Strawberry Centerpiece from Tara Wilson

Posted by Khris in Ceremony & Reception Accessories, Food + Catering

Event designer, Tara Wilson, shares with us this lovely – and easy – edible centerpiece idea. This is perfect for a cozy, casual outdoor wedding, your bridal shower, or a brunch for your wedding party.

Steps:

1. Wrap each of the wreaths with the red ribbon, making certain that none of the Styrofoam is visible.

NOTE: if the ribbon is too thick it will be challenging to push the pins through. Selecting a ribbon that is not tightly woven will make this process easier.

2. Attach the (2) largest wreaths together using the floral cleats to form the base of the cake.

3. Remove the stems of each Driscoll’s strawberry, making sure to create a clean even cut. Then cut the each berry in half length wise.

4. Begin to cover the outer edges of the (2) largest wreaths with berries in a circular pattern until outer ring is covered.

5. Attach the (2) medium sized wreaths together using the floral cleats to form the second layer of the cake.

6. Repeat steps 3 and 4.

7. Attach the (2) smallest wreaths together using the floral cleats. This will form the top layer of the cake.

8. Repeat steps 3 and 4.

About the Expert: Tara Wilson is the owner of Tara Wilson Events, a full-service event company committed to providing creative, well-executed and memorable events for individual and corporate clients.

Photographer: Stacey Reeves Photography • Berries: Driscoll’s

The Royal Wedding: Kate’s Bouquet

Posted by Khris in Bouquets + Flowers

Now that Kate and William are officially hitched and the whole world has now seen the gorgeous details, it’s time to start looking for DIY inspiration!

One of my favorite elements from the royal wedding is Kate’s bouquet. The unusual shape, monochromatic color scheme, and choice of flowers makes this a very special bouquet indeed.

From the Official Royal Press Release:

The bouquet is a shield-shaped wired bouquet of myrtle, lily-of-the-valley, sweet William and hyacinth. The bouquet was designed by Shane Connolly and draws on the traditions of flowers of significance for the Royal Family, the Middleton family and on the Language of Flowers.

The flowers’ meanings in the bouquet are:

Lily-of-the-valley – Return of happiness;

Sweet William – Gallantry;

Hyacinth – Constancy of love;

Ivy - Fidelity; marriage; wedded love; friendship; affection;

Myrtle – the emblem of marriage; love.

The bouquet contains stems from a myrtle planted at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, by Queen Victoria in 1845, and a sprig from a plant grown from the myrtle used in The Queen’s wedding bouquet of 1947.

Should you want to DIY this beautiful bouquet, there are some things to be aware of:

• Lily of the Valley is expensive. It retails for about $10.00 per stem.
• White flowers often bruise easily; you’ll need a lot of extra blooms on hand to swap out for any damaged flowers. Florists recommend adding 10% – 20% more flowers than you think you’ll need.
• The stems are all wired which allows them to be bent and manoeuvred into perfect position.
• Many florists and onlookers have mentioned Kate’s bouquet is rather small in proportion to her (and she’s a very slim woman). You may want to scale up if you’re more voluptuous to achieve a more balanced look.

The Deconstruction

Good DIYers that we are, we couldn’t resist deconstructing Kate’s bouquet to see how if it’s a good candidate for a DIYer.

We estimate:

• 60 stems Lily of the Valley
• 5 bunches Sweet William
• 5 stems Hyacinth
• 1 sprig Myrtle
• 3 – 5 sprigs Green Ivy

Cost Breakdown: We priced the florals from from our friends at FiftyFlowers (Note: there is a minimum amount of stems/bunches when buying from an online floral supplier – you’re buying in bulk to get that discount, remember? – even though you may need only 1 bunch or a few stems.)

• 60 stems Lily of the Valley (10 stems/bunch at $99.99 ea x 6 = $599.94)
• 10 bunches Sweet William ($129.99)
• 50 stems Hyacinth ($149.99)
• 10 bunches Myrtle ($139.99)
• 10 bunches Green Ivy ($119.99)

Add in: Floral tape ($4.00), wire (another $4.00), wire clippers ($8.00) and a floral cutters/sheers ($12.00) = $28.00.

Grand total for a DIY copycat Kate bouquet: $1167.90

Before you freak out on me, my pretty princess-to-be, you will have leftover from the Sweet William, Hyacinth, Myrtle, and Ivory stems. This is where buying in bulk pays off because you’ll be able to use the leftovers to use for bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres, flower girl hair adornments, decor, or centerpieces.

If a Kate bouquet is all you want, then hiring a florist will be your best (and most economical) bet. If you’re going all-out DIY with your flowers, going in for a bulk buy is still a good option but probably not for micro-budget brides. To make this DIY work for your whole wedding, we recommend bringing in bolder and less expensive white flowers, like Ecuardoran roses, to use a the base/focal point flowers for your maids and centerpieces and add in the other flowers and greenery as accents.

Tune in next week as we show you HOW to make this gorgeous bouquet on a budget.

A Tale of Woe and Ribbon

Posted by Khris in Crafting Advice

I’m in the final push to finish up the projects for DIY Bride book #3 this week. You could say that it’s manic panic in the Casa de DIY and you wouldn’t be exaggerating!

About 6 weeks ago I ordered some big spools of ribbon and tulle from JKM Ribbon. According to their website and my receipt “It takes about 10 Business Days before we ship + approx. 5 day(s) to get to your area.” That should’ve been plenty of time to get the ribbon and put the projects into production before deadline. No problem.

5 weeks later after the order was placed: no ribbon! I shot them an email asking when the order would ship; a few hours later I got an email stating the order went out that morning. Calculating the transit time, I knew that it’d be unlikely that the order wouldn’t be here before my production deadline so I went in search of replacement ribbon and placed orders at other vendors with fingers crossed.

The JKM Ribbon order arrived – minus the white ribbon (a very critical component of my project) because it’s on backorder. At no point in the ordering process was this mentioned. I didn’t find out until I got the incomplete package yesterday. (My projects are due at the end of this week/early next.)

Luckily I had ordered from other vendors who were WONDERFUL to work with and had those orders in my hands before the incomplete JKM order even arrived. I wanted to give a huge shout out to PaperMart and C.O.D. Wholesale for their super-fast shipping and excellent service. I loved PaperMart’s ordering system that told me that certain ribbons were out of stock BEFORE I placed an order. The quality of ribbon (double-face satin) from both vendors is very good and the prices were quite competitive. These two companies saved my butt this week and deserve some praise for being so awesome to work with. If you’re in the market for bulk ribbon, please do give PaperMart and C.O.D. Wholesale some consideration. They have my highest recommendation.

Handkerchief Roses

Posted by Khris in DIY Projects & Tutorials

Devon from Eco-Proper kindly shared this super cute project that uses old handkerchiefs to make fabric roses. This would be a perfect way to incorporate “something old” into your wedding. How about adding them to a ring pillow or making a corsage for Mom? Boutonniere? Embellishment on your train or sash?

Handkerchief Roses from Eco-Proper

See the entire tutorial at eco-proper.

Free Wedding Labels

Posted by Khris in Crafter's Toolbox

Hey DIYers,

WorldLabel.com has some pretty wedding label templates available for free. {Click here to get to the template page.}  They’re “fillable” PDF files which means that you’ll be able to add text directly onto the label when you open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Just type, save, and print onto label sheets. So easy!