It is your wedding. The biggest day of your life. You have successfully decided upon the venue, guests, decorations, dress, jewelry, theme and hopefully, groom! All you are left wondering is what flowers to carry as an accessory with your ensemble. You want your wedding to spell out elegance. The tie is between the meaningful rose and the delicate tulip. You are left wondering what to choose. Here is offering you a very sensible, quirky, yet creative alternative to natural flowers- a newspaper bouquet!
Not only is this a fun, artistic idea as you get to experiment with the color, pattern, size and shape of your wedding flowers, but also a great way to generate awareness about the ecological importance and creativity of recycling. Talking of sentimental value, these paper-made flowers can never wither and their bouquet would remain as a keepsake from the wedding.
Difficulty level
It is easy, especially if you are even slightly skilled in art and craft. With that in hand, all you will need is a few basic objects.
Time required
It will not take very long to create your own paper bouquet. An estimated time of around two to three hours will be sufficient.
Resources required
1. Bouquet holder
2. A pair of safety scissors
3. White floral wire
4. Floral tape
5. Microbeads
6. Sun hemp, to keep the wire intact
7. Newspaper or crepe paper
8. Hot glue
9. Straight pins
10. Dried flowers
Estimated cost
A home made paper bouquet will work out very inexpensive yet chic. Including the stationery and the few other items of decoration, it will cost you less than a $100.
Instructions
For the flowers
1. Cut a piece of paper about 5 inches broad and 20 inches long. The grain of the crepe paper should be along the longest sides. Multi-fold, till you get a small rectangle of about 2 inch of width.
2. Round and smoothen the top edge to a hemi-circle. Unfold the crepe paper strip.
3. Refold the strip of paper but not in half. Do not bring the shorter ends directly against each other.
4.Cut a rounded petal edge on the opposite side as instructed earlier. This will gave a staggered, scalloped appearance to the paper. Unfold.
5. Fold in half length wise. Turn the wire around the paper and secure with tape. Wrap the tape a little around the stem also.
6. Adjust the petals to a proper posture and position. Cover the central portion of each flower, or of the middle one with small beads.
For the rest of the bouquet
1. Take the holder filled with sponge and insert the flowers in it with the straight pins. Use glue to hold the flowers in place.
2. Use herbal leaves like dried basil for the filler. It also emits a very natural perfume. Rosemary or lavender sticks would work wonders too!
Frequently asked questions
1. How many petals are to be used per flower?
The point here is to give to your bouquet a natural look. Try to imitate the shape of an actual flower of your choice. The number of petals vary flower to flower. Generally, three to five petals per flower may be used.
2. Will I look weird carrying a paper bouquet on my wedding day?
Well, frankly, that thought would cross the mind of any bride. However, the good news is that the trend of carrying paper bouquets is quite in vogue now. These lovelies, brides claim, have also garnered the loveliest of compliments and so have the brides themselves!
3. Will I be able to make it properly?
Yes, of course. Making something for your own wedding can be intimidating a task, but all this requires is a little bit of patience and time, with which you are ready to go down the aisle.
Quick tips
1. Use varnish on the flowers to keep the bouquet durable and weather-resistant.
2. Use paper of different colors, patterns and textures to add zing to the bouquet.
3. Use Turbo Tacky Glue as it works fast and you can glue your petals continuously.
4. Coffee filters work great for the purpose of coloring your flowers. Use can store water based paint, thinned with water for the ideal shade and tint.
Don’t have paints? Don’t worry! You can color these flowers with nail polish.
5. You can spray your favorite perfume on the flowers to give them the fragrance you desire.
6. Cut your paper bouquet into cute, romantic shapes. For instance, you can replace paper flowers with paper butterflies!
Things to watch out for
Be careful with the scissors as this process requires a lot of cutting and trimming. Beware of the pins-they might poke you. Use safety gloves while working with them. Fold the petals carefully to give the bouquet a neat appearance.
