DIY: Wedding Rehearsal Bouquet…

…or alternatively titled, “putting my BFA to good use.”

I resisted calling this a “how-to” because I completely failed to take any process shots and only pulled out my camera at the end as we were packing it for transport. Yesterday, my friend Christina “Chris” came over and we made a rehearsal bouquet for Ashley’s upcoming nuptials to Chris (different Chris) next week. I couldn’t wait to share it, and I figured it was such a “lesser” detail of her wedding that she probably wouldn’t mind me sharing with all of you.

Neither Chris or I have ever made one of these, but it ended up being surprisingly simple. We threaded three white plastic appetizer plates together with some thick black bunting from her shower decorations (her colors are black + grey + yellow), which not only held the plates together in a pyramid-like shape but gave us enough leftover for the “stem.” I like the dimensional effect three plates created versus piling all the decorations onto one plate like you typically see.

I then wrapped a long strand of English Netting around the plates and glued the ends with a hot glue gun. Chris then made dozens of tissue paper flowers in the various colors, which we glued straight to the plates, much like you would with say a piñata.

Woops…I did not mean to obscure Chris’s face with the bouquet.

Once it was filled with all the paper and ornaments it could handle, we fed the bunting through a toilet paper roll, snipped the excess (leaving about 3-4 inches), and filled the gaps in the toilet paper roll with paper and lots of glue to hold it in place. We then covered the toilet paper roll with Crate and Barrel ribbon (glued on either end), much like you would a real bouquet and tied additional wire-framed ribbon around it for decoration. The structure of the plates and ribbon also created a bonus little hiding spot for a surprise for Ashley on her rehearsal day!

We are pretty happy with the way it turned out. When you hold it, it really feels like a bouquet! Congratulations Ashley and Chris!