red rose bridal bouquet
This red rose bridal bouquet is a little unique. Although it looks like a traditional hand tie, the florist in me always wants fresh flowers to have a constant water source.
Today you can have the best of both worlds - a design using a bridal bouquet holder and the look of a hand tied bouquet. The added advantage is that the bouquet holder gives you more control - the flowers stay exactly where you put them!
For this wedding bouquet, you'll need the following supplies:
- 1 bridal bouquet Grande Belle holder
- Crystal Clear Cut Flower Food
- 4 -5 stems leather leaf fern
- 4.5 Leaf Polish
- 10 - 12 Galax Leaves
- 12 red roses
- 1 -2 stems pittosporum
- 1 - 2 stems button mums
- Diamante pins
- Florist Clay
- Florist Tape
- Bunch Cutters
- Decorative Wire
I use creative greenery in many of my tutorials. You can opt out, using only flowers, but be sure to allow that you'll need more stems to cover your mechanics. This is leather leaf fern, which is affordable and can be used in many different designs.
Notice the laterals that come off one single stem. You can cut these apart easily with a sharp floral knife and use the laterals in corsages, boutonnieres and other designs.
Leafshine is a product florists use to clean up the greenery. It is meant for greens only. Do not spray it on fresh flowers. It will clean your greens and give them a glossy polish look, removing the splotchy hard water stains as well as dirt and residue from pollen and dirt from the fields.
Be sure to soak your bouquet holder in water treated with a cut flower food, such as Crystal Clear.
Be sure your bouquet holder is well secure in a weighted, narrow necked vase. Weight it down with pebbles, marbles or outdoor rock. You do NOT want the bouquet holder to topple forward as flowers are added to the design. This can bruise and crease your flower heads, turning brown after a day or so.
A leaf "frond" is a part of an entire leaf, such as the leather leaf frond shown below. I cut these off the main stem with a knife. It gives me a clean, sharp edge that pokes cleanly into florist foam.
You may have to strip off the bottom leaf or two before inserting into the bouquet holder.
I'm using leather leaf to "fill in" the bouquet and cover the mechanics of the foam. The greenery is actually going to be a part of the design.
Keep in mind that you are NOT committed to having only a red rose bridal bouquet. These greening techniques can be suited for substituting other flower colors and/or varieties.
