DIY Flower Arrangements

Two weeks ago, I blogged about setting up a booth at the Sun and Salsa Festival to promote Wishahmon – Wedding Creations. I had a wonderful time speaking to over 50 brides about their upcoming weddings. Like I told all of them, I am “the girlfriend that never gets tired of talking about their wedding.” A couple of non-brides also came into my booth to check out my décor. They all raved about my decorated booth and floral arrangements. A couple of people asked to purchase my floral arrangements but I couldn’t sell them because my booth would be really bare. All in all, I had a great time and would consider doing it all over again!

When making floral arrangements for my client’s weddings, I usually purchase my flowers from a floral wholesaler because I have to buy them in bulk quantities. For the floral arrangements for Sun and Salsa Festival, I decided to make this into another one of my small projects. My goal was to make beautiful arrangements from flowers bought from grocery stores. (Don’t cringe just yet. Let me finish…)

The day before the festival, I went to Costco and Superstore to purchase inexpensive bunches of flowers. I got to these stores right when it opened to get the freshest flowers possible. I ended up buying a mixed spring bunch, two dozen of red and white roses, some white hydrangeas, two stems of curly willow, and a couple of birds of paradise. The goal was to create four different themed floral arrangements: romantic, fresh, trendy, and traditional.

I strongly believe that you don’t have to be a Certified Floral Designer to make beautiful arrangements. (Although, I am certified.) Here are some tips on making your own floral arrangements from (grocery) store bought flowers:

1.Get inspiration from magazines on the floral arrangement you want to make.

2.Study the design and think about how to make it. A lot of people say that can’t do something, but honestly so much can be achieved if you just take the time to think about the project itself. Think about the shape of the arrangement and in what order the flowers should go into the vase. There is (almost) no wrong way of doing this. If the arrangement doesn’t look pleasing, take it out and do it all over again. Just make sure your flowers aren’t out of water for too long.

3.Don’t cut your stems too short. You can always trim all the stems later to get the correct height. Remember that although flowers grow, they cannot grow inches overnight.

4.Have a positive attitude. If you think you can rock it, you will.

5.If your arrangement still looks less than par, get a great vase for it. For one of my arrangements, I had an “OMG” moment. What did I do? I put the arrangement in a cute rectangular vase with a grass print on it. In the end, it looked like these flowers were growing out of the grass. Too cute!

Here are some pictures of the floral arrangements I made for the Sun and Salsa Festival.