Reddit mentions: The best artificial flowers

Alright guys, so Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so here is a brief walk-through/parts list for making one for your special someone! I know I didn't include progress photos, and mods, if you have to remove the post do so, but It's a pretty simple build, and someone on /r/somethingimade told me to post it over here as well :)

First off: The parts! (these are just the parts I used, if you can find alternatives you think would work better, go for it. I didn't really shop around too hard)

1. Plymor Brand Glass Doll Display Dome with Walnut Base - 5.5" x 10"
   
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006XIQT7G?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
   
   You can get smaller ones for much cheaper, but it's for valentine's day, so I decided to go with a larger dome.
   
   
2. Louis Garden 17" Artificial Silk Flowers Fake Rose (1, Red)
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Louis-Garden-Artificial-Silk-Flowers/dp/B00YY0B2DG/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1452834689&sr=1-2&keywords=Louis+Garden+17%22+Artificial+Flowers+Fake+Rose+-+Red
   
   I actually ordered a two pack for this price when it was on sale I guess, and used the extra rose for the petals on the base.
   
   
3. BZONE Led String Starry Light Copper Wire Lights Decorative Lights(20 Leds, Warm White, 7ft)
   
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VUVAGDO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00
   
   You definitely don't need all 20 LEDs, but it was the shortest string I could find. More on that later. If you can find one with green wire it would look even better, but the ones I found were almost twice as expensive!
   
   TOTAL PRICE: $47.50 ---- People sell them online for about $100 all put together, but I didn't feel like shelling out that much for such a simple concept.
   
   Next: The build!
   
   I said the build was really straight-forward, and I meant it :)
   
   
4. Drill a hole a tiny bit wider than the diameter of the stem of the rose through the center of the wooden stand for the glass dome.
   
   
5. Cut the stem of the rose to a length that fits inside the dome. Don't go too short, you can always cut off more, but you can't add it back on! I also decided to remove one set of leaves from the stem. It originally had two clusters with three leaves each, but I wanted a more simple looking piece.
   
   
6. Run the string of LEDs through the hole you drilled in the base. I only had 5 LED's through the hole on mine. They are pretty bright, and I didn't want to go overboard.
   
   
7. Wrap the stem with the LED string. You want to leave a bit on the end of the stem so you can put it into the hole on the base. I had one LED at the very bottom of the stem to illuminate the fallen petals, and worked my way up. I had another about half-way up the stem, by the leaves, and a third tucked under the green leaves right under the flower.
   
   
8. Slip the LED string between two of the petals, and work your way around the flower. With each wrap you want to slip the wire behind another layer of petals, working towards the center. This is probably the most tedious part of the build, as getting the LED strand to stay in the blossom was a bit of a challenge. I found that bending the wire down before I worked it into the petals worked for me, because if you don't it will want to pop up out of the blossom. Tuck any remaining wire you have into the petals so it is hidden. I only had 2 LEDs in the bloom, and it gave me the illumination level I had hoped for.
   
   
9. Stick the end of the rose down into the base, and bend the stem of the rose to your liking (mine is a tad leaning towards the side)
   
   
10. Tape the wire to the underside of the base so it stays out of the way. I lined it up with the best angle of the flower, and made sure the wire came out the back side.
    
    
11. I had 14-15 extra LEDs on the wire, so I painted over them with some black acrylic paint, because I didn't want there to be light shining behind the shelf or dresser when she set it up.
    
    
12. Place the glass dome onto the base
    
    
13. Enjoy!!!

So - apologies for the length on this. My wedding is in December, about 150 people, with 7 bridesmaids and groomsmen.

I couldn't capture how truly wonderful these came out. One of my bridesmaids got started on the smaller bouquets and then did my big waterfall bouquet. My fiance helped with the corsages and boutonnieres. The grand total for everything - welcome sign, flowers, centerpieces, all came in under $450 and I'm super proud of finishing it up. I'll try to detail what I can and post links to places where I got flowers if someone asks!

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Bridal Bouquet

https://imgur.com/Oe1uzUJ

I cannot take any credit for this - one of my bridesmaids had the vision and rolled with it. We bought peonies ($36), eucalyptus ($40), calla lillies ($40), and roses ($60) on Amazon. The last little bit of wispy flower at the bottom was a last minute buy at Michael's using a 50% coupon for $2.50. The roses are incredibly realistic and the full stems helped fill out the holders.

A florist would have certainly charged more than $400 just for something this size with the peonies. Similarly sized arrangements on Etsy were about $300-$350. And the flowers I bought for this leftover made all of the bridesmaid bouquets and misc arrangements!

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Bridesmaids Bouquets

Detail: https://imgur.com/W74qjS0

Pre-Wrap: https://imgur.com/ofnivV4

Same flowers as the bridal bouquet! We also used a lot of floral tape ($3, coupon), ribbon ($5, after Christmas sale), and floral wire from the stems of roses that I used on the centerpieces.

​

Corsages and Boutonnieres

https://imgur.com/15aTilR

These were so easy! I took leaves from the rose a peony bundles, then ordered some extra baby's breath ($13, Amazon). Wrapped with floral tape and some ribbon I got on a 50% sale at Hobby Lobby. My fiance did most of the boutonnieres and he was pretty proud of himself.

​

Welcome Sign

https://imgur.com/QF7I3lr

Got the mirror at a garage sale ($5, what a steal), had Mod Podge and glitter from the centerpieces. Exploring options of getting a friend with nice handwriting to write the welcome message, or buy a decal off of Etsy (<$25). My cat was needy today and wanted to be in every picture :)

​

Centerpieces

Top w/ Table Number: https://imgur.com/NpheC3j

Low Light: https://imgur.com/4MmfiIE

Detail: https://imgur.com/HygEhD7

This has a lot of details. I first bought the cheap 1-20 wood table numbers on Amazon ($20, I think), the Mod Podge ($8), Fine Glitter ($10, Michael's), and mod podged the crap out of the numbers and layered on the glitter. This took several hours between drying and doing.

We then stumbled upon a $40 deal on Facebook marketplace that included 20 8" vases, 200 Dinopure White Roses, 25 purple fairy lights, various glass stones and beads, and an LED candle set.

I built on this by buying 100 more roses ($40, Amazon), 24x 3" styrofoam balls ($30, Amazon), 2 packs water beads ($15, Amazon), and two colors of the vase mix of floating pearls (Etsy, $40).

I hot glues the roses to the styrofoam balls with enough room for it to still fit on top of the vase. I then wrapped the fairy lights around that, and hot glued the table number to the top.

The water beads and floating pearls are an easy set up. Let the beads swell for a couple hours, pour in the vase and in layers add the beads and stir. Topping off with water gives the floating effect.

​

This was all enough to make ~18 centerpieces, 1 bridal bouquet, 7 bridesmaids bouquets, 12 boutonnieres, 5 corsages, 1 welcome sign, and we're using leftover flowers, vases, plus running medals (my and my fiance's hobby) to round out the decorations. I already have frames ($35, Micheals on 75% off plus extra 20% off super sale) and shimmer paper that I will DIY print any other signs needed.

Ok, here's a tutorial of sorts. These were super easy to make, and I am not very crafty.

Materials:

7" vases - Dollar Tree

9" vases - Dollar Tree

10.5" vases - Amazon

Glass stones - Amazon

Submersible LED lights - Amazon

Calla lilies - Amazon
I ordered orange and navy. My wedding color blue is royal blue, not navy, but as you can see in the photos they are pretty light for navy, and are passable for royal blue.

The flowers come in a variety of colors, so if you're into calla lilies you can make these work. They have wires in the stems, so I just bent the stems up and played around with height and color combos until I had a set up I liked. Then I used those flowers as a template to cut the other flower stems to length with wire cutters.

The calla lilies float if they are not weighed down, so I hot glued the end of each stem to one of the glass stones and buried it under the rest of the stones. Worked perfectly, and you can't see it in the final set up.

The Dollar Tree vases are FANTASTIC, and I suggest looking there first no matter what type of vase you're looking for since they have a variety. They didn't have the taller vases I needed so I had to spend a bit more to get them from Amazon, but kept total costs to about $250 for 10-12 centerpieces. I don't think there's an appreciable difference between the Amazon vases and Dollar Tree vases, they go very well together.

My original plan was to use floating candles instead of LED lights, but I really liked how the shadows are cast with the uplighting from the submerged LEDs. It also makes a little bit of a blue glow through the stones. I am making another one-vase decoration (same thing, just the medium-sized vase instead of 3) with a floating candle next to a written memorial for my dad and my fiancé's and my grandparents who have passed. The point is floating candles definitely work for these if that's your thing.

Anyway, I'm happy to provide more info by request, though I think this pretty much covers it!

Flower petals, fake may work better, but I think their pretty classy.

ice I know it may not last long, but you could make a bunch of these and stick them in a bowl for center peices, and possibly put some black glitter in the bottom of it. Extra points if you can somehow get some uhm...that weird ice stuff that makes things smokey. That'd be boss.

I'm trying to think of cheap Ideas, haha.

The only other idea I have, is to get skull shot glasses like this and fill them with purple dyed water/glitter ect. Very small, but still something. Could even get the petals to go around it.

orrr get something like this to go in a smaller sugar skull vase/cup.

These are neat! They look kind of purpley and small. You could get again, flower petals, or silk flowers to border them. That would be cute.

I found this on google. Could probably make it by hand but its a little out there.

Doily + candle., could even use the no flame ones I linked.

I hope your wedding is absolutely wonderful! I demand pictures, because that seriously seems like an awesome idea and I'm pretty jelly. I wanna see how it turns outttt!

i got you.

1. If you are able to have get out with/without the kids, go to the movies. a good date movie would be Aladdin this weekend. If you guys are into action movies, John Wick 3 is awesome (but not for kids). Or Avengers Endgame if you're into Marvel and haven't seen it yet. Plan this some time after lunch time.
   
2. If you're not able to get out, then do a small scavenger hunt with sticky notes. each sticky note, write something that you love about him and a clue to where the next is. last one should lead to you for a kiss. then chill with board games or TV or whatever else you guys do in afternoon free time.
   
3. Dinner time, cook something together that you both enjoy, but not the norm. whether it be salmon or steak. get wine or favorite drinks to pair with it.
   
4. get marshmallows for the fire pit as dessert. melted chocolate too?
   
5. Ask your husband to clean / wash dishes. During this time, go to the bedroom and set up. Get these flameless candles and some rose petals around the bed. Hopefully they arrive on time from Amazon, but they're also available at Party City or Target.
   
6. Wear some lingerie or nothing at all, whatever your preference. dim/turn off the lights and leave door mostly closed. Call for your husband to come help you with something. wham bam thank you mam.
   
7. After happy time, go play Overcooked for video games to end the night. It's free on PS4 right now if you guys own that . Or $20 on Nintendo Switch. Another good co-op game on PS4 is Little Big Planet 3.

I love weddings!

And that's actually not a lie. I've wanted to be a wedding planner since I was in high school. By the time I got married in 2010, I had approximately 300 different themes and color combos to choose from.

But, as a word of advice, make sure you can handle how often the glasses will be clinked together to make you guys kiss. My (ex)husband and I did bells with a quote on them. No matter what we were doing, a bell would be ringing. By the end of the night, I had one of the hotel staff members go around and collect the bells and had the DJ announce that it was time for the bells to be put to bed. I like the idea that /u/sillygirlsarah had. Have them do it once. Then after that, they have to do their best imitation or quote.

So now about that pool. Lol. Personally, I would find some way to wrap tulle or lace around it's edges. If you plan on covering it, great. Use flower petals to decorate the top. Silk ones can be bought in boxes for relatively cheap. eBay and Amazon have them. If you're going to leave it uncovered, go down to any local flower shop and ask if they have any dying flowers they would be willing to sell you petals off of. Fresh petals float, while silk petals will sink to the bottom of the water. Get just enough for a rough, thin layer on top of the water. Then find some floating candles or floating LED lights and place them in the water with the flowers. Now your pool isn't so much in the way, as it creates a peaceful, beautiful hang out spot.

But yeah, I have a ton more ideas so if you want any help, don't hesitate to ask. =]

Thank you very much! I was so so happy with how it turned out. I just commented above with my thoughts but I'll repost here too:

​

I'll be honest, the birch frame was a bit of a bitch to put together. In retrospect, we'd probably have bought one of the kits because we spent about ~200 and 12 hours working on it with a fair amount of frustration. However, if you do need a specialty sized frame or want to do it, here are my thoughts/advice:

1. All the DIY instructions we saw online had bases; this one is freestanding which is why it was harder. If you don't mind having a base (usually a bucket filled with cement, or I've also seen adjustable outdoor umbrella stands), then DIY is much more feasible and can save you some $$.
   
2. Our chuppah was 6' X 6'. We ended up buying three packs of birch poles on Amazon, which cost $195 total. We started with two packs but needed three in the end to make it stand up properly. We had 4 vertical poles, 4 poles for the top square frame, 1 crossbeam across the top middle (we feel pretty strongly that you need this for stability), as well as 8 small diagonal pieces at the top of the frame which you can't see in the photo but provided a huge amount of the stability. The design without flowers looked like this:https://i.etsystatic.com/11004770/r/il/77307b/761204634/il_794xN.761204634_fj10.jpg
   
3. We also had to buy hardware (long screws and butterfly screws). The birch is fairly soft and the screws will loosen up each time you build and take apart the chuppah, so that's a caveat.
   
4. My husband is an engineer and had access to a workshop for cutting, measuring, etc., so even though he didn't have experience in building things/construction, he did have the background to know how to design it without the whole thing collapsing.
   
5. I would recommend against DIY in this manner (poles in buckets of cement is totally different and very possible though!) unless you have some relevant experience. It's not worth the hassle since it only saved us $50. In retrospect we'd have totally bought the birch kit on Etsy lol :) But if you want to use a unique wood or a specialty design you can't find online, hopefully this information is helpful!
   
   Lastly, if anyone lives in Virginia, we would give ours away to anyone who wants it!

Well, my initial idea was that you and your fiancée could find some way to make one of those wax hands (the kind that you can make at fairs and festivals by dipping your hand in wax) for each table with some white or off white wax, in this position. Then, nestle a tea light into the top of each one (maybe connect the tea light with some hot wax?), and surround it with some black rose petals and some purple and white calla lilies. You could also place the hands in these.


Another idea would be to get some of these face masks, cut off the little strings, cut each one a slightly bigger mouth hole, and paint them apricot. Then get some light bulbs, some super glue, and carefully glue a tea light to the top of each light bulb. Rim the inner edge of the mouth holes with super glue, then nestle a light bulb into each one. Place them face up on the tables, lit and surrounded by the aforementioned flower petals and some more tea lights! (you could also get these tea lights instead if you want to spend a little more to keep more with the purple theme)


I hope either of these ideas was at all helpful haha. I know they might be a pain in the butt to make, but I tried to keep with the theme.


And congratulations on the wedding! I hope that everything turns out amazing :)

Oooh. It could be fake or dried moss, but that's probably the best idea regardless. I really like how much contrast it provides though, might have to look into carpeting one of my little guys.

Best of luck, hope they both do well!

Maybe a pink/white/red color scheme?
I thought these laterns were kinda cute
1. 2. 3.

As for the blossoms maybe try layering different blossom motifs?
wall decals. My pick would be this.

If you're trying to save money DIY is going to be your best friend. You could string and hang cherry blossoms from the ceilings around doors and sprinkle petals on table tops 1. 2.

How about a mother daughter origami DIY project? Put these blossom branches in japanese vases on table tops? 1 2.

More DIY blossoms made from tissue paper here.

These are pretty inexpensive so maybe splurge a little and do a geisha lounge in the corner with borrowed coffee tables set up with table cloths and floor pillows serving japanese tea. These. would look really good to enclose it a little bit or as a backdrop to the cake or even an as a photoshoot area with ans. These are cute.
And above the lounge you could pick up cheap sheer fabric and tuck some twinkle lights above.

Purple Silk Rose Petals, 600, $2.49! Amazon

Blue Shoes! Amazon

Inexpensive centerpieces/decorations, romantic, lovely!

Centerpieces! Flower ball decorations!

This site tells you the flowers to go along with your colors! So awesome!

This site provides amazing and beautiful silk flowers (so much cheaper) and a huge money saver!!

If you want to go with real flowers, give this site a look. SO much cheaper and gorgeous!!

Here, you'll find all kinds of inexpensive things like vases, mirrors, etc. for centerpieces- $1 each!!

Blue and purple garter on Etsy!


Dark purple guest book on Amazon!

Purple floating candles on amazon!

Since you're going for a winter wedding, this is so adorable! (Or something like it!)

In case you've never heard of it, go to TheKnot.com. They have checklists, vendor ideas, free wedding website for you and really worth a look!

Bleh. I've got so much information that might be able to help you so don't hesitate to reach out!! :D

Those are awful, and I hope you go after that company.

I don't have gauges, although I love the look of them. Can you get a pair of plain white ones and overlay some lace or fabric from your gown? A tiny bit of mod podge, plain white gauges, and about 1/2 a square inch of fabric would make a really pretty, simple, earring.

Or, get a [clear gauge] (https://www.amazon.com/Solid-Double-Flared-Acrylic-Saddle/dp/B01IIED8O4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1491615471&sr=8-4&keywords=clear+gauges), and [tiny dried flowers] (https://www.amazon.com/LoveDiyLife-Flower-branch-pressed-flowers/dp/B00W1WUL2M/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1491615324&sr=8-19&keywords=dried+pressed+flowers) and make your own floral gauges. Mod Podge is AMAZING. It goes on like elmers glue, and dries clear. The high shine stuff dries to a finish so glossy, you swear it's glass. It's waterproof too. It's also pretty cheap, a tiny bottle would run you $6.

It looks like you have a large enough gauge that you could decorate the visible surface without having to put anything on the part that goes in your ear.

So, often if you click on the stores selling the items you can find more cheap items like that. It's usually Chinese wholesale stores, much like AliExpress. Here's one of the cheapiest items I've found that seems good quality. But if you follow through to the store that sell that, you can find these cute little mushrooms, these little rhinestones for nail art, and these cute fake flowers all for less than $2 with free shipping. You just have to dig! It's fun because I love just "browser" shopping.

Congrats! My brother and sister-in-law did a surprise lunch wedding similar to your idea, and it turned out great! They ended up ordering fabric and fake hanging vines from Amazon and it turned out really pretty. I believe they may have been similar to the ones below, but not sure of the exact item:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y589D13/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_BkmQDbWZCJWPT

I’m a girl on a budget too, and just ordered my wedding dress from BHLDN for around $225. ☺️ You might also check out ASOS or Lulu’s for affordable dresses, or look at ivory/white dresses labeled for bridesmaids. For rings, Etsy has a ton of really pretty and affordable options. I’m a fan of the rings in the store below!

https://etsy.me/2nFd2pf

Like u/earplugs123 noted, there's lots of cheap tulle on amazon. And then you could add in these hanging flowers, which is what i'm doing for mine:
https://www.amazon.com/Luyue-Artificial-Wisteria-Hanging-Wedding/dp/B01HYTKEMS/ref=sr_1_1?s=furniture&ie=UTF8&qid=1506785233&sr=1-1&keywords=hanging+flowers

https://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Wisteria-Hanging-Garland-Flowers/dp/B06Y589D13/ref=sr_1_2?s=furniture&ie=UTF8&qid=1506785233&sr=1-2&keywords=hanging+flowers

https://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Wisteria-Hanging-Garland-Flowers/dp/B0711RC5QP/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506785250&sr=8-2&keywords=hanging+flowers+blue

And here's some garlands
https://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Wisteria-Hanging-Garland-Wedding/dp/B01GL96T0I/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1506785342&sr=8-5&keywords=hanging+flowers+blue

https://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Wisteria-Hanging-Garland-Wedding/dp/B01GL96R2S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1506785342&sr=8-5&keywords=hanging%2Bflowers%2Bblue&th=1

Nope