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{DIY or DIE} The Evolution of Our Homemade Bouquets

When I set out to DIY our wedding, I had no idea what I was in for. I knew there would be a lot of trial and error, mixed with hair pulling frustration, but I also knew that I was capable of pulling it off.  My heart was certainly in it, my attitude was positive, and therefore I was able approach the difficulty of it all with an open mind and a smile.  The one project that I have been working on since April (4 months, people) is our DIY bouquets.  I declared these bouquets finished at least 3 different times.  The first time I declared them “finished” was at the end of April after my “Hey, Bridesmaids! Let’s Make Some Bouquets!” Party.  Here are a few shots of the bouquet in PHASE 1:

DIY Bouquets: PHASE 1

More of PHASE 1

This first night of bouquet crafting left us all feeling successful.  I was truly impressed with what we did.  But just days after that night, I started to futz with the bouquets again. I saw little gaps that needed fixing and pieces that needed gluing.  This was to be expected, though. We were DIYing bouquets blind, pretty much. You see, at first, we did the “glue-as-you-go” method where we basically took some pretty crap and glued it to the bouquet handle base, trying our hardest to keep it looking spherical.  I’d say for our first attempts, we did a pretty damn good job.

But then I decided I wanted different colors than the materials I had on the bouquet. So instead of starting from scratch (which would have ended up costing us nearly as much as a set of real floral bouquets), I decided to paint over what I had.  And this is what I came up with (you may recognize this picture from my previous DIY Bouquet post):

DIY Bouquets: PHASE 2

I truly loved this phase of the bouquets. In fact, after I completed said “phase,” I believed it to be the last and final.  But no. I decided I wanted lighter colors. So I started painting again. And the I decided some of the bouquets didn’t have the right shape, so I began to reshape.  And then I looked at a picture of a real bouquet, and I decided that the handles on my bouquets looked skinnier than everyone else’s.  And I didn’t like that.  So I found some soft cardboard used to pack fragile things with, rolled them into cylinders, then glued them to the current handle.  Then I noticed that “real” bouquets have some sort of ribbon or lace wrap around the handle. So I went and bought some lace ribbon, wrapped it around the handles, and pinned it.

Annnnd 80 glue gun burns later, this is the final look of the bouquets:

DIY Bouquets: PHASE 3 - The (Actual) Final Phase

My bouquet: PHASE 3

PHASE 3: Complete.

I am very VERY happy with the end result. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been happy with the phase 1 result, but since I had time to tweak and perfect, I was able to let the bouquets evolve into my original vision.

Lessons learned:

1. There is no right or wrong way to make a DIY bouquet.
2. Do not feel pressured to make your DIY bouquet perfect on the first go-around.  Give yourself time to let the bouquets evolve.
3. It’s ok to be a perfectionist — just make sure you give yourself enough time to be said perfectionist. I finished my bouquets 5 days before the wedding, people. This perfectionist likes to cut it close… So starting four months prior to W-Day was a must for me. Assess your perfectionist tendencies and plan your DIY bouquet plan of attack accordingly.
4. If you do not plan on painting your bouquet, make sure you pick colors you like and want to commit to.  My bouquet colors changed completely from start to finish.  Just look at Phase 1 compared to Phase 3. Same bouquet, totally different look.
5. Do a glue test to make sure everything holds.  For example, hold your bouquet by the handle, upside down and shake it a tad. If it feels loose, it’s not glued down enough. Don’t wait until the last minute. You’ll find yourself in a hot glue gun mess.
6. Build from the center of the bouquet out.  This way you can decide layer by layer how big you want your sphere to be, and you will have an easier time keeping the sphere even and symmetrical.
7. Make the handle of the bouquet LAST.  I made 3 different handles before I landed on a style that worked. Trial and error: get used to it.

What are your DIY lessons learned? Anyone have similar experiences with crafting their bouquets? Have they evolved as much as mine have?