WEDDING FLOWERS

The clock is well and truly ticking down the minutes to the big day and wedding preparations are in full swing.  My garden has inspired the creation of a range of floral decorations for the wedding venue, all of which I’ve fashioned from artificial flowers (stuff you can’t kill!). 

Newhouse Estate near Salisbury

It might have been cheaper to buy ready-made decorations on Ebay or Amazon but it’s a lot more satisfying making your own as the end result can be tailored specifically to a bride’s colour scheme (black, red, white in our case) and favourite flowers.  Since black flowers can be hard to find and I don’t want a funereal looking wedding, I’ve gone with a red and white look for all of the pieces.    

Making artificial flower arrangements is not as hard as you might think.  It’s surprising what you can do with a bit of patience, some sticky florists tape and a couple of free hours.  Here are the photos of my Blue Peter efforts:

Red & white rose table decoration

For the main ceremony taking place in the oak panelled room at Newhouse Estate, I’ve made a long shaped floral arrangement of mostly red and white roses.  Calla lilies and diamante sparkles are also part of this bouquet which will adorn the ceremonial table at the front of the room.  The finished spray is approx 2.5 feet long and used large rose sprays purchased from the flower section at Hobbycraft.   

Smaller rose posies will be tied to chair backs using white swags facing onto the ‘aisle’.  We have 8 in total, 4 per side to be positioned at evenly spaced intervals at the end of chair rows. 

 

Small posies for aisle chairs

In the ballroom, dinner table decorations consist of small glass bowl centre-pieces partly filled with clear crystal stones and silver heart confetti creating a base to place a white candle.  Small red paper-style roses sprinkled round the candle provide a splash of colour and artificial grass stems laid inside the bowl give a clean, modern finish.  The best thing about this type of decorative piece is that it can be customised with different colour candles/flowers and thus can be used again.  (Our bridesmaid has already bagsied them for her wedding next February).  (Bowls - Hobbycraft £3.59 each)

Hurricane lamps for carved stands

I managed to find two gorgeous silver hurricane lamps plus some beautiful white sculpted rose candles to fill them from The Range.  These will sit on top of a pair of tall, carved stands by the side of a bay window where the bride and groom will have their sweetheart table.  I’ve made a pair of floral crowns with an assortment of small artificial flowers, again mostly red /white roses and calla lilies in keeping with our theme to encircle each lamp.  These ‘crowns’ give the lamps a more delicate, wedding-like look. 

Fluted candle arrangement

Whilst searching for white candles, we unexpectedly got ourselves a great bargain on some beautiful tall white fluted candles (£1 each) from a local Winton shop and have decided to incorporate these into the decor somewhere. Again, small flowery 'crowns' will be used to hide the base of the candles.  Since we're going to melt them into place to give them better stability, we don't want anyone to see any waxy bodges. 

Small flower crown made from artificial flowers

As you can see, you don't need professional skills to come up with lovely looking decorations.  If a number-crunching monkey like me can do it then anyone can!

MORE ABOUT:

Making wedding decorations - http://www.save-on-crafts.com

Wedding inspiration - http://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-flowers-pictures/

Hobbycraft - http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk