Supplies:

1. 18 gauge floral wire
2. Floral tape
3. Various types of greenery. I bought my greenery from Hobby Lobby. I do not remember what all of my greenery was called, but here are the ones I do remember.
   • Ruscus Bush
   • Lambs Ear
4. Flowers. I used sola wood flowers, but you can use any type of flowers you would like.
5. Zip tie
6. Hot glue
7. Wire cutters
8. Ribbon. I used a combination of ribbon and lace ribbon for my handle. Both were purchased from Hobby Lobby.
9. Optional: Filler pieces like baby’s breath and berries.
10. Optional: stem covers

Steps:

1. Pick the flowers, greenery, and extras (baby’s breath and berries) you would like to use. Grab more than you think you might need.
   • I had about 16 sola wood flowers in my Bouquet and 7 sola wood flowers in each bridesmaid bouquet. 
2. Trim greenery and extras into smaller sections.
3. Attach an 18 gauge floral wire to each flower, small section of greenery, and extras. I wrapped the 18 gauge floral wire around the base of my greenery and extras. I then wrapped the 18 gauge floral wire and the base of my greenery in floral tape to cover up the connection and ensure it was secure. For my particular flowers I applied hot glue to the end of the 18 gauge floral wire and carefully pushed it into the bottom of my flower.
4. Now that everything is prepared, we can start to build our bouquet. I found it best to make small mini bouquets, then later group the smaller bouquets together to form the larger one.
   • Once I have a small bouquet finished, I held it together with floral tape.
   • My mini bouquets contained about 2-3 flowers, 2 different bunches of greenery, and 1 berry or small bundle of baby’s breath. My bouquet was made up of about 6 mini bouquets. The number of flowers and greenery you use will depend on the style you are going for. Some people like more flowers, some like more greenery.
   • The number of mini bouquets and how big your mini bouquets are will depend on how big you would like your finished bouquet to be. I made smaller bouquets for myself and my bridesmaids.
   • Make sure flowers are not next to each other. You want the flowers to be all around not all group in one spot in your mini bouquet.

5. When you have your mini bouquets made, start putting them all together. Try not to put two of the same items (same color of flower, greenery, berries) next together. You may need to rotate the mini bouquets so that they fit better together.

6. Use a zip tie to hold your mini bouquets arrangement together.

• I recommend taking a few photos of yourself holding your bouquet so you can really see if you like it or not. This will help you decided if you like the size of your bouquet as well as see an area you would like to change.
• When I did this, I decided I needed to add my berries and baby’s breath. So, I removed the zip tie and added in my extras to my mini bouquets and grouped them all together again.

7. Once you are happy with how your bouquet looks, Wrap the base with floral tape. Use enough to hold your bouquet together.  

8. Use wire cutters to trim all stems and wires to the same length. You should trim everything to about two hands length down.

9. Remove the zip tie and add extra floral tape if needed.

10. Add more greenery around the base of your bouquet. I used hot glue to attach my greenery around the base of my bouquet, not all the way down the handle, but just enough to help hide the transition to the handle, the floral wire. If you do not want to use hot glue, then take greenery that you added an 18 gauge floral wire to and just place the greenery slightly lower to hide stems/wire. Then wrap it with floral tape to hold it in place. I liked using the hot glue so I could lock my greenery in the exact place I needed it to be. I did not want my greenery to shift or droop and expose my floral wires. You could also cover your handle with wire cover. This will also thicken your handle if you would like.

11. Wrap ribbon around your handle. Use hot glue to secure it in place. I also fold the ends to create nice clean ends. I then decided to use lace ribbon to wrap my handle again. See my YouTube video for more instructions on how to wrap the handle.

I was very intimidated by making my bouquet, but making the mini bouquets make it a lot easier. I was surprised how quickly and easily my bouquet came together by doing these mini ones first. It also made it easier to take my bouquet apart and add my berries and baby’s breath. I did not take apart my mini bouquets. I just used floral tape to add the berries and baby’s breath to each mini bouquet.