’m just getting bouquets!
you are so talented! you have me dreaming of pretty and cheapy bouquets and centerpieces…
I think these came out great! And if you order flowers wholesale, they’ll be even cheaper than at TJs!
These bouquets look lovely! And no, you are not insane for attempting to DIY your flowers. It’s super easy!
We ordered a few dozen roses and Fiji mums from Costco for the bridesmaids. My dad picked them up the morning of the wedding, and my sisters made the bouquets up. For my bouquet, I really wanted peonies (but didn’t want to pay $12 a stem, thankyouverymuch!). Literally the day before the wedding, I was driving past a church that had a ton of peonies growing out front. I asked the secretary if I could pick a few for my bouquet, and she said yes! Voila! Bouquets done at the last minute and they looked great.
I’d check out Costco for flowers as well. If you order them in bulk, you can get really great deals. 24 roses for $16 is what they were going for at the Costco near my house.
Ooh, I absolutely love these! (Even more than the sunflower one - but very different feels). They look so natural, yet chic.
We did this! Actually, we got our flowers from Whole Foods, but same idea. We did bouquets, bouts, and cluster-type centerpieces like the ones you have. I went to the florist counter at our local Whole Foods a week before the wedding and told them what colors of flowers we wanted and a couple of specific types of flowers we did and did not want. They bought a ton of stuff for us on wholesale 2 days before the wedding, and we picked everything up and put it together the day before.
It worked AWESOME. I decided early on that I couldn’t deal with the wedding florist markup, and like you, I was amazed to see how easy it is to put together really pretty bouquets. I can’t believe how much florists charge for this stuff. We ended up with exactly what we wanted, and I felt great about avoiding vendors I found particularly obnoxious. Plus, I will say that the moment I made my bouquet was when I really started to “feel like a bride.”
I did all the bouquets, boutonierres (s/p), corsages and centerpieces for my last wedding… all for around $100! I didn’t have any floral experience before attempting it - I just looked up some how-to videos. I think you already have the hang of it! Good luck!
That “purple fluff” is limonium. 
I think your bouquets turned out beautiful.
I was getting groceries last night and I almost bought some flowers to mix and match for my test bouquet. I’m going to be a total DIY bride when it comes to flowers (but not much else).
I plan on DIY the flowers with bouquets from the local farmers market! It makes so much more sense than paying someone hundreds of dollars to do it haha.
My mom is going to make all the centerpieces with flowers from my dad’s garden. If she needs more, she’s going to go to Produce Junction (a local market near us that sells a dozen roses for 3 bucks as well as tons of other flowers!) and plunk them into matching vases I got for cheap. It doesn’t bother me if the flowers aren’t matching on every table. I haven’t made up my mind on the bouquets yet as they seem sort of complicated to bind together? it feels like they need a professional?
Lovely, I love the wildflower look. And LOL at your naughty kitty!
I love that purple stuff! It holds its color well when dried, too - I have a bunch of mini-purple-stuff-bouquets in small jars in my kitchen 
I LOVE Trader Joe’s flower sections and I always head there first while my husband looks for actual groceries. Lovely assortment for your theme!
I considered DIY-ing the flowers, but got way too intimidated!
They’re beautiful!
I love the 2nd one in this post with lots of purple (is that dyed baby’s breath, perhaps?), but I also like the 2nd one in your other post too! Great job grouping them together!
I think they’ll look really cute for your centerpieces, but it does look like your flowers were getting a little thirsty by the end. In the pitcher and in the biggest tall vase, it looks like the stems are a little short (I would want the flowers to stand a little taller and spread out over the sides a bit), but adding water to those vases might fix that problem anyway~ Otherwise you could always put something in the bottom to hold them up taller…
Are you planning to just wrap ribbon around the stems of the bouquets? A friend of mine did that and just attached it with pins that had a fake pearl top - it turned out great!
They look great! We’re DIYing our reception flowers and I ordered a “bunch of purple fluff” as well coz it’s gorgeous. I think the florist called it “Limodium” or something….
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Mrs. Jam, Chicago Age and Occupation: 25, Writer/Associate Wedding Coordinator Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Structural Engineer Engagement Date: December 23, 2009 Wedding Date: June 2011 Venue: Hunter’s Ridge, Princeton, IL About Me: I’m a penny-pinching cat lady getting ready to marry the frugal dog lover of my dreams. Our ideal Saturday morning includes rummaging around people’s junk at garage and estate sales followed by an afternoon date to our favorite café, where we only eat sandwiches that include the word “salad.” We actually love it so much, it’s sort of our unofficial wedding theme: Look at our delicious finds, eat homemade ham salad, and celebrate our love…barndance style. When we’re not obsessing over our love-fest shindig, we’re planning themed parties for our best friends and jamming to '90s music.
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