My son was getting married! When my future daughter in law mentioned that their Las Vegas wedding plans did not include fresh flowers I offered to make her a vintage brooch bouquet…sparkly and perfect for Vegas. I had admired the opulent bouquets in some Etsy shops, and I could hear my mother’s coaching “You could do that.”
Eleven months later, as I was wiring in the last rhinestone, I had a great respect for the prices that these bouquets demand.
Some of the pins had special meaning…the “C” for the bride’s name, family heirlooms, and donated items from my Etsy vintage teammates, the Vesties. I was thrilled to score the little bulldogs in honor of their handsome boy, Tank.
Before I started, I researched a few DIY posts to help me understand the basic technique. The post on DIY network site was very helpful.
My supply list:
dozens of vintage brooches, pins, earrings, buttons
24 gauge wire
wire snips
needle nose pliers
1 yard 1″ wide white grosgrain ribbon
stick pins
seed beads
Instructions:
The base of the bouquet was 3 large silk hydrangeas. Best advice I found was to wire each large brooch at either side of the backing and twist the long ends together to stabilize each wire “stem.” I used 18″ sections of 24 gauge wire at each side, twisted the two ends and then gathered those two ends together and left the ends long.
The more brooches I added the more I liked the idea of entirely covering the blossoms. After feeding dozens of the largest wired brooches through the spaces between the hydrangea stems, there was no more room to push wire.
It was clear that the rest of the smaller pins were going to have to be wired to the top brooches which worked great to stabilize the bouquet. Some of the exposed tie wire ends were strung with pearl or crystal seed beads as tendrils.
I trimmed the plastic and wire stems to about 10 inches, double wrapped them with white grosgrain ribbon and secured with pearl stick pins. The finished bouquet weighed well over 4 pounds!
The finished bouquet. Photo by Bently & Wilson Photography
In addition to the brides bouquet, I also made 3 bridesmaids wristlets using dark plum silk ranunculus on an elastic band with purchased rhinestone brooches from craft stores.
The bridge and groom in Vegas. Photo by Bently & Wilson Photography
Guest contributor Barbara Hauger is a country gal that longs for an urban cabin close to a coffee shop. She makes her home in Minneapolis, and sells her true vintage online at Ione’s Attic. Check out these fun things she found:
7 comments
What a beautiful bouquet! I have seen several of these in person and online but I think yours beats them all. I love how you personalized it to them.
The bouquet is amazing, Barbara. How wonderful to have wedding flowers that will live forever. Thanks for sharing the happy story AND the “how to” tips.
Fabulous bouquet! What a wonderful way to personalize the wedding and a perfect way to remember a special day.
Oh my! That bouquet is gorgeous…and so was the bride! Your mother was right. “You can do that!”
This is such a gorgeous bouquet – the time and love that went into making it is very obvious. What a beautiful gift and treasured keepsake this is!
thanks for the support! It really was a labor of love. I found it helpful to place the stem ends in a heavy vase which kept the bouquet stable while wiring in the last pieces.
My! You have both talent and patience. What a gorgeous bouquet, and it will last forever, unless the bride decides to pluck the petals to wear. So beautiful!