How-To DIY Bridal Bouquet Tutorial with Video!

[jessicayflores]

If you want a touch of glam and something unique that will wow your guests, bridal brooch bouquets may be just your thing!

Brooch bouquets are expensive because of the cost of the brooches and the time and effort it takes to construct them. They cost around $600 on-line but there is no reason you can't do it yourself from home. Given enough time and a little instruction, I firmly believe anyone can do it.

The most important things to consider when making your brooch bouquet are:
1. Style (vintage, modern, floral, etc.)
2. Color (color of metal, color of rhinestones, your something blue? etc.)
3. Size (I recommend purchasing brooches that are at least 2'' or more. The smaller your brooches are, the more you will need to buy to make an adequate sized bouquet)
  What you'll need (shown above):
1. Needle-nose pliers
2. Scissors or wire cutters
3. Floral wire (I recommend 22 gauge wire rolls, not the pre-cut ones)
4. Brooches
5. Filler flowers (synthetic, silk or real ones to added the night before or day of you big event)

Making your brooch flowers (shown below):
1. Take a long piece of wire that is twice the size of the stem length you desire. Loop the wire through an opening in your brooch and twist or twist the wire around one end of the pin.
2. Twist the rest of the stem until the bottom.
3. Take another piece of wire and repeat the previous steps at the opposite end of the brooch or other side of the pin.
4. Twist both stems together to make one thick stem.

Please note: In my method, I double up the wire on each end and then twist them together. You may have seen in other tutorials how difficult it is for some to keep the flowers in the position they want or for the bouquet to stay in the shape they want. This is because they are not using enough wire. My method may take a little longer in the beginning but it saves you a ton of headaches when you're able to easily mold your bouquet and have it stay put!

Arranging your bouquet:
1. Take a filler flower (I'm using two synthetic hydrangea purchased at a craft store), and begin inserting your flowers through in the pattern you desire. 
2. Continue adding brooches and filler flowers until you attain your desired look. (I'm using just two hydrangea and 6 brooches from FabulousBrooch.com for this simple,  less than $100 bouquet)
3. Wrap the stems in floral tape to make sure they stay in the position and shape you've created.
5. The last step is to wrap your bouquet in the ribbon or fabric of your choosing.
I did not film the last step because there are countless ways to wrap your bouquets. You can get many ideas on how to do this through a quick google image search. I will, however, post photos of my bridal brooch bouquet when I finish assembling it in the next few days.

Please feel free to ask me any questions. I'll be happy to go over any of my steps in further details. If you would like to see my How-To DIY Video Tutorial, visit my personal blog www.DomesticatedMe.com.    I'll also be giving away $200 worth of brooches which I'm sure will come in handy for some lucky brides out there.

Happy arranging!