DIY Bridal Bouquet under $40

OK, so I keep telling you how you can have a fantastic looking wedding for under $500.

I know you may need a little bit more convincing so lets get going and put together that stunning

 red rose and hydrangea Bridal Bouquet {shown above} for under $40.

{your exact cost will differ depending on the flowers chosen and sales in your area}

If you missed part 1 of this DIY Budget Wedding advice and the tips on scoring some fantastic flowers on the cheap and why I chose silk, you can catch up here.

That's just a small sampling of flowers purchased from the many trips to many stores!

When your dining room starts looking like the local florist you'll know you have enough

and don't say I didn't warn you!

Seriously though, you can study other floral bouquets before beginning and count the number of blooms.  Also take into account the size of the flowers you wish to use.  For example, 6 big blooming peonies will create more bang for your buck and a much bigger bouquet than 6 tulips.

 Doing so will help you figure out the number of flowers you will need to create the bouquets for a bride and her wedding party. 

Supplies you will need for assembling your bouquet:

lineman's pliers- you can get them in hardware stores & even your "mart" store.  Trust me, they work a heck of a lot better than those sold for 'floral' purposes... do your hands a favor and buy a pair of these wire cutters.  Heck, you can even give them to your hubby to be when you're done.

Floral Tape- This is one of those items I'm going to tell you to NOT buy at the Dollar Store... it does not have the 'sticky' quality you want... spend the extra dollar and get this at the craft supply.

Floral Wire- You can buy this at the Dollar Store if they carry it in your area!  It's the wire that's thicker and pre-wrapped with the tape.  Inexpensive.

I found lifelike red rose bushes for this bouquet which had thick thick stems.  Begin by cutting them from the bush as close as possible to the part where they all join together.   If you chose to purchase single stemmed flowers trim the stems about 6-8 inches from the bottom of the bud.  You want to make sure there is enough length in the stems to hold onto.

The bushes I chose were $14.99 each and were not on sale so I had made 2 trips using my 40% off coupon... total for both - $18.00

When you have cut all stems to the approximate same length start grouping them together in your fisted hand.  There really is no fancy way of doing this, just arrange the roses til they look good to you, rounding them out into a semi- ball shape.  I threw a few of the realistic rose buds in there that were .38 cents each.  You can wrap this bunch with the floral tape to hold them together or even use some heavy duty tape to hold them.\

 total for the 3 rosebuds- $1.14

Now you need to add some of those pretty hydrangea to make them pop!

Now if you've been to the store, you know the hydrangeas run about 7-8 dollars per stem!

Even getting these puppies at 40 or 50% off adds up... we're using lots of hydrangea!

So let's stretch our hydrangea budget a bit why don't we!

For the Bridal Bouquet I only used 2 stems.

Total for 2 after 50% off = $9

Cut a few pieces of your floral wire about 4-5 inches long and get that tape ready!

Disassemble the hydrangea by popping the flowers off of the main stem, most have one 'ball' of flowers on the top and 2 larger 'rings' of 'balls' below that as shown below.

Leave the small ball to the side and cut the 2 rings in half

{you'll see the little circle where the stem would have been}

Now, you should have 10 smaller balls of hydrangea from cutting apart 2 single stem hydrangeas.

Wrap the end of the wire around the base of the cut balls of hydrangea and twist it.  Pull a long piece of tape from the roll, stretch it a bit to reveal the 'sticky' and start wrapping!  Wrap and Wrap, making sure you are weaving it thru the hydrangea's plastic arms and securing them to the wire stem firmly.  The horror if they should start falling out as you walk down the isle!

After the top is pretty secure, continue wrapping the tape down the stem by spinning the wire and pressing down the tape.

Continue attaching all of your little balls to the wire and carefully begin adding them to your red rose bunch.  For this arrangement, we wanted to roses to 'group' together and the hydrangea to surround them.  This color combo successfully bridged the color gap between red roses and a purple wedding!

Next I added a few sprigs of purple 'filler' flowers throughout the arrangement.  I only used one bunch or stem for this bouquets because I stretched them by cutting apart and using the floral wire trick!

1 stem of filler flower- $1.50

* Another little tip to keep in your pocket-  save all of the leaves when you cut and pull apart flowers and stems!  Those thick stems will come in handy later!
5 large hydrangea leaves were wired and placed evenly around the bouquet to cradle the hydrangea.

The finishing touch for this bouquet was to add single, swarovski crystals to the center of each of the large roses.  They sparkle and glimmer- shooting rays of light as a Bride walks down the isle and during her photos... They can easily be added with a touch of fabric glue. 

The crystals were purchased in the jewel section of Michael's for under $9.99 and at 40% off!

Total- under $6 because all were not used!

The grand total for this completed bouquet was under $40!

Take that to the florist for a comparison...

Real red roses run about $5 and up a piece!

Hydrangea stems are even more!
This bouquet used about 16-18 red roses... do the math, that's about $90 right there!

You can do this too!

Feel free to email me or comment with any questions you may have on making your own bouquet.
Also, if you found this article helpful go ahead and share it on FB or +1 it!  If you are new to T&B go ahead and follow along... I follow back.

Up next, Monday we will discuss the bridal party bouquets and make some boutonnieres for the men!  Yes, men wear flowers too!

Linking with these Fantastic blogs Here!