Must first say that I don't do flowers so this is all new to me. However, I'm a budget bride so I went to the store and snooped out how these were pre-made and copied their ideas :-)
I made 3 boutonnieres for the FH, bestman and groomsman.
I also made 2 Corsages for the mother of the bride and groom.
Per a bee's request - here's how I made them:
Supplies:
- Floral tape from Dollar Tree
- Green Floral wire from Michaels
- (2) open rose stems from Michaels
- (2) budding rose bushes from AC Moore
- left over seed stems from a bush I bought at Walmart
- pack of button clasps from Joanns, optional (may use pins)
- Wire cutters – optional, but helpful
For the corsages I just cut the stem on the rose, slightly bent the head forward and took one of the leaf branches and added it to the back. I used the floral tape to attach the leaf branch to the rose and overlapped it several times to secure it. I then took some floral wire (approx 3 inches) centered it and wrapped it around the rose stem once (tight as possible). I then took each end of the wire, looped it thru the holes in the opened button clasp, wrapped the wire around a few times and twisted the leftovers together (cut off any extra). I didn't want to use hot glue, but you could. I then finished the look by adding floral tape to the entire stem and covered as much of the stem as I could.
The boutonnieres were trickier than the corsages. After cutting them down, I used (2) slightly bent budding roses for each boutonniere and used floral tape to secure them together. I then took some floral wire (approx 3 inches) and wrapped it around the roses near the top of the stem (for stability get as high as you can, but can still cover with tape and not be seen).
Next I took each end of the wire, looped it thru the holes in the opened button clasp, wrapped the wire around a few times and twisted the leftovers together and covered the button clasp with floral tape. (Be sure not to cover either end of the clasp with tape, you can also eliminate the clasp and opt for floral pins)
Next I secured a leaf branch toward the middle of the rose stem. To hold it in place I used a thin dab of hot glue and then secured it with floral tape. Then I added the seed stems with a little more tape and completed the entire look by giving all the stems a last coat with floral tape.
The hard part is getting the floral wire around all the stems without twisting the stems around. I had this issue and found that using 4-5 inches of floral tape helps when you are adding pieces. You can also try to twist the flowers and leaves back into place, but I did have to cut off one clasp and re-attach it.
The entire project took about an hour and a half. Not too bad.
