How To Make a Wedding Bouquet With Artificial Flowers

After all, no one has to pay a fortune for a bouquet that will wither in a week. Artificial flowers are a much more practical choice.

Some may say that an artificial wedding bouquet is tacky, but it all depends on the flower quality and design.

Plus, faux flowers last for decades without changing their appearance. As for the lack of fragrance, you can spray them with your favorite perfume.

Choose the Flowers

The first stage of creating any wedding bouquet is picking the flower varieties. Of course, the process is slightly easier with artificial flowers than with fresh because your selection isn’t limited to seasonal blooms.

However, the wider selection may be overwhelming. Your wedding flowers should match your personality, bridal attire, wedding style, season, and location – so many points to consider!

Brides who value tradition and prefer classics may consider the most popular garden wedding flowers, such as peonies, roses, tulips, and ranunculus.

Wildflowers like sunflowers, cornflowers, and poppies will perfectly fit a rustic or bohemian wedding. On the other hand, exotic blooms like orchids and anthurium are ideal for tropical and alternative wedding styles.

Note that not all flower varieties go well together. For example, if may admire sunflowers and orchids, you would have to compromise one of the varieties because they will clash.

As a rule of thumb, combine wildflowers with other wildflowers and textured garden blooms like dahlias, gerbera daisies, and chrysanthemums. Exotic flowers look the best with other tropical blooms, roses, peonies, and dahlias.

Another note is that the selection of artificial flowers in many stores is limited to the most common varieties. For instance, a store may stock dozens of rose and orchid types but not a single Craspedia because it isn’t as popular.

Plus, the selection may vary depending on the flower type – latex and polymer flowers are much rarer than fabric flowers, although they look more realistic.

Therefore, you may want to research the offerings beforehand to ensure you’ll be able to get the desired flowers from one store. Ordering each flower type from a different store is a headache.

If some artificial flowers you search for only come in pots, don’t worry – you can always cut the stems.

Consider filler flowers, accents, and greens to liven up your arrangement. Pampas grass, fern leaves, ivy, myrtle, feathers, jewels – you can incorporate any accent your creative soul desires into your wedding bouquet.

Are All Artificial Flowers The Same?

Using artificial flowers for a wedding bouquet is risky because it may look tacky. Thankfully, not all faux flowers are the same, and people considering artificial flower wedding bouquets tacky typically imagine cheap nylon blooms.

The only way to avoid a tacky look is by buying premium-quality flowers, preferably from wax-coated silk or latex. Wax-coated artificial flowers are relatively cheap and widely available, but the petal edges may fray over time.

Latex faux flowers are pricier and come in a handful of varieties but have lifelike details and resemble fresh blooms by touch.

Polymer artificial flowers look the most realistic, but they are hard to find and expensive. Plus, the petals can be crushed if packed too tightly.

If budget isn’t your main concern, you can even order custom polymer wedding flowers. Such a bouquet may be more expensive than a real one, but it can be preserved for decades.

Come Up With Design

You should decide on your artificial flower wedding bouquet design before you start assembling it. Specifically, choose the colors, desired shape, and add-ons like ribbons and jewels.

Consider your wedding color theme and season. Summer bridal bouquets tend to be saturated and buoyant, whereas winter arrangements shift towards the darker end of the spectrum.

Fall wedding bouquets are usually rich and warm, and spring brides favor pretty pastels. However, these are only general trends – you’re free to pick any shades you prefer.

If you don’t strive for a natural look, you can get creative with artificial flowers – for example, opt for a total black bouquet, or use flowers with glittery petals.

The color wheel is of great help when matching colors for your bridal bouquet. Alternatively, you may draw artificial wedding bouquet inspiration online.

Artificial flowers aren’t as delicate as fresh blooms, so they allow you to get creative with the bouquet shape. Most artificial flowers don’t look great in simple mono bouquets unless they are ultra-realistic, like polymer blooms.

Consider modern cascading, asymmetric, and crescent bridal bouquet types. The more blooms and the more unusual design, the less the flower fakeness will be noticeable. You may schematically draw your bouquet design – it can be handy during the assembly phase.

Gather Supplies

Once you have the flowers, you need to gather other supplies. Unlike fresh flowers, faux blooms don’t require special florist equipment apart from floral tape, although the tape can also be replaced with rubber bands or wire.

You’ll need sharp scissors or shears, a small knife, some pins, and a ribbon. You may also need hot glue if you plan to add embellishments or jewels to the bouquet.

Prepare The Flowers

Preparation of faux flowers is much easier than real blooms, but this stage is still vital.

Remove any excess foliage using a small knife. Make sure that the knife is very sharp because you’ll likely be dealing with plastic.

Assemble The Bouquet

Now that you’re all set, it’s time to move on to the most exciting part – assembling your faux flower wedding bouquet. Start with center blooms – these are usually focal flowers, the stars of your arrangement, like dahlias, roses, or orchids.

Secure the stems with wire if you’re confident that these flowers will be in the bouquet center. However, if you aren’t yet sure about the bouquet design, you may let your creativity flow and rearrange the blooms along the way.

Add more flowers around the focal blooms, building one layer at a time and securing it with wire. Remember to rotate your bouquet to ensure it’s beautiful from every side. You may also check its look in the mirror.

Lastly, add ornamental elements like grass, leaves, berries, and filler flowers. Inspect the bouquet from each side for gaps and fill them if needed.

Wrap & Cut The Stems

Once you’re satisfied with the bouquet look, wrap the stems with floral tape in two layers. Leave about an inch or two above the tape free. Alternatively, you may use elastic bands if the bouquet isn’t very large.

Cut any unruly stems under the tape to make the bouquet bottom even. You may additionally secure the bottom with another layer of floral tape.

Afterward, wrap the stems with a ribbon to conceal the floral tape, and secure it with pins. Use special decorative pins for a neat look. You may also tie the ribbon in a bow and leave the ends cascading for a romantic touch.

Finishing Touches

The bouquet is now complete, but there’s still a place for creativity.

Make any finishing touches you deem necessary – for example, spray the petals with glitter, glue butterflies onto the flowers, or insert wire with beads among the stems as accents.

Wedding Bouquet Using Floral Foam

Classic bridal bouquets have one significant drawback – you have to constantly carry them around in your hands. If you value comfort, consider a creative DIY pomander wedding bouquet.

A pomander bouquet is a globe-like arrangement typically featuring a ribbon hung around the bride’s wrist. To make it, you’ll need faux flowers, ribbon, floral foam, sharp shears, floral pins, and a knitting needle or any other long pointy tool.

Pick one large bloom variety and one smaller, preferably in the same color and shape. Roses, dahlias, and other popular blooms work the best in artificial flower pomander wedding bouquets.

Depending on the bouquet size, you may need over 30 flowers because they will be tightly packed. Start by cutting a rounded cube from floral foam. You want it to be as symmetric as possible because it will serve as a bouquet base.

Note that the final bouquet will look twice bigger than the initial foam cube. Alternatively, you may buy a ready-made foam sphere.

Then, cut a long piece of ribbon and poke a hole in your foam sphere using a knitting needle. Thread the ribbon through the hole using the needle and tie a knot at the end to prevent it from slipping back through the hole.

Make a loop sufficient for your wrist at the other end of the hole. Finally, you can start working with the flowers. Remove all foliage and cut the stems, leaving only about 2-3 inches.

Stick the flowers into the foam core, pushing them in until they sit firmly. Fill in the gaps with greenery or embellishments until the entire foam core is filled.