Where to begin. Silks or Fresh?
Well first thing you need to do is choose between fresh flowers and silk. A fresh flower bouquet should only be tackled by the bravest among you with at least some DIY fortitude. Fresh flowers are less forgiving and should only be done within a day of the wedding. Keep in mind that certain flower have a very short life span and need to be appropriately conditioned. But if you’re feeling bold and handle stress well then what the heck… go for it. No really, I’m not trying to scare anybody I just want you to be realistic and honest about your skill set.

Silks are a much easier way to go for the average DIY’er. I’ll reserve comment on the whole debate of fresh vs. silks for another article. The main advantage with silks other than having a keepsake after the wedding is that you can work on the project months in advance and work in a much more calm and relaxed manner. If you make a mistake – no worries – there’s plenty of time to correct it. This guide will focus on making a bouquet using silk flowers.

Things You’ll Need

• Wire cutters – You can pick one up at Home Depot for less than $10.
• Pipe Cleaner – Alternatively you can use a long twist tie.
• Floral tape – Available at most craft stores.
• Ribbon – Color of choice.
• Fabric Scissors
• Decorative Buckle or Broach – Optional.

Where to buy
Many Florists today will be more than happy to sell you loose stems for a DIY project. In most cases, since you’re supplying the labor, you can save about 40% off the cost of a bouquet by doing it yourself. Whether you choose fresh or silks, don’t wait till the last minute. Many of the high end silks are in high demand and get frequently back ordered. Ordering 6 months in advance in some cases is not too soon. When it comes to fresh you’ll want to make sure that the flower you’re interested is in season when you need it. If not, expect to pay a hefty premium for them. Give your fresh florist a heads up so that they can best help you in making sure that you get exactly what you want when you need it.

Design Style
I would highly recommend a hand tied bouquet for a first time DIY’er. A hand tied bouquet is simple, elegant and by far the easiest bouquet to design. I’d suggest you choose no more than 2 different flower species that compliment each other well. Your best bet is to pick one flower type that will act as the dominate flower and a secondary one to give a little texture and accent. Much more than that could end up being frustrating… and we don’t want that.

Let’s Get This Party Started
For this project I selected Calla Lilies. They work well for contemporary and traditional looks. They’re highly prized, available in a variety of colors, elegant and relatively easy to work with. You can never go wrong with Callas. If you’re having trouble selecting the perfect color than go with a primary like white, yellow or green. You can then use the ribbon for your contrasting accent color.

I used 24 Mini Calla stems for my bouquet. This produces a medium sized bouquet. You’ll have to adjust your count based on the size flower you use and the size of the bouquet you want.

Step 1
Place all the flowers loosely in the palm of your hand. Begin to arrange the flowers, starting with the center one and working your way towards the outside. The center flower should be the highest one with the outer ones becoming progressively lower. Be careful not to pull the flowers by their petals. Always adjust by grabbing the stem. If you’re working with silk flowers you can also bend the stems to help fan the flowers out a little.

When you’re done, you should have something that resembles the shape of a mushroom. Be patient with this step. It could take a little time to get the look you’re going for.

You can also change your hand position to change the look. The higher you grab the bouquet (closer to the flowers) the tighter the arrangement gets. The lower you grab it the more airy it gets. In general, you don’t want your bouquet too airy looking unless you plan on filling the spaces with something like baby’s breadth or other greenery. Too airy also has a tendency of making the bouquet look a little sloppy.

Here’s a helpful hint. Have a mirror in front of you so that you can hold the bouquet as if you were walking down the aisle. This will give you a better perspective and makes it a lot easier to evaluate composition and balance. Make sure the bouquet is tilted towards your guests and not towards the ceiling. I get a little crazy when I see wedding photographs with the Bride holding her bouquet pointing straight up. Who are they trying to impress? The birds? Sorry for the sarcasm, it’s just one of those pet peeves of mind.

Step 2
Once you get the look exactly as you want it, you’ll use the pipe cleaner to secure around the stems. Wrap the pipe cleaner directly above your hand. It might help to get a friend to assist you with this step. Once you twist the pipe cleaner, you should be able to let go of the arrangement and it will maintain its basic shape. You can make minor adjustments in the next step. Twist the pipe cleaner just enough to hold the shape but not too much that you damage the stems. Cut the excess pipe cleaner leaving about 3/4″. Fold what’s left around the stems as shown.

Step 3
Use the green floral tape to secure all the stems into a tight bundle. If you’ve never used floral tape before, it’s very simple to use. Cut a piece that’s easy to manage – say about 12 inches. Before you begin to wrap, you have to activate the stickyness of the tape. Do this by gently stretching a couple of inches of the tape. Begin to wrap at the top of the stems, a little above the pipe cleaner. Make sure you overlap the tape as you work the tape down. The tape sticks to itself, not the stems. Continue to stretch the tape as you carefully wrap at a downward angle. If the tape tears – don’t worry – take the torn piece and overlap an existing area of the wrap and continue on. Your total wrap shouldn’t be much more than 3 inches.

Step 4

Cut a piece of ribbon approximately 1 -1/2 yards long. Drape the ribbon slightly above the green tape. Leave 18″ of ribbon to the left – you’ll need this to tie a bow in the last step. Begin wrapping the stems towards the right in a downward spiral direction. Overlap each successive revolution by about a quarter of an inch. Make sure you pull the ribbon tightly for a clean and professional look.

Once you’ve wrapped the ribbon so that it covers the bottom of the green floral tape, reverse direction and wrap the ribbon in an upward spiral until you end up where you started.

Step 5 (Optional)

Add some embellishments to complete the look. A crystal buckle is available through most national craft stores. You can also give your bouquet an expressive touch by adding something intimate and personal to you. For example, a pendant with a photograph of someone dear to you.

Lace the ribbon through the buckle and slide the ribbon into position. Tie a basic knot to secure the ribbon and then tie a decorative bow for the final touch.

Final Thoughts
Take your time and exercise your creative side. If you get a little frustrated during the project then take a break and walk away from it for a couple of hours. Don’t worry, it’ll come together… I didn’t become a florist overnight. Best of all, you get to walk down the aisle with something you created yourself.

If your interested in your own Do-It-Yourself project then don’t hesitate to drop me a line. If you have any questions or comments, please post them on this blog. I’ll be sure to reply.

Good Luck! Mary.

Mary Baum is the owner, chief designer, bottle washer and broom sweeper at The Silk Canopy. She’s passionate about all things wedding. And when she’s not creating a new design or watching the Wedding channel she spends her time with her Husband, two daughters and her lunatic dog, Henry.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes (The Bridal Blog)

The Fon Don’t Cake complete with DIY Instructions/Pics (Lemon Tart)

A fondant version by Piece of Cake for Alison & Kevin’s Real Wedding (Event Accomplished)

Super Cute Citrus Candy Cupcakes (L’amour Photography)

Citrus wedding cakes (Jeneze Cake Design & Wedding Aces)

Absolutely gorgeous, modern lemon styled summer wedding cake (Real Simple)

Lemon Topped Wedding Cake (Martha Stewart Weddings)

I gave this corsage to my Grandmother for my nieces’ wedding. I can’t tell you just how happy it made her to receive it. She’s 93 and wears it every day. It took so little to give her so much.

Do you have a special person in your life who’s day you can brighten up?

Posted by: Mary Baum

Mary, owner of the The Silk Canopy specializes in creating spectacular arrangements using eternal botanicals. She always says that the 3 most important elements of a good arrangement are “Design, Balance and Color”.

Posted by: Mary Baum

Mary, owner of the The Silk Canopy specializes in creating spectacular arrangements using eternal botanicals. She always says that the 3 most important elements of a good arrangement are “Design, Balance and Color”.

Today I had a chance to try making this Marshmallow fondant myself so I thought I would post a quick update and repost this. The fondant actually tasted quite good. VERY VERY sweet (its sugar and marshmallows after all) so you probably don’t want to eat to much at once, but since it’s just a thin layer over the cake – it’s not bad at all.  The fondant was fairly easy to make (though it gets to be quite thick which makes it quite the workout for your hands lol) and was very easy to work with once it was made as well.

For those who want to know – here is what I was making. It’s a zoo themed birthday cake for a friend’s son and the hills are covered with the pale green marshmallow fondant that I made.

ORIGINAL POST

Fondant is a popular choice for wedding cakes because of the smooth, clean look it creates but it doesn’t usually win much praise in the taste department. Marshmallow fondant is a great alternative that you may like better taste-wise.   Check out the Austin Wedding Blog for a great DIY tutorial for making your own marshmallow fondant!

Are you planning to have fondant or buttercream for your wedding cake?

Photobook arrives – it’s like Christmas in July

The Book & Cover

Some Of My Favorite Pages

Pricing:

I’m a pretty budget savvy person so one of the first things that caught my attention was the price.  Lulu.com Photobooks start at $9.99 for a soft cover, 20 page book and $19.99 for a hard cover, 20 page book.  Very budget friendly!

Sizes and Templates:

I really like the range of options that Lulu offers for their ebooks. My particular book is an 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 square book. I am a huge fan of square albums (its the scrapbooker in me lol) and its generally a more expensive option when it is offered which isn’t often.  I really like that this size/shape was available for the same price.  Other sizes included 8 1/2 x 11, 9 x 7, 5.25 x 3.5 (guest book album?) and 3.75 x 2.5 (brag books for grandmas?).

Lulu.com also offers a great selection of templates that you can use depending on your preferred style: classic, modern, romantic, vintage, nature inspired, etc.   Now – I am a graphic designer and I had already designed the pages for my album so I choose full photo templates for each page and then uploaded my own designs as a photo for each page and for the cover. I love that flexibility – you can use one of their templates if you wish – or if you have some graphic design or digital scrapbook ability you can design your own pages like I did. Just make sure you respect the bleed areas.

Building a Photobook:

I found the Photobook creator very easy to use. You can upload pictures from your computer or from your albums on Flickr, Facebook, etc.  You then choose the layout you want to each page (one picture, two pictures, three pictures, text boxes, etc) and drag and drop your photos into their spaces.  You can save your progress and come back to it late if you need to until you are ready to publish.

Show off and/or sell your Photobook!

The neat thing about Lulu is that it’s both a self publishing company AND a bookstore. You can create your books there and sell them through the website. You set the prices you want to charge and when a book is purchased, Lulu prints and ships directly to the customer. This feature is great for photographers who want to offer their brides affordable, flexible album options. You create the album and set your price. The bride and her family can order as many copies as they wish whenever they wish.

There are a few different options you can pick when you publish. You can choose to keep the album private (so only you can order it). You can also choose to have your book available by link only. This means you can give the link to friends and family so they can preview and purchase a copy if they want. I choose this option – not because I want family to buy my book – but because then family and you guys can go see the preview (Click here to check it out lol). This option keeps your book from being included in their public database – which is the third option if you have a book you want made available to purchase for the general public.

Quality

I am quite happy with my photobook. I choose a hardcover book and it is quite sturdy. It’s only 20 pages thick so it kind of reminds me of a child’s hardcover picture book lol – nice and sturdy.  (Yes, you can add more pages as well).  I was impressed by the color quality as well – the pages were crisp and clear and the colors were bright. My photos came out looking gorgeous on each page.

GIVEAWAY – GET YOUR OWN PHOTOBOOK!!!!

So – we’re going to give away a photobook to one lucky reader! You can use it to create a wedding album or an album showcasing your wedding planning process (showers, parties, etc), your honeymoon, or whatever you wish. You will be able to choose your size, hard cover or soft cover and up to 20 pages at no cost. Giveaway Ends August 4th at midnight EST.

Here’s how to enter:

Sign up for our newsletter in the sidebar – all newsletter subscribers will automatically be entered to win!

You can also earn additional entries by Twittering our giveaway. Send your tweet @CrystalUnrau to ensure that your extra entries get counted!

If you’re thinking about doing your own hair – my advice is this:

- Pick a style that you can handle, that makes sense for your hair

- Practice! I actually wore my hair in a similar style for a few events earlier that year just so I could be sure that I could make it look like I wanted and that it would stay all day long.

Martha Stewart has a feature in her Summer 2010 issue showcasing these DIY styles with photo instructions that might be inspirational as well.

I also enjoy the story my bride tells about it. Apparently, the bouquet was so real looking that the caterer decided to put in a vase of water. Oh… I forgot to mention… they’re artificial… or as I like to call them “Eternal Botanicals”.

Posted by Mary Baum

Mary owns The Silk Canopy and specializes in creating spectacular arrangements using eternal botanicals. She always says that the 3 most important elements of a good arrangement are “Design, Balance and Color”.

written by: Joe Baum

Joe & his wife Mary own The Silk Canopy — a silk floral business specializing in bouquets, destination wedding flowers and other personal flowers. If you ask Joe, he’ll tell you that his wife is the real talent behind their awesome designs… he’s just the guy in the back room.

Earlier this week, I introduced you to Ashley and our Cross-Blog Conversation. I started the conversation by asking Ashley how she felt about Cash Bars/Dry Receptions and what she did for her recent wedding.  Ashley responded and shared her views on the issues as a recent budget bride.

Alcohol is one are that can really sink a budget and also one area that raises a lot of controversy as well. In my opinion – there are three ways you can cut down the cost of each – and each one is appropriate in some instances and not in others.

1. Cash Bar – Ah, the ever controversial Cash Bar lol. To be honest – when I first started in the wedding industry I was surprised at the response you get online when you mention a cash bar. In the area that I live in – cash bars are standard. Every single wedding I have ever attended here had a cash bar – with the exception of a few that were dry. EVERY SINGLE ONE – from $5000 weddings to $25000 weddings.  To be honest – I have no idea why it is that way here – it just is – and when we were married 11 years ago, we had a cash bar. It wasn’t even something we discussed – it was just the way it is here.  My opinion on cash bars is this: IF its what your guests are expecting. IF it’s acceptable in your circle of friends/family. And IF you are still providing plenty of non-alcoholic beverages. IF you meet those three conditions – then go for a cash bar and save your money for something else. BUT if having a cash bar is going to offend or shock your guests, don’t do it. Move on to option #2 or #3.

2. Dry Reception – AKA – an reception sans alcohol.  When we renewed our vows last summer, we had a dry reception. This worked for us because we were having a much simpler reception this time around with a dinner and dessert but no dance.  My younger sister was married earlier this year. Her fiance and herself choose to have an early afternoon wedding followed with a snack/dessert and punch reception.  Because the wedding and reception were both during the day,  no one expected alcohol anyway.   When it comes to etiquette, you, as the host, are required to provide food and refreshments. That does not have to include alcohol.  Keep in mind though that if you want to have a party and have your guests dancing late into the night – an dry reception is probably not the way to go.

3. Limited Bar – I think a limited bar is often the best compromise.  I’ve seen this done a number of ways. Some brides go the way that Ashley did with a limited bar selection. This allows you to offer a selection of signature drinks while maintaining more control over the cost of the alcohol being used.  If you want to have a wider selection for your guests, you could have a selection of signature drinks available for free and then have other options available through a cash bar. Guests are not required to buy their own alcohol – but if they want something different then you have offered, they do have the option to purchase their own.  Another option is to have an open bar during set times. For example, you might offer wine at the tables during dinner and then open the bar after dinner for 2-3 hours.

So that’s my take on the issue of alcohol at weddings   Ashley will have her final say and introduce our next topic early next week.

In the mean time – have your say in the comments. What are you doing to help control the alcohol costs at your reception?