Weddingbee Blog

Do you remember the boutonnieres I made for our ring bearers, which I shared a few weeks ago? I stacked rosettes made out of ribbon and added a little puppy figurine to make them a little less stuffy than the traditional boutonnieres that the groomsmen will be wearing. Junior Mink, my golden retriever, is our constant companion (so constant that people seem surprised if they see us downtown without him!), and I thought it’d be fun to have a few references to him at our wedding.

Photo by Miss Mink

In addition to our four ring bearers, Mr. Mink’s niece is going to serve as our flower girl. I have a feeling Mini Mink is going to love her role. I wanted to give her something along the lines of the boutonnieres that would fit in with her position. I decided to make her a fabric-flower corsage.

I used almost the same method on this project as the one I used to make floral shoe clips for my bridesmaids. I wanted more floppy petals on Mini Mink’s corsage, so I downloaded a large template from the Martha Stewart Weddings website and used it as a guide to cut out some satin flowers in our primary wedding color, a deep blue-green. This fabric matches the ribbon I used on the ring-bearer boutonnieres almost perfectly, and it’s a very close match to the dresses our bridesmaids are wearing.

Photos by Miss Mink

The blue flowers were going to be my base. I layered at least 20 flowers cut from the same pink chiffon I had used on the floral shoe clips. I folded the stack in half, then in half again, and used some thread to pinch the bottom of the stack. From afar it looks pretty cute, doesn’t it?

Photos by Miss Mink

I used some hot glue to attach the flower to a length of ribbon and tied it around my wrist to test the corsage. It was definitely light enough not to bother Mini Mink. However, I wasn’t as thrilled with the results up close. I thought the flower looked pretty, but the chiffon was fraying pretty quickly. I couldn’t see a little girl wearing it all day without picking it apart. From certain angles, the entire thing looked like a messy stack of floppy chiffon.

Photo by Miss Mink

I went back to the drawing board. I used a heat gun to warm the hot glue back up and pulled the chiffon flower off the ribbon. Then I pulled a fabric flower that I bought at Michaels off its stem to see if it would be light enough for Mini Mink. The fabric flower was actually lighter than the chiffon, which was a relief.

Photos by Miss Mink

I glued the flower to the ribbon, but thought it was looking a bit too generic. So, I pulled the plastic pistil/stamen thing out of the flower and hid the same puppy figurine from the boutonnieres inside.

Photos by Miss Mink

When the flower is fluffed up, you can tell that something is in the middle, but you can’t see exactly what it is. I think Mini Mink will like her secret puppy.

Photo by Miss Mink

If Mini Mink finds the flower too big or too heavy, we can simply tie it to her flower basket.

Did you plan anything special for your flower girls?