A friend of mine was recently married, but being the talented makeup artist that she is, she did everyone's makeup and ran out of time for her photographer to take bridal portraits. So I recommended my husband take post-wedding pictures of the two of them. This turned out to be such a fun solution to a very common problem. So many weddings are rushed and there is often little time to shoot those crazy romantic and fun portraits of the special couple.
The night of our shoot she did her makeup, had her hair done up all over again, he rented a tux, and I made up this sweet little bouquet for her to carry. Everyone knows Trader Joe's has fabulous, inexpensive flowers, so I just picked up $10 purple flowers with red roses and whipped up a simple hand-tied bouquet. If you've never made one, give it a try. They are so beautiful and easy to make.
How To Make A Hand-Tied Bride Or Bridesmaid Bouquet
1. Start by gathering up the flowers in your hand one stem at a time. Be sure to alternate the different colors so all the flowers are evenly dispersed throughout. Since roses were the fanciest flower in this bouquet, I made sure they didn't get lost among the others. As you gather all the flowers together try to create a dome shape. Use stronger stems around the outside perimeter to give strength to the overall design.
2. Take a skinny rubber band, wrap it around the middle of the flower stems and tie it in a knot. If you use a really thick rubber band you will end up with a lumpy "handle".
3. Trim all the stems to an even length.
4. Wrap green florist tape around the stems, covering up the rubber band and extending down the length of the stems a couple inches.
5. Use wide ribbon to cover up the florist tape. Tie a knot or bow and use hot glue to tack the ribbon in place wherever you see a weak spot which may slip.
You can buy all kinds of gorgeous ornaments to cover the stems at craft stores. For our purposes, we kept it simple with purple ribbon.
Flowers are beautiful, but the bride and groom will always be the shinning stars in a wedding.
