Tuesday, January 26, 2010

how many flowers do I need?


I sought out the help of Abbie, the lovely lady behind, A Glimpse of the Girl Next Door, who did a flipping bangerang job DIYing her own wedding flowers. Her arrangements are crazy drool worthy. My flowers will be much more simple, I don't think we will be arranging them so artfully like Abbie so flawlessly did...we will probably be grouping them into mason jars. None the less, I was still at a loss as to "how many flowers do I need?"

Her advice rocks. And seriously...check out these arrangements of hers. Holy amazing.



Here's the advice I found on the "how many" question. The only thing about this advice is that most brides aren't DIY'ing with actual vases. If you're using mason jars, then I would suggest buying a few bouquets or floral bunches and playing around with it before you place the order. That way, you can see what you think looks good as far as how many stems of the flowers you prefer.

How do I know how many flowers to order?

First you need to make a list of all the arrangements you will need. As a general rule you want 18-24 stems per table arrangement or bridesmaid bouquets. 12 stems work nicely for a small bouquet for mom or a little girl in the bridal party. 20-25 stems is a nice amount for the brides bouquet as well as large arrangements using line flowers such as gladiolas or snapdragons. Each boutonniere is 1-3 stems, corsages are 3-5 blooms. The definition of stem here is a main flower like a rose, carnation, delphinium, snapdragon and so on. Large flowers like sunflowers are most often used in groups of 3-5 with other flowers added in for a total of around 10 stems. For fillers such as babies breath, misty limonium or statice a field bunch will do approximately 3-4 arrangements. For greens you will need 1 field bunch for each 3-4 arrangements.


8 comments:

  1. Oooo, so exciting! I love, love, love floral arrangements done in mason jars so I'm excited to see how yours turn out. And that's some really good advice, I've been trying for months to figure out how many we'll need for the bouquets. Thanks!

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  2. I would suck at estimating! I already bought way more stamps than I needed for our invitations and it's pretty hard to screw that up, right? :) I have a friend getting married in September who wants the mason jar look. I'm sure you'll have a gorgeous event with beautiful florals! Can't wait to see what you come up with so I can share with my friend.

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  3. Sometimes I feel like you read my mind! Thank you so much for this post. I am glad to know I'm not the only DIY bride struggling with the flower issue.

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  4. Thanks for loving on my flowers! Practice, practice, practice, ladies, and they'll be fabulous!

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  5. Abbie, you did a beautiful job with your flowers. I read some of your blog and you pretty much nailed it, considering your inspiration photos.

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  6. Gorgeous, gorgeous! I love it. Seriously, I think you should post a budget break down. You know, for the nosy shoestring bride in all of us :D

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  7. I'm here by way of Abbie - you're on the right track! I arranged all of my wedding flowers, and the hardest part was definitely estimating the quantity you need. Harder still because it depends on the variety of flowers, which is really frustrating. Buuut. For the record, my bouquet had 40 stems, while my bridesmaids had ~25. So have a few extra, just in case.

    If you need any been-there-done-that advice, I'd be happy to try to help! Probably Abbie and I have similar advice, though.

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