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 information that will help you to make PEW BOWS and bows that can be used for your floral arrangements. All you have to change is the ribbon that you use.

Weddings are always expensive, so I have included information that will help you do many things yourself in this group of pages. 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 Making Your Own Corsages & Buttonnieres and Arranging Floral Centerpieces 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 this page. There is also a Flash movie that you can watch and learn how to do it from me.

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 Floral Centerpieces

Click here to Play

"Making Your Own Pew Bow" Movie

Thanks for your patience while waiting for me to make the movie available. My wonderful husband did all of the photography, editing, and conversion to the Flash format. You will need a flash player to view it. Most people have it on their computer, but if you need to download a flash player,

click here.

If you are not sure whether you have one or not, just click on the "Making Your Own Pew Bow" link above. If it starts, then you are ok!! Have fun!

To create a pew bow:

Decide how long of a tail that you want. For some, a short tail is preferred; for others, a longer tail is desired. I generally put about 8-10 inches of tail on a pew bow, but I have used longer and shorter depending upon the occasion. Remember that you can always make them shorter, but you cannot make them longer!

1. About 8 inches from one end of the ribbon, pinch firmly between your thumb and index finger. (the right side will be facing up)

2. Make a small loop (about 3 inches long for the center of the bow. This is what will camouflage the ribbon or wire that you will use to secure your loops at the end.)

3. Hold everything secure. You will find that your thumb remains inside of the small loop during the process.

4. Pinch the ribbon and twist 180 degrees (half way round) so that the right side is facing up again. Slide it under your index finger.

5. Make about a 5 inch loop (this is half the size of the finished bow, so adjust the size of your loop accordingly).

6. Pinch the ribbon and twist 180 degrees (half way round) so that the right side is facing up again. Slide it under your index finger.

7. Make another 5 inch loop on the other side as above.

8. Continue this process until you have a minimum of 4 loops on each side of the bow. For a fuller bow, add more loops.

9. Bring the second tail to the side of the bow.

10. Thread a wire or a ribbon through the center of the small loop and secure very, very tightly. You cannot secure this too tightly! It is very important to make this tight and secure to hold your loops in place. If it is too loose, the loops will pull when you are trying to arrange them in subsequent steps.

11. Trim the end of the tail to match the first tail. You can make a "V" cut or you can trim on an angle- whichever you prefer.

12. With your thumb and index finger holding the center of the bow, begin arranging your loops to fit your desire. If you have secured the center well enough, your loops will not pull out. If they do, go back and re-secure the center again until they do not pull out when you are arranging the loops.

13. Be creative!! Just because you now have a basic bow does not mean you can't add to it to make it completely unique. My favorite bows (the ones I made for my wedding had a silk flower arrangement in the center, tulle netting gathered and added behind the ribbon bow, and additional colors of tails added.

Let you imagination run wild… add butterflies or birds or spray a hint of glitter on them… have a ball!! Make the beautiful bows that you cannot buy anywhere!!

Making bows is a learning process. As you practice, you will get better at it. I learned how to do this about 20 years ago, and I am still playing with new and exciting ways to create a beautiful bow that is completely unique.

The important thing is to HAVE FUN when you are creating these!