DIY handmade buttonholes

I have set myself several DIY challenges for the wedding.  I’ve made the invitations, I’ve made hairpieces – I’ve even made the silk belt I will wear with my dress.  But these are all things I can do beforehand.

My main challenge is the flowers.  I’ve been practising the floral decorations for the wedding every time I visit my parents (in the green countryside, with a garden, this is an awful lot easier, and cheaper).  Decorating the tables – check.  Lots of glassware of different heights holding rustic and relaxed bunches of garden flowers.  I’ve practised bouquets – check.  A little more difficult, but shouldn’t be too hard.  And today – I practised making buttonholes!  Sure, handmade boutonnieres are fiddly, but I am hoping they’ll be worthwhile.  And for anyone wanting to save money, DIY flowers really are a way to make massive savings (especially if you know someone with green fingers who is happy to give you a free reign in the flowerbeds)!

Flowers are the most stressful element of my DIY challenges – simply because, one cannot create bunches of fresh flowers weeks in advance.

But, with a little practice, anyone can do their own flowers.  It is a learning experience – some flowers look hardy, but droop as soon as you cut them.  Others drop their petals.  It’s taken me a bit of trial and error to find this out!

Some blooms need wire support.  For this, just take fine wire and wind it around the stem, subtly enclosing the stem without interfering with the direction of any blooms or leaves.

With the boutonnieres, all I have used is some fine, fine wire and some gaffa tape (nearer the time, this will be floristry tape, but gaffa does the job for now)!  I will definitely create them for Pete, his two best men and my dad, but it’d be great if I had time to do them for Pete’s dad and the ushers too, with a little something floral for the bridesmaids, MOB and MOG.

I’ll still have to do these the day before my wedding.  But, what’s a little work?  I think I’d rather focus on delicate flowers than have massage upon massage – I’m sure a bride will find something to stress out about the day before the wedding, so I’d rather it was something I’m (ostensibly) in control of!  With the buttonhole above I wound my fine wire around a small stalk of elderflower, and then gently threaded this through the centre of the african violet (its sepal? Not sure…).  This means you can add delicacy and a splash of colour in the middle of a larger bloom.

What do you think?  Do you think you’d be happy with something like this for your wedding? Think I might just quit the day job – I love weddings, I could create things for them every day! x