Congratulations! You are getting married!!

You are planning the event that will change your life! Everyone dreams of the perfect, magical wedding. And while it is ALWAYS a lot of work to plan and prepare for, it can be a time of great joy and fulfillment with the proper planning.

On this page you will find many free and helpful resources that will assist you in your journey to your special day.

And because weddings are always expensive, I have included information that will help you do many things yourself. It is my hope that this group of pages will help you to plan your wedding on a budget.

There are even instructions for making your own flower arrangements, corsages, and buttonnieres on these pages!!

Want to learn how to make your own bows for flowers or for decorating?? Look no further!! Instructions for making large and small bows are on the Pew Bow page.

The information you find on these pages is information that I gathered to plan our magical wedding to which I added my own knowledge in working with flowers, etc. I hope that you find these pages useful!

Arranging your own flowers for your wedding can not only be a great savings for you, but also can be a personal statement of your creativity and personal style. The following information should give you the basics of creating your own corsages and boutonnieres for your wedding.

Arranging Floral Centerpieces

Creating Corsages and Boutonnieres for your Wedding

1. Allow the flowers to stand in a preservative solution for several hours. Cut the stem under water at a slant. Wire and tape the individual flowers and leaves.
2. Tape the flowers together as you build the corsage.
3. Tape the stem tightly to finish it off. Include a corsage pin.

How to make a boutonnière for the Groom

The groom's boutonniere flower is usually selected from the flowers in the bride's bouquet. Have him pin it over his heart on his left lapel.

Look for all kinds of small wonderful things to glue inside, (like a love note) where only he will notice and smile. Have fun with this. He will love whatever you make for him.

Materials needed:

Silk Rosebud
Corsage rose leaves
Green floral tape
Floral wire
Ribbon
Baby's Breath
White glue
Corsage pin

To Make:
Cut stems to 6" long. Arrange flower on bed of leaves.

Secure stems together with thin floral wire.

Place green tape at top of stems underneath flower and stretch the tape a bit as you twist it around the stems. It will stick to itself.

Corsages are actually three boutonnieres you put together.
1. Use odd numbers for your flowers...you want one, three, or five flowers in your corsage.
2. Gather your flowers together and tape stem wrap around the stems.
3. Floral tape comes in green and white.
4. Now add your baby's breath, gypsophilia, tiny forget me nots or whatever filler you have chosen. This should be placed sparingly between the flowers.
5. Now place your corsage leaves over the stems below the flowers.
6. You can now wrap it all together with floral tape.
7. Trim your stems if you need to.
8. Add your ribbon bow.
9. Wrap the stems in ribbon if you want.
10. Put a corsage pin into the stems to use later.

You may need to use some wiring techniques to support your flowers heads :

Wiring & Taping Techniques
Professional flower designers wire and tape stems for a good reason. Many flowers have heavy heads and need the extra support including roses. If you do not wire and tape them they will eventually start to droop.

You can extend the length of a flower easily, with wires and taping, so that it works in your arrangement.

Once cut flowers are wired you should tape them with florist tape to hold the moisture that is in the stem. And the tape conceals the wires.
Dried flowers and sometimes silks are covered with florist tape to ensure that the material does not slip out of a wired mount
Lengthening a stem (Wiring Techniques)
Having the ability to lengthen a flower stem is a great advantage in flower arranging. Also, if the flower has two or more blossoms, you can cut off the blooms and give each flower a new stem. It is a money saver and provides other possibilities when arranging flowers. This technique can be used on fresh, silk or dried flowers.

Taping and Lengthening a stem
1. Place a stem wire next to the flower stem. Hold the wire near its top. Wrap a piece of floral tape around the top of the wire and flower stem.

2. Twirl the stem while stretching and pulling the tape in a downward angle. The tape should be tightly wrapped around the wire and flower stem without buckles or gaps along the stem.
3. While taping the stem you may wish to add further stems setting the flower heads at different heights.
4. Fasten off just above the end of the wires by squeezing the tape against itself.
Making a Stay Wire
1. Group together four florist wires. Have each overlap the next by 1-1/4".
2. Start taping the wires together from the one end.
3. As the tape reaches the end of the first wire add another wire to the remaining three ends of wires and continue taping. And so on. Adding wires and taping four together until you achieve the required length.

Pierce method


This wiring method is perfect for roses
To give support to a weak flower head with a thick calyx beneath the flower head, insert an 18-gauge stem wire.

1. Push one end of the wire horizontally through the calyx using half the length of the wire.

2. Bend both ends down parallel with the stem. Tape the wire starting just above the insertion.

Note: A second wire may be inserted through the flower so that the two wires are crisscrossed for heavier flower heads.
Hook method
This method works well if the flower head is firmly attached to the stem.

1. Cut the flower stem an inch from the bottom of the calyx. Insert the stem wire inside the center of the stem up into the flower head until it is secure.

2. Form a hook, and pull the wire back down through the flower.

3. Tape the stem and wire tightly.

Single & Double Leg Mount

Single Leg Mount

This is for wiring flowers which have a strong stem or where a double weight of wire is not necessary.
1. Hold the flowers between your thumb and index finger letting the weight of the flower lay across the top of your hand. Position a wire behind the stem one third the way up.
2.Now bend the wire ends together -with one leg shorter than the other.
3. Holding the short wire leg parallel with the stem, wrap the long wire leg around both the stem and the other wire leg.
4. Straighten the long wire.
Double Leg Mount
Similar to the single leg mount but the double leg mount will lengthen the stem with two equal length floral wires.
1. Start by holding the flower between your thumb and index finger. Allow the weight of the flower to lay across the top of your hand.
2. Position a wire 1/3 the way up from the bottom of the stem. Note: 1/3 of the wire should be to one side of the stem.
3. Bend the wire parallel to the stem. One leg of the wire will be about twice as long as the other.
4. Hold the shorter leg against the stem and wrap the longer length of wire around both the stem and the other wire to secure.
5. Straighten both the wires legs which should now be equal length. See illustration above for finished look.

Stem supports for heavy flower heads
A must for roses which have a woody stem that when bent will cause the flower to wilt. This will reinforce them and make them ready for arranging.

Flower supports add strength and flexibility to the stem allowing the flower to be gently bent.

1. Insert the end of a stem wire vertically into the base of the calyx.

2. Loosely wrap the wire around the full length of the stem in a spiral. Tape the stem to cover the wire.

Wiring a rose bud
Quite necessary if you are attempting more complex floral designs with roses. You will be replacing the rose stem with a wire so this arrangement would be perfect for drying.
Use this style of wiring for floral head pieces .
1. Cut the stem of the rose to 1-1/4" . Push one end of a floral wire through the seed-box (bottom of rose-thickest part) at the side. Holding the head of the rose in one hand wrap the wire firmly around and then down the stem.

2. Straighten the remaining wire to extend the the length of its natural stem. Cover the wire with florist tape.

Wireless taping

Wireless Taping is a perfect technique for free flowing hairpieces or corsages.

1. Cut the stem to 1" long.

2. Wrap a piece of floral tape around the top of the stem and twirl the flower in one hand while twisting the tape lightly around itself until it is as long as you want it. If you need more support, tape it again.

How do I pin a corsage on?
A corsage should gently bend over the collar bone. Do not pin too far down on the stem, or it will not lay against the body. It should be positioned so that the wearer is able to turn her head slightly and be able to smell the corsage.

Silk Flower Corsage Technique:
Use wire clippers to shorten stems.
The wire stem of the flower and green can usually be utilized instead of rewiring and taping. If you need only one, two or three inches of stem, tape over it first and cut it to the desired length. If you need the stem to be longer, lighter or more pliable, cut the stem below the flower to three or four inches and tape a floral wire over it.

Filler flowers and greens can be added to each flower easily by just using a hot glue gun.


Single cluster: Add the filler and greens to the flower by wrapping the wire stems of each around the flower. Always add the filler first to surround the flower and the greens last to frame it in. Cut excess wire off after wrapping around twice. This keeps the cluster from getting too heavy

Adding clusters together: Make three to five single clusters. Wrap the stem of one around the next to form the corsage. A bow can be added at any point by wrapping its wire onto a cluster.

Decorative bow:

As a final touch, use some 1/4 inch ribbon and make several loops. Tie this in the middle with a matching piece of ribbon and attach it to the corsage. The ribbon can (and should) compliment the colors of the arrangement and the dress that will be worn with the corsage. Separate the loops a bit after you have attached it. If you are not sure what color will be worn with the corsage, using gold or silver or white ribbon is a safe choice.

Supplies:

You can find the supplies that you need in nearly every hobby or discount retailer. If you are purchasing fresh flowers, try looking on-line. I have purchased flowers in this manner and have had very good luck with them.

Just remember that you can, with a little practice, create a wonderful and unique arrangement that is a reflection of YOUR taste and desire. And just think how impressed everyone will be when they find out that you did it yourself!! And with flowers being such a large part of any wedding, just think how much money you will be saving!!

Good luck! Remember!! You can do it!!