The Bride's Bouquet

I found the page out of the Knot with the picture of the paper bouquet that Briee loved.  I don't have a picture of that particular creation but I did find the web site of the lady who made it.  She is an amazing and talented artist and I didn't see anything that she has made that I didn't like!

Her name is Eloise Corr Danch and you can check out her web site here.

Since that feature in the bridal magazine The Knot, paper flowers and bouquets have been popping up everywhere!  A search on Etsy for paper flowers produced 76,311 results.  There is everything from book pages to tissue paper to scrapbook paper and sheet music. 

For Briee's flowers we used several different papers. 

     Double sided scrapbook paper
     Book pages
     Sheet music

We stuck with primarily white  flowers and added green in the leaves and blue and green in the smaller filler flowers and trailing curls.  

I love this picture of her bouquet!

We also incorporated tulle and some small beads and beaded flowers from her mother's and her grandmother's wedding veils.  It was the most lovely personal touch to add. 

We used a standard plastic and foam bouquet base. It was a good size and lightweight too. 

All of the paper was found at Hobby Lobby, Joanns and Michaels.  Oh, and some vintage books and music  from our favorite thrift stores!  The flowers were cut using Laura's Cricut.  We experimented until we found the shape and size that worked best and  then cut all of each flower we needed at once.  We tried to make notes about which flowers were what sizes and how many  but our notes were either illegible or misplaced :)

I did also make some of the origami  flowers that you can find directions for online.  That is the only origami I will ever be able to do and I had to read the directions for each and every flower! Have I ever mentioned I am not so good with reading AND following directions?

When we had plenty of variety of flowers, (I think we used about 5 different ones)  we just started sticking them in the base and moving them around until they looked good. I wish I would have kept track of how long this all took us.  I know there were at least two days of me holding the bouquet and Laura moving and squishing flowers until they were going the direction she liked!  We covered the handle and the back very last and tried to stick the little curls in right where we wanted them when it was all done.

This was most definitely a team effort.  She would tell you that I made the bouquet but don't be fooled!  She cut, I assembled and together we came up with one of the most beautiful paper creations I have ever made.    Then we did it all over again for the bridesmaids.

Tomorrow's post, boutineers. I will give the guys a turn.