Budget Bride- DIY Corsages and Boutonnieres

Remember the tutorial about making fabric flowers? Wondering what to do with 'em? Well here it is! I used my fabric flowers to make boutonnieres and corsages for the groomsmen, dads, moms, grandparents, and other important people in the wedding. Here's how to do it!

Supplies:

    -Flower (the ones you made already!)- for the tutorial on these, click here!
    -Needle nose pliers/Wire cutter
    -Greenery (two small sprigs- I actually separated these from a larger bunch- more bang for the buck)
    -Floral Tape
    -Beaded wire (pre-made), or other little pretty thing (hair clips work well, or buttons... get creative!)
 

Step One: Add Greenery

 

I left a long wire on the flowers, because I didn't know how much wire I would need in the end. To add the greenery, I pulled little sections off of my bigger sprig. The leaf sections of my fake greenery have a hole in between the leaves- perfect to string onto the wire! I used two leaf sections for each boutonniere. Push up the greenery to meet the flower, so it looks like this:

Step Two: Add Beaded Wire (Or whatever you've decided to add)

 No matter what you want to add to your flowers, make sure that it has a long part to allow you to attach it to the overall piece. In my case, I used jewelry wire and beads, twisted them into a strand, and left a long tail of wire so I could attach them easily. It's really up to you and the style of your wedding what you'd like to use.

I then took two of the pre-made wires and lined them up on either side of the flower, making sure to keep the greenery pushed up towards the flower.

 Using floral tape, I taped around the base of the flower, wrapping the tape around both the flower wire and also around the ends of the beaded wire. This kept the greenery in place as well. Hold the flower tight as you do this so nothing slips out of place!

Continue to wind floral tape around wires about an inch and a half. This keeps everything more secure, and also makes your finished "stem" a little thicker.



Step Three: Trim extra wire

 You'll end up with quite a bit of extra wire at this point. I liked having lots of extra because I think it made wrapping the floral tape that much easier- more to hold on to! But I didn't like the look of the super-long stems.

 First, I cut off the unwrapped extra wire with my wire cutter.

Then, I bent the remaining wire up toward the flower, making the "stem" the length I wanted.

 I covered the entire stem with floral tape to hold everything together. Make sure to cover any pointy edges- no one wants to be stabbed with a flower!


Step Five: Prettify Beaded Wires

By this point, with all the taping going on, my beaded wires were pretty squished together. Using my fingers, I spread them out to each side of the flower again.

Then, I twisted each wire into a curl around my finger and pulled them gently to spread out the curl.
 

All Done! You can wrap the stems in ribbons, adorn them with sparkles... it's up to you! Be creative- they'll look beautiful and everyone will be impressed.

See? Beautiful!