DIY Boutonnieres

While researching wedding vendors, I found that even the cheap florists (1800flowers.com) charge upwards of $15-20 for each boutonniere. Even though we don't have a tremendous wedding party, I realized we would need boutonnieres for the groom, 5 groomsmen, 2 ring bearers, and the FOB & FOG. That would have been a grand total of $150.

Instead, I decided to try to make them.
These steps are adapted from theknot.com.

You will need:
- A bouquet (or two)
- Scissors
- Floral tape
- Pearl-tipped pins
- A bowl of water
- Plastic sandwich bags

Step 1:
Select your bouquet and cut the bottoms of the stems at an angle, and place in a bowl of cool water (the same way you would prepare to put the flowers in a vase).

Step 2:
Choose a flower to use in the boutonniere and preen the leaves off the stem. Next, cut the stem so that it's about 3" long (from the base of the flower).

Step 3:
Create a "bed" for the flower with baby's breath, fern leaves, etc.

Step 4:
Gather the stems together, and wrap the floral tape in a spiral starting at the base of the flower, and working your way down. Then continue by wrapping the tape back up to the base of the flower. Wrap the tape around a few times at the top, and trim the excess tape.

Step 5:
Add a ribbon, if you want.

Step 6:
Mist the flower and place it in a plastic sandwich bag, leaving a little air room around the flower. Place in the refrigerator.

(I plan on editing this post to let you know how long the boutonniere will last in the refrigerator. But you should plan on making them the day before your wedding).

Voila!
For this trial, I bought the bouquet at Trader Joe's for $3.99, and the floral tape at Michael's. My total cost for this project was about $6.00... for enough materials to make 10 boutonnieres :)