Looking back on it i am not quite sure what the driving force was behind wanting to make a felt bouquet. I had seen some previously that i had liked and I LOVE fresh flowers... It was a project that i took on the first month of being engaged, there is not too much to do at that point for a engaged woman who had been waiting 5 years to hear those magical words "will you marry me" In any case i took on the project wih full force and when i started i had no idea what i was getting myself into. Here's a few truths about sewing your own bouquet: you will get hand cramps, many of them! Your family will give you some strange looks when you break the news that you are breaking away from tradition. It will save you money if you shop smart and make good quality choices, but DIY does mean you will have to put much more work into it, and believe me you will! My bridal bouquet alone took me 6 months to make, and as for hours... i could not even take a guess at what i would have put into it. I would say a few days worth. Regardless of all that, my bouquet is magical! Its so me, and its been made with so much love, so much enjoyment went into being able to plan every detail of a very special item.
This is My maid of Honor's Bouquet Jilian. My family might know that I actually have two Maid of Honors, one who will be attending the wedding and the other, Jilian's twin sister Maddison will be in Africa doing missionary work and will not be able to join us. Jilians Bouquet is a deep burgendy with hints of brown and gold tones.
This is Amanda's Bouquet, she is Calvin's Older sister, Her bouquet is made up of bright and cheerful reds, a soft chocolate brown and tons of yellow accents. We wanted to re-create the full fall color spectrum through the flowers, to keep in mind our October 6th wedding date in the fall.
This is Tina's Bouquet, she is Calvin's Twin sister who lives in Calgary! Her Bouquet is really fun, yellow ochre and bright sunny yellows. How can you not feel happy looking at this colorful mix! This bouquet to me is the fall time, i just love it. I added tons of Orange stitching and gems to this one!
This is Makenzi's Bouquet, she is Jilian and Maddison's younger sister. I knew that Maddi would not be home in time for the wedding i wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to honor her but not replace her, for she was impossible to replace! Jilian being the wonderful MOH that she is, recomended asking her younger sister to stand in maddi's honor. I was sold and now have a 5th wonderful woman joining me on my special day! Her Bouquet is the lightest one, full of pale creams and hints of pretty yellow.
Of course last but not least is my own bouquet. Its just the way i wanted it to look. i had even taken it into the bridal shop to try on my dress with it to see if i liked the look and i was so happy! once the wedding is over i will try to post pictures of the dress/flower combo! So without furture adiue ....
Tada! My months of hard work open for the world to see! I used tons of crystals, buttons, felt and thread! The silver leaf you see there is the pendant i wore to Tina's wedding this past fall! I love that i get to carry a peice of her special day around with me on my special daty! I should add that the stems of each bouquet is wrapped with a creamy toned ivory ribbon. They assembled using floral wire which is quite hard so each one is wrapped first with some felt to make it comfortable for the girls to hold then double wrapped with ribbon. Over all i could not be happier and now the only challenge is keeping them dust free before the wedding comes. Always something right? All my love to you all! Cant wait to celebrate our marriage~! According to my countdown we have:
8 months, 12 days, 18 hours and 56 minutes until the wedding! :)
