Things You Need To Know Before DIY’ing Your Flowers!

We are sooooo excited that you’re got DIY’ing your wedding flowers on your radar! It’s so fun to stretch your creative side, and designing your own wedding flowers will undoubtably save you a ton of money!

In this blog, we’ve compiled some of our “most asked” questions, to get you on the right track and give you the info you need to rock this thing!

When to get your flowers:

• The flowers are shipped directly to your house, the time it arrives depends on where you are located. In Vancouver, they arrive between noon and 6 pm, elsewhere it’s between 9 – 5 pm. It is ideal if someone is home to receive them, as its at the discretion of the driver if they leave them outside. This is especially critical if you live in an apartment!
• If your wedding is on a Saturday, we suggest getting the flowers on a Wednesday, to give them time to open up. Our flowers are all florist grade and are closed bud, so it takes them a bit to open up.

Supplies you’ll need:

• I’ve written a blog with in depth information about what you’ll need for supplies, the link is: Tools of the Trade – Essential Checklist – You Floral
• The best spot to get your buckets is at the dollar store, the plastic bathroom garbage cans are a perfect size for your blooms. You’ll need quite a few buckets as flowers don’t like being crowded (3 bunches of flowers/bucket is a good rule of thumb).

Sample Timeline:

• If your wedding is on a Saturday:
  • You’ll want to get the flowers on a Wednesday. When the flowers arrive, you’ll need to cut the ends with pruners (not scissors) and place them in water. Make sure to check out our You Tube video about prepping flowers. The link is here:
    • https://youtu.be/bX7XqDeWonU .
  • If you are choosing to use roses, they have specific processing requirements, check out our video here:
    • https://youtu.be/qf6Xw2imVAE
  • Create the bouquets on the Thursday or Friday, the day doesn’t matter. You’ll need mason jars or vases to put your completed arrangements in so they have hydration until your wedding.
  • If you’re making boutonnieres or corsages, make those close to the wedding because they won’t have a hydration source. I would suggest making them on a Friday. Store them in the fridge, in a hydration chamber. This is the only floral item you’ll be storing in the fridge.

Making boutonnieres:

• If you’re making boutonnieres, I like to use Boutstix, link here: Contact Us – BoutStix Co. USA
• Its not essential to have them, but they are magnets, so there won’t be holes in suits.
• Make your boutonnieres as close to the wedding as possible.
• You’ll generally just use scraps of greenery to make the boutonnieres, but make sure you have enough flowers to make the bout’s.
• I suggest getting a grocery store bouquet to practice making the boutineers before hand. Watch my video to learn how to make them:
  • https://youtu.be/OFzbRPWq4lQ

Storing Your Flowers:

• The only thing you store in the fridge is your boutonniers/corsages.
• I have written a blog about how to best store your flowers: DIY Tips – Storing Your Flowers – You Floral

Expected waste:

• You are buying florist grade, bulk flowers, so expect a 5% loss, so make sure you order enough to account for this.

Transporting your flowers:

• We have a couple tips and tricks on transporting your flowers on our blog, the link is here: Transporting Your DIY Flowers – You Floral

When To Order Your Flowers:

• As they say… the sooner the better! We recommend 2- 8 months before your wedding date, but if you are shorter than that… that ok. Our cut-off is 3 weeks prior to your wedding, we can something accommodate shorter notice, but its subject to what flowers are available. Shoot us an email (hello@youfloral.ca). Ordering last minute increases the likelihood that flower substitutes will be needed if you’re oogling popular flowers.

What Comes In The Flower Box:

• Your flowers are packed carefully in a box, so expect to see oodles and oodles of packing paper, and in summer, cold packs. You’re the florist, so you’re getting florist grade fresh flowers that haven’t been processed, so you’ll need to watch our videos on how to prep the flowers.
• Vases/supplies won’t come with the flowers, so you’ll need to source those separately.

Making an arch:

• If you’re making an arch, you need mechanics to attach the flowers to the arch.
• • • You can use chicken wire (note however, there is no water source, so flowers will start to wilt without water). If you use chicken wire, you can put the flowers in flower picks.
    • You can also use an oasis floral foam cage.
    • Whatever method you use, you can use zap straps to attach the mechanics to the arch.
    • Keep in mind how you are going to install the arch, if you make it the night before… if a big gust of wind comes up, it might strew your flowers across the venue.

Hopefully those tips helped you out – if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out… we offer 1:1 consultations where we will go over any questions you have and make sure you’re well on your way to rock your DIY wedding bouquets!

XOXO

Sarah

P.S. the link to book a design consultation is here!