Wedding DIY: Brooch Bouquet

This was one of my favorite DIYs I did for my wedding and probably one of the most time consuming.  Even before I was engaged I had seen the brooch bouquets on pinterest and fell in love.  They were the perfect antique vintage touch that I wanted.  It also will allow me to keep my bouquet for years to come instead of having to toss it after the wedding.  It will be a beautiful keepsake and who knows maybe my future daughter will use it in her wedding...something borrowed or old?

I loved mine at my wedding and so did everyone else.  Depending on how big you make it it might be a little heavy...since it's not just flowers but metal that make it up.

Here are the steps to make your own Brooch Bouquet

There are a million different variations of the brooch bouquet, I wanted to be able to see the flowers with the brooches.  I would recommend searching for inspiration to decide your style first.  Decide on your color scheme first as well, I went with ivory and silver but you can do all rainbow or colors depicting your wedding.  

What you will need:
-brooches (I used about 25, you can also use old jewelry pieces or any kind of knick knacks)  These can get expensive I got mine from eBay, antique stores, my grandma and thrift stores

-floral tape

-floral wire (I got silver but you could get green or any color you want)

-silk flowers (I got 4 stems from Hobby Lobby)

-pliers

-silk ribbon


And here's what to do:

1. Use 2 pieces of floral wire and wrap around the sides of the brooch, then twist them together in the middle.  You may need to use pliers for this...sometimes it gets tough.  Depending on the brooch you can wrap around the actual pin or you might have to go through the top of the brooch (this is when the color of the wire matters)

2. Wrap the wire with the floral tape starting at the top and working your way down to the bottom. 

3. Now it is time to arrange your bouquet.  You can use a bouquet holder if you prefer I took my four hydrangeas and grouped them together then placed the brooches on wire through the spaces in the flower stems until you are satisfied with how they look.  This was a process I repeated and repeated.

4. Once you have everything situated the way you want, its time to trim the wire.  I found the best length is to take your hand and place it at the base of your flowers and then mark where the bottom of your hand hits on the stems.  That is where you should cut.  The length is up to you, this is just what I found to be most convenient.  (It also might be easier if you wrap a little bit of the floral tape around the top to secure before you cut)  Then gather the stems together and wrap the floral tape around the base.  Make sure you wrap it tight, this is what will hold your bouquet together.

5.  Then take your ribbon of choice and wrap around the base of your bouquet.  I started at the top and worked my way down using a glue gun to glue the ribbon in place.

6. and You are done!  You can do various variations of this bouquet by adding more brooches, more flowers, etc.  You could also add charms and detail to the stems if you choose.  This is your bouquet for your wedding day let it express your personality!

I would love to know how your bouquets work out and if you have any other tips you find while making yours!