Crafters In Disguise

Monday, May 26, 2008

Crafting [Silk Wedding Bouquet] x5

My bridal party includes my Maid of Honor and three Bridesmaids, for a total of five bouquets. I love blue and green hydrangeas, but they seem to be more of a Spring-Summer flower so it may be difficult to get them in the Fall. They also like to change color if they aren't stored at the right temperature with the correct amount of water. I've never done flower arrangements before, but it doesn't seem too difficult to make what I want out of silk flowers, especially since I will have all summer to make them rather than just two or three days prior to the wedding.

I found some gorgeous flowers in the perfect colors at Michael's, and they were on sale because they were from the Spring selection (it's almost Summer now!). I got some lilies, peonies and blue roses to go with the hydrangeas as well. So far I have started preparing the stems, gathering them in bunches and wrapping them with green floral tape. The next step is to trim the excess length off the stem since the stems are almost a yard long.


The last step will be to add a handle to cover the ugly plastic green stems. I bought some white dupioni silk which was on sale at JoAnn's (didn't even have to use the 40% off coupon!) that I will use to wrap the stem, and then I plan to add pearl buttons for accents to finish it off!




FLOWER SYMBOLISM:

Hydrangea - Heart-felt.
White Lily - hope of everlasting life, virginity, purity, majesty, abundance.
Blue Roses - someone is mysterious.
Peony - Happy life, happy marriage.
Rosebud - Beauty, youth.



3/24/09 Post-Wedding Update - The finished bouquets turned out to be fabulous!

photo by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Enchanted [Handmade Garter]

I decided to make my own garter for my wedding because it looked simple enough... so I did! I finished it today. I sewed it by hand and used two different types of lace, some satin ribbon, and added bows, with a bead and sequin in the middle of the bow.

It was about a 2-3 hour project, I think, but spread out over 3 weeks since I just worked on it a little bit here and there while playing my favorite MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) on my computer. Ah, what one can accomplish while sitting around waiting for raid leaders to finish distributing loot and then drone on about the strategy for slaying the giant monster in the next room.

3/24/09 - An After-the-wedding Anecdote: My sister caught my bouquet and her boyfriend caught the garter. Three months later he proposed and they are getting married in July!


pictures by Siang of Lightphoria - www.lightphoria.com