A silk bridal bouquet can last forever as a keepsake of your special day.
There are many benefits to using silk flowers in your bridal bouquet instead of fresh flowers. Silk flowers will last forever, allowing you to always have a "fresh" reminder of your wedding day. Silk flowers are a good choice if members of the wedding party have allergies. Some fresh flower varieties are only available at certain times of the year, whereas silk can be purchased at any time. Silk flowers are more durable and can be used to make the bouquet months ahead of the big day.
Instructions
1. Remove the leaves from the stems of 20 silk roses using wire cutters. Wrap each stem individually with floral tape, starting just under the bloom to the tip of the stem.
2. Clip the flowers from two to three silk stephanotis sprays. Cut an 8- to 10-inch length of 22-gauge floral wire for each blossom. Fashion a small hook on one end of the wire. Thread the straight end of the wire through the center of a stephanotis bloom. Pull the wire through the flower until the hook catches in the flower's center. Glue a pearl bead in the center of the flower to cover the hook, using a hot glue gun. Wire each flower in this manner. Wrap each wire stem with floral tape.
3. Clip 15 to 20 silk grape leaves from their stems leaving a half-inch stub at the base of each leaf. Cut 15 to 20 pieces of wire, 10 to 12 inches in length. Thread one end of a wire through the material at the base of a leaf, passing it past the leaf's center and back through the material. Push two inches of the wire through the leaf, and then bend the wire ends so they are pointing down. Wrap the entire wire with floral tape. Repeat this process for each grape leaf.
4. Arrange the roses into a tight dome-shaped bouquet. Hold the blossoms in one hand and use the other hand to add the flowers one by one. Hold two roses together with their stems crossed at a 45-degree angle two to three inches below the blooms. Rotate the roses slightly and add another bloom, with its stem crossing the others in the same manner. Continue to rotate the flower bundle, adding roses and occasionally a stephanotis bloom. Stop occasionally to check your work and make adjustments.
5. Layer the grape leaves in a collar around the flowers. Position the leaves one by one, bending the wire stems as needed to create a framing effect. Twist a rubber band tightly around the arranged stems, one to two inches below the tops.
6. Trim the ends of the stems with wire cutters until they are an even length. Cut a 24-inch piece of 2½-inch satin ribbon. Lay the bouquet on a flat surface and position the center of the ribbon at the top of the stems. Wrap the ribbon around the stems in a crisscross manner until the stems are completely encased. Wrap the ribbon over the ends of the stems and crisscross the ribbon around the stems two to three more times, moving upward. Cut off the excess ribbon and secure the ends with three to four pearl-headed corsage pins.
Tags: wire through, floral tape, Silk flowers, with floral, with floral tape, around stems, bridal bouquet
