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I’ve been crushing over wedding arch flowers for a while now, wondering how florists for one, get it to stay, and for two, how they make it look so effortlessly pretty. In chatting with our resident florist Jacki, she explained the process and we decided that we should share it with you. So today we’ve partnered with our favorite wholesale flower delivery service, Fifty Flowers to bring you this detailed breakdown of how you can create your very own wedding arch covered in flowers!
Flowers, Delivered To Your Door
Now that I’m a mom, early mornings are a daily occurrence. However, I have absolutely no interest in getting up even earlier to drive downtown LA to the flower mart to buy my flowers. While that is an option for me, it might not be an option for you. So where can you get wholesale flowers? Easy, from FiftyFlowers.com and the best part is that they deliver them to your door. They will also help you with the ordering process, the rehydration process, and anything else you could possibly need help with; their customer service might be better than Nordstrom!
Delivery + Rehydration
Since FiftyFlowers is a farm to customer, wholesale flower company, it means that your flowers are shipped straight to you from the farm and they will arrive in large cardboard boxes…
- Using hardware store buckets, fill them up 1/4 of the way with water, make sure they are clean to start with.
- Carefully unbox and un-package your flowers, per the instructions from FiftyFlowers.
- Each flower is different and their team can walk you through the prep for each flower if needed.
- It is 100% normal for your flowers to look a bit tired and lifeless, they’ve been on a long journey to you.
- Give each stem a fresh diagonal cut and place in the water to rehydrate for 4-12 hours.
- Keep out of the heat and sun while rehydrating.
- Replace the water every 24 hours leading up to your event for optimal freshness.
The Flowers We Used:
Pampas Grass Sheds
Everyone is obsessed with Pampas Grass right now and it’s because it is so ethereally pretty. Just be aware that it sheds like crazy. It will arrive very dry looking and needs to be in water for proper hydration to puff up to that look we all love. However, once that happens, as soon as you brush against it or barely touch it, it sheds. So our advice is to keep it in the garage or somewhere similar. Wrap a sheet around it for transport or else you’ll be picking little plumes out of your upholstery for weeks.
Other Supplies
- Oasis Garland, 9 feet
- Zip Ties
- Floral Shears and/or Knife
This Oasis garland is AMAZING! It worked so wonderfully for this project, we highly recommend it.
Oasis
Oasis is a special type of rigid foam that flower stems can be secured in during flower arranging. It also provides a water source for the flowers to draw from, keeping them fresh. Water can be added to the foam for days after the arrangement is complete, just like a vase. It comes in many different shapes and sizes to fit your unique projects. Today we’re using the 9 foot garland.
Fill up a bucket with water and place the oasis garland on top. Don’t press it under the water, it will quickly absorb it naturally. To fully absorb the water it only takes a few minutes. A few Oasis tips:
- You can’t re-soak Oasis after it’s initial first soak
- Do not push your fingers into it; if you insert and remove flowers (or fingers) from the foam it creates holes that can’t be fixed
- Do not pour Oasis water down the drain or it could cause a clog
- When you push flower stems into wet Oasis it causes water displacement and pushes the water out onto the ground/floor, in this case, sand. If you aren’t on grass or sand, put a towel down so you don’t slip!
Zip-Ties + Pampas Grass
This is the best. The Oasis garland just needs to be zip-tied to whatever type of “arch” frame you’re using. Then you build your floral design from there. Jacki added quite a bit of the Pampas Grass to the garland before we zip-tied, to give us a better feeling of the look and where it should be hung.
The starting place with any arch design is foliage, but in this case we’re using Pampas Grass. Add as much as you’d like.
Chrystanthemums
The next flower we added to the design was the White Chrystanthemums. After adding foliage, you add your filler flowers. Space them out as there is much more to come!
Hanging Amaranthus
Ugh, these are my favorite!!! The Bronze Upright Hanging Amaranthus are just so pretty and scream fall. They are one of my favorite flowers. Add this filler flower sparingly as it makes quite an impact.
Football Mums
Next up, we’re adding the Bronze Football Mums, and wow are they pretty! The bright red inner petals add such a unique texture to the design. These should be added in groupings of three flowers.
Gerber Daisies
These Dark Eye, White Gerber Daisies were a terrific choice to add depth to the design. The stems are ridged enough that they stand out and can be added at varying heights. Add some deep in the design, some hovering at the grass and some arching out of the bunch.
Garden Roses
These absolutely stunning Butterscotch Garden Roses just make me want a giant bowl of pudding! Now we’re getting into adding focal flowers, the ones that make your design stand out. These should also be added in groups, at varying heights. Keeping in mind that you should be balancing colors.
Quicksand Roses
These stunning, creamy beige almost lavender Quicksand Cream Roses are Jacki’s favorite. Their addition made our design come to life. Added in groups, at varying heights, making sure to balance the other light colors of the design with their addition.
Curly Willow
The last and final detail of the arch design was adding the Curly Willow Branches. They don’t need water and they are incredibly sturdy so we didn’t add them to the Oasis garland at all. This texture is so wonderfully fall and romantic. We stuffed them in the zip-ties, added a few with zip-ties, and shoved them in the sand.
Upper Arch Design
For the upper arch design, you’ll follow the same steps we did for the lower part of the arch, just on a smaller scale. We used only 3 pieces of the Oasis garland for this area, verses 8 on the bottom. Since it’s tall and people will be looking up at the flowers, remember to add some that face “downward” as well as forward and up.
Great DIY
This was incredibly easier than I thought it would be, which makes it a fantastic DIY project. Maybe not for the bride and groom on their wedding day, but for a very capable friend or family member. I’m really looking forward to using these techniques and the Oasis garland for future parties because it was so easy to use.
DIY Tutorial Sponsored By:
FiftyFlowers is the customer-centric, online destination for wholesale wedding flowers, shipped fresh from the farm straight to your door! Inspired by the DIY bride, we offer an extensive selection of fresh flowers, greenery, and floral accessories because we believe anyone can create their own wedding flowers.
As with all our DIY tutorials, if you create one of our projects please send us a picture – We Love Seeing Your Creativity! If you use Instagram or Twitter please use the hashtag #SomethingTurquoiseDIY and it will show up on our Get Social page. Happy Crafting!
DIY Tutorial Credits
Photography + DIY Tutorial: Jen Causey of Something Turquoise // All Florals and Supplies: courtesy of Fifty Flowers // Wedding Arch: DIY by the hubs, but there are plenty for sale on Etsy // Floral Designer: Jacki Davis // Nail Polish: OPI – Withstands the Test of Thyme
Shop The Supplies:
Find the supplies you’ll need for this project from our affiliate links below:
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