Flowers Help

[sonsiexstitch]

Trying to arrange a small family wedding in a few months. Tiny budget so hoping to do the flowers ourself but really need advice on how to do them.

what do you mean by advice on how to do them? If you mean, how to arrange etc, you should get yourself a book and do some obsessive YouTubing for help!

For general advice, I'd suggest finding a local flower market/stall and agreeing what flowers you'll buy in advance. Keep any arrangements very simple. Don't forget to get some greenery to go with whtever you buy. If you plan to do some flowers in vases etc, figure out what vases you will use and where you will get them.

Good luck!

My Sister Inlaw had gorgeous flowers at her wedding, on a tiny budget.

She asked the florist for seasonal stuff & her florist used a lot of things that were 'leftovers' from orders for bouquets etc.

She bought lots of plain jugs/vases & had very informal bunches of flowers all over the place.

The florist did set them up for her, but TBH they could've been done by anyone as they looked V relaxed

I meant how to arrange them, sorry I didn't make that clear.

I'd definitely get some videos online to look at.

But overall, when doing it yourself, I think the key is informality. ie, aim for loose, pretty bunches of flowers rather than formal arrangements. A tall, thin vase with a bunch of daisies and some greens stuck in can look lovely, but a big formal vase needs careful arranging, wires to hold things in place, co-ordination etc.

Why not look to see if any local colleges are running one day/week-end courses on wedding flowers? Will give you practical help as well as ideas. Look at Wedding Flowers magazine for ideas too.

Do try out ideas at home in advance, and don't plan anything over ambitious. If you're doing them yourself, they will need to be done the day before the wedding, and you'll have plenty else to do then.

You can get lots of cheap vases from Ikea and fill with flowers/foliage. Ask friends and family for stuff from their gardens for free. You can usually get wild ivy free, as it grows anywhere!

i take it you mean informal arrangements in small vases/jugs/jars?

can you give us more idea of what sort of arrangements? Is it just for the tables? or will you need to do bouquet too?

I used to do this for a living, though had someone else to do the more elaborate stuff as I was tied up with running the shop.

One thing that is important is to keep to a very simple colour scheme. Avoid things like roses, gerbera, lisianthus as they have a tendency to wilt over.
But have a look round and tell us what you like and we can help you a bit more.

I'm going to try and do my bouquet myself. We are having a very laid back buffet style reception so don't need anything too formal or elaborate.

Watching this thread with interest as I'm doing something similar.

xstitch, I did something similar for my wedding. In fact one of my guests said it looked like I'd picked a lovely bunch of flowers on the way to the church. Which, luckily, is just what I was aiming for!

I suggest, if possible, asking at the local church to see if they have flower arranging classes. When I went, although I am not a member of the congregation, I had a great time and it only cost the price of the flowers - about £8 per week.

Basically the rules (as I see it) are:

use odd numbers of flowers - they always look better

plenty of greenery. It 'grounds' the flowers and lets them glow.

Asymmetric looks better than symmetrical.

You almost always need to cut the flowers shorter than you first think.

have a practise. And then practise again.

Good luck!

the advice about odd numbers of flowers is good, it was a standard rule to follow when i did it.