To DIY or not to DIY: Flowers

As those who know me can attest, I like to be in control of things. Wedding planning is no exception. In fact, not only is wedding planning no exception, it seems to be taking my desire for control and honing it into a fine-edged point. The point being: "I can totally do that myself."

See, you combine a party (which I very much enjoy) with crafts (which I live for!) and Brenna is a happy camper. And add one dash of hard cash and a cold splash of "they want how much for that?!" and thus is born the DIY bride. Do It Yourself.

So far my project list includes: Bridesmaids cards, Save-the-dates (done and done), invitations, website (in progress), programs, aisle runner, favors, ring bearer pillow, table numbers, centerpieces, napkin rings, bouquets, boutonnieres, faux-to booth, Kid Zone, accessories, etc.

Did I mention that the wedding is in less than four months now?

Most of the projects I decided to DIY fall pretty comfortably within my skill set. You'll notice there is no baking/cooking or seamstressing listed. The one thing that set my mom to sniggering was the thought of me doing my own flowers. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I'm going to do my own flowers
Mom: ::snort::

And, truthfully, I am a bit nervous about floral arrangement. I feel like when I buy a bouquet from the store and try to stick it in a vase at home, it always ends up looking wonky and lopsided. I've always blamed the vases, but maybe it is me... Hmm...

But I reasoned, hand tied bouquets don't look that hard:
For this, you'd just take roses, some leaves on the outside and wrap it up, right? No vase to throw things off, and no other filler to poke out at weird angles.

Or this one:Just tightly bunch together some carnations (which, despite Charlotte's disdain, I think are quite lovely) and voila! Bouquet!

So, I am bravely venturing forth to do my own flowers.

Of course, I'm now being drawn to hand-tied bouquets more along these lines:

All of which look deliciously complicated, but make me feel all warm and smile-y.

And, all of the bouquets above feature my new obsession: The Chocolate Cosmo. This is a flower that is brown, which I heart (and fits in my color scheme) but more importantly: the flowers smell like chocolate.

Did you get that?

The flowers. Smell. Like. CHOCOLATE.

How have these flowers not become more mainstream? And why are there not ten bushes of them growing in my back yard?

I totally got side tracked there, thinking about my chocolate cosmos. I have yet to meet these beauties in real life, but I have no doubt that they will enter my life some day.

Back to topic: DIY flowers. Hand tied bouquets: I can totally do that. And I wasn't too worried about centerpieces, since I'm going heavy on candles, light on flowers.

Theeeen, I realized that the bride isn't the only person who gets flowers. In fact, it isn't even only girls that get flowers. The guys are supposed to sport flowers as well, in the form of the boutonniere.

Oh. Boutonniere. Not only is it ridiculously hard to spell (seriously, close your eyes and try), they don't strike me as the easiest thing to just whip up.

I read some instructions online, but kept getting lost at the "insert the wire and form a hair pin" part. Insert what wire? Where? Is it supposed to go in my hair?

Luckily, some lovely Sacramento wedding vendors got together last weekend to host a "Recessionista" Bridal Show/Workship, which included instructions on how to make a boutonniere! Huzzah!

Bono was kind enough to have back surgery, thus opening up my weekend (trying to put a positive spin on missing U2 in Denver), so I signed up and happily attended the workshop.

I'll put aside the fact that most of the people leading 'DIY workshops' spent their time telling us that most wedding things are best left to the professionals, i.e. them. I didn't care about the cake/DJ/make-up lady because the florist was phenomenal!! Her name is Angie Zimmerman and she actually publishes a DIY flower guide. She has figured out the DIY brides are not going away, and has gotten smart! And she was very helpful to me, and answered all my flower (and chocolate cosmo) related questions.

And then, she showed us how to make boutonnieres!!! Yay!!

And after I learned that Santa Rosa has a wholesale flower mart I couldn't help but stop there this morning on my way home from work.

And now, let me present my first attempts at boutonnieres (which I STILL cannot spell without spellcheck):
Freesia, hypericum berries and yellow pompoms with wrapped stems

Greeen pompoms, hypericum berries with wrapped stems

Just hypericum berries with natural stems. Maybe more of a corsage, given its largeness.

Unopened freesia and small green pompoms with natural stems.

Hypericum berries, unopened freesia and small green pompoms with natural stems.

What do you think? Would you use any of these? Which ones? And, most importantly of all: who wants to help me make the real ones? Anyone?? :)