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A woman smiling at a homemade bouquet

DIY Bouquet Making Guide

Crafts

Mother’s Day is around the corner, wedding season has begun, and spring flowers are in full bloom. Take advantage of these beautiful blooms by throwing a DIY bouquet making party with your friends and family. Want to know how to make a bouquet? We’ve created a guide to help you get started.

Woman teaching friends how to make bouquets at a DIY bouquet making party

DIY Bouquet Making Guide

  • Makes: 1 large bouquet

  • Time: Approximately 30 minutes

  • Difficulty: Beginner

A handmade bouquet next to a glass of AVA Grace

Bouquet Making Supplies – What You’ll Need:

  • 20 flowers of varying sizes (anywhere from 1” to 4”)
    • Note: see bouquet making tips for flower recommendations
  • 5 greenery sprays or stems
    • Note: number of needed flowers and greenery is a conservative estimate based on different types of bouquets
  • A bucket with water to keep the flowers hydrated
  • Paper towels
  • Floral tape
  • Floral scissors
  • A vase OR (for hand-tied bouquets) a few feet of 2” wide ribbon & bouquet pins
  • A bottle or two of wine (or wine in cans)

Bouquet making supplies next to a bottle of AVA Grace Chardonnay

How to Make Flower Bouquet Arrangements

  1. Trim off roughly 2-3” of each stem at an angle and place your flowers and greenery in your bucket of water to keep them hydrated.
  2. If they have not already been de-thorned, de-thorn and remove excess foliage from the stems. You can do this with your hands or with your floral scissors.
  3. Pick 2-4 flowers or greenery that will serve as the center of your arrangement. Take these flowers out of the bucket and lightly dry off the stems with paper towels.
  4. Arrange your 2-4 core flowers together as you’d like and hold them together by the stem or tape the stems with floral tape to secure the arrangement.
  5. Build around your core flowers with the remaining greenery and flowers, drying the stems as you go, and making sure that the core flowers are still the focal point of your arrangement. Tape the arrangement with floral tape every 4-6 stems so that the arrangement is secure.
  6. Stop once you have a decent sized arrangement and trim the ends of the stems so that they are all the same size.
  7. If you are creating a vase bouquet, add your arrangement to a vase with water and you’re done! If you’re creating a hand-tied bouquet, wrap the stems with ribbon so that it nicely covers the floral tape you have in place. Pin the ribbon tightly in place with bouquet pins as you go. You can wrap the ribbon all the way down the stems or leave the stems only partially covered.
    1. Note: if you are not using or gifting the bouquet immediately, we recommend leaving some stem uncovered so that you can keep the bouquet in water.
    2. Note: if you don’t yet have a vase, consider using empty wine bottles as vases.

A woman smiling at a homemade bouquet

DIY Bouquet Making Tips

  1. You can buy flowers online, from wholesale flower markets, flower farms, large club stores, or simply from your local grocer. In general, you will get the best deals from the farms or wholesale stores.
  2. Sturdy flowers are easier to work with when arranging a bouquet. A few flowers that hold up well are: daisies, Peruvian lilies, carnations, roses, lavender, and baby’s breath.
  3. For greenery, avoid using the same color. Instead, choose complimentary colors that add depth and complexity to the arrangement.
  4. Our preferred greenery for floral arrangements are: eucalyptus, lamb’s ear, and fern leaves.
  5. If you can, consider practicing on foam or silk flowers. This will help you feel more comfortable handling live flowers when making your final arrangement.

Bouquet Color Palettes For Every Season

Like the seasons, our color preferences are always changing. Here are our current favorite bouquet color palettes:

Burgundy, Blush, Cream, Forrest Charcoal, & Foggy Green – For Winter

Winter bouquet color palette of burgundy, pink, off-white, and green

Muted Pink, Lavender, Green, & Charcoal – For Spring

Bouquet color palette for spring with pink. lavender, green, and charcoal

Bright Fuchsia, Pale Pink, Yellow, Sea Foam, & Young Fern Green – For Summer

Bright bouquet color palette of fuchsia, pink, yellow, and light greens

Merlot, Salmon, Slate Blueberry, Light Purple, & Sage Green – For Fall

Bouquet color palette for fall with merlot, salmon, slate blue, light purple, and sage green


May 22, 2020
Ava Grace Vineyards AVA Grace Vineyards, Livermore, CA
Ava Grace Vineyards

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