Talk to a florist and they’ll tell you that you just can’t throw flowers together and expect them to look good. And to the average person, we toss that comment off to the side and say, “just watch me.” And then we wonder why our DIY arrangements look nothing like the inspiration picture that we want to recreate.
Success and being free of frustration comes when we stop trying to clone a picture and just use it truly as just as an inspiration.
- Color combination
- Style
- Form
- Specific flowers and greenery
For the wedding that I’m pulling inspiration for these posts, the bride gave me this inspiration picture.
In addition to this picture the bride wanted to incorporate lilies in with the bridal bouquet and the groom’s boutonniere.
What she obviously liked about this picture was the colors and garden style bouquet. So these were the two points that drove the design work for this job.
Every florist has their own touch and esthetic. Because florists are not all the same, that is the permission that you have to stray from your inspiration picture and create with your own floral voice.
If your inspiration picture is a flower you can’t identify, strongly dislike the fragrance of a flower, or can’t source a flower, pick replacements that share the same color, size, or feel. When looking at flowers and one jumps out at you, you absolutely love, and fits in your colors, go with it! Draw inspiration from the flowers even more than you do a picture.
You want to love every flower and greenery that you purchase. When you look at the spread it should already make you smile and excited even when you haven’t done a single thing. This helps you when deciding what flowers you want to place next to each other. You will know when you like a combination. You will also know when you don’t like flowers next to each other. And this is okay. It is part of the creative process!
In the last post, Making Flowers Possible, we went through the process of cleaning your flowers and preparing them to assemble your bouquets. Having already done this in advance, for your assembly day, you are ready to reach and grab and assemble without fussing over messy stems.
Before we move forward I did want to link a couple videos to show you some techniques that I found were clear and easy to follow; spiral, X base (starting around the 3:30 mark), and building from different holds.
With the flowers that my husband periodically brings home for me, I’ve successfully assembled in a spiral formation and love how sleek, secure, and stem supportive it was.
For the life of me, I could not get these wedding bouquets to work with me in spiral formation. Even with fluffing, adjusting height, and rearranging floral placement…nothing was looking right.
And that is where frustration first sets in!
You have that image in your head about how these flowers are supposed to go together and look. And when you try all the tricks, it’s easy to think that you’re out of options. Then panic sets in. And all the overwhelmed feelings break like a damn.
That’s why I linked the above videos. There’s at least a half dozen different options available when one fails.
The spiral failed for me in this time crunch, so I modified it with the X formation. But before I went down that option, I pinpointed what was the main cause of my emerging frustration.
I had combination of flowers that I wanted next to each other. The combos were not staying next to each other no matter how I was holding the flowers.
That’s when inspiration hit and I made a trick for myself that I wanted to pass on to you!
For the floral combinations that you have to have next to each other, use your floral tape and tape them together how you want them.
You can also include greenery, or make bunches of greenery with this trick as well.
This is a particularly helpful tool when you also find that you’re struggling with keeping your bouquet symmetrical and balanced.
And if you’re that DIYer that has to have all your floral looking exactly alike, this can help you save time. You can be precise and make it easy to replicate.
Or maybe you’re having an arranging party and everyone is assembling a little too different from each other. You can totally make an assembly line and break down the arrangements into smaller pieces that you can build up as you go.
This bundle and then arrange technique is also great if you like the garden bouquet style but the fly away elements just are not your thing. It can transform a wild garden into a more manicured garden.
In what order do you want to arrange?
I mentioned before that for this wedding order I had 3 bouquets, 3 boutonnieres, 6 oversized vase floating, and 2 flower baskets.
Here’s how I made my choice of order.
Boutonnieres can use scrap pieces. So flowers where the stem snaps, greenery that you trim because it’s too long, flowerets and sprigs that are pared down because they were too full for what you need in other arrangements.
Flower baskets can also use all the flowers that snap off the stems, because you’re just using petals.
My submersible floral arrangement use only specific flowers, so I put those in reserve. And I’ve done those enough I can do them in my sleep. So I put those arrangements off to the side for when I need a break or when I’m frustrated and need a win to get myself back into a good head place.
That leaves the bouquets.
I start with the bridesmaids bouquets because it gives me time to warm up and see how the flowers are going to work with me. Plus there’s the added bonus that they are smaller.
The thing that has to be remembered though is that all the best of the best needs to be set aside for the bride’s bouquet.
As I pull stems, the perfect blossoms I put aside in a vase. The flowers with my favorite colorings, I set them aside as well.
This is especially the case with the roses. But I don’t skimp out on the bridesmaids. I aim for the middle for them. For example, the roses I needed for the bride, the bridesmaids, the boutonnieres, and the flower baskets. My lease favorite roses I left in the container for the baskets. They will be walked on and not photographed closely. The boutonnieres I make from the buds that accidently snap off the stem or left over from the bride’s reserve.
And this is the beauty of ordering extras, or a little more flowers than you need. One, it’s a buffer for damage during transit. But more importantly, it allows you to have a selection and delegate as you need.
I didn’t have mother or grandmother corsages. But how would you put them in the hierarchy of who you are saving for whom. For me, I would put them after the bride, but before the bridesmaids. But maybe you would order them after the bride and bridesmaids. That’s the decision you have to make. And it ensures that you have the quality where your hierarchy lies.
Maybe you’re doing fresh flower aisle runner. Did you want the quality to go there over bouquets, because the guests see those up close?
Again, there’s no wrong answer. You just want your plan ahead of time where the best of the best of your flowers are going to go.
And your order of assembly reflects this.
You may not want to start with your most important piece until after you’ve warmed up and gotten the feel for what you want to create. Your highest carnage of stems is going to happen in the very beginning. And again, when frustration hits. So you want to time your best pieces just right to avoid both of those casualties.
What to do when the frustration hits
And believe me it will hit, especially if you’re doing this DIY by yourself. It’s okay. This is normal. Nothing is wrong with you. You can do it. And keep telling yourself that this will turn out when all is finished.
- Take a coffee break
- Grab a snack and walk away for 5 minutes.
- Eat that meal that you normally eat an hour or two ago.
- Get a breath of fresh air by walking outside to check your mail. And before you open that box, take a look around and see what is going on in nature around you.
I did this job while my husband was at work and I had my kids entertaining themselves in the other room. Thankfully they’re great kids and understand that I need to focus on work. (Of course it helps that they know that they get rewarded with amazing quality time when I complete jobs, they’re so understanding even if they want the cuddles and attention now.
My kids get an honorable mention right now because I’m the type of person that gets in the zone and will neglect my needs to push through and get a job done in a more expedited manner. Mostly, this is to prevent taking advantage of my night owl tendencies. But their schedule can’t be pushed like that.
My kids were my built in mandatory break times. And that’s a good thing.
Their lunch time came right when I finished the first bridesmaid bouquet. It was pretty, but I wasn’t satisfied with it I wanted it better. And me being forced to take a work break to feed the kiddos gave me the step away break that I needed to process what it was that I didn’t like and obtain an idea to fix it.
Not everyone arranging flowers has kids in their space. But maybe you have a pet that needs being seen to. Maybe you have a phone call that has been pushed back long enough and it’s time to make.
Whatever you do in your normal life, be sure to continue it while you DIY your flowers. These moments are the moments that help you to refocus your mind and open the doors to inspiration and ideas that were hard pressed to come because of the tunnel vision of the focused drive.
What if something goes wrong?
Oh the stories I can tell you of things going wrong!
We always dream and envision things going smoothly and perfectly the first time. But let’s be honest, life happens.
This particular job didn’t go smoothly. In fact, I cried and I panicked. Because of course my thing that went wrong happened at night, when shops were closing down and I promised to deliver in the morning.
I was working with my submersed arrangements, enjoying the moment of doing something predictable, enjoyable, and very peaceful. I was working on my third vase when I heard what sounded like an industrial bug zapper going off. I had no idea what that was, because we don’t own a bug zapper.
My husband walked in and I told him about the noise, asking him if he knew what would make that sound. He shrugged and continued to check and see how the job was progressing. He looked over at the completed vases and asked if one of them was leaking because there was some water of the floor. I looked at him as if he was crazy. Of course there was water on the floor, I’m working with water.
Not even a minute later the bottom blew out of one of the completed vases and at least 5 gallons of water shot all over my hardwood floor.
To an outside observer, this was comedic gold! I’m talking I Love Lucy proportions.
The good news is that the flowers were perfectly fine, unharmed by what happened. And yes, the water got cleaned up.
The stress was that I was a vase short, shops about to close, and no one would be open in the morning before I needed to deliver. I couldn’t go to my local go to shops. They would be closed by the time I arrived. Fortunately, there was one store I could make it to before they closed that possibly had what I needed. And I felt so blessed that they had exactly two matching ones that I could work into my design and fulfill my order, better than what I originally promised.
I share this story with you to not just make you laugh. (Yes I can laugh about this now!) But to show you that even in the professional world of event designing, these things happen to us as well.
Cry in the moment if you need the cry. It will release everything you’ve locked up inside during this whole process. You will feel refreshed afterward.
Acknowledge the moment for the tragedy that it is, but don’t let it stop you or put you into a freeze where you can’t get back to work.
What resources do you have to pull from to recover?
Is this obstacle something you can replace?
Can you still function with what it is that you have?
Call in the assistance of a loved one to be the clarity of mind that you are not in this moment. Loved ones are amazing people to act as support. Never forget or underestimate the people that surround you.
The photos for this week are from the wedding floral that I did for the inspiration picture at the beginning. The bride wanted to go with the garden style of floral. But I don’t want you to leave today thinking that this is the only way to use these beautiful flowers.
Next week I’m going to show you the different styles that I created with the left over flowers from this job. I can’t wait for you to show you these different inspirations that you can take and make for yourselves. Plus, I have one that is a couture shot! It’s not practical for a centerpiece, but it was sure fun to photograph.
See you next week!
Is there anything you want directions on how to build when it comes to floral design? Comment below!
Here are some Products that can assist you in your floral arranging.
This post contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commissions on products purchased through these links, but at no extra cost to you. These items listed here are from Amazon but may be purchased at local markets and floral wholesaler.
Rose Cleaner Rose Stripper Thorn Remover Stem Cleaner Tool
I have this tool. It works for cleaning the stems of more flowers than just roses.
The larger shear is the one that I use for trimming larger flower stems and branches of greenery.
This is a good starter kit that has everything that is useful for making arrangements.
This is a must have, even if you’re trying not to buy any extra items. I’ll go more into this next week. The trick to this tape is that you stretch it to make it sticky.
How I Can Do That 
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