We suggest making the boutonnieres the day before the wedding – and make sure you get extra flowers to practice beforehand – this way you will be able to perfect your technique before your big day. Here you will find a step-by-step guide on DIY boutonnieres.

Step One: Selecting and Preparing the Bundles of Blooms

• Pick your bundles of bouquets.
• Remove excess foliage and thorns – make sure to pull off all the damaged petals.
• Fill a sink or bucket with water. Hold the stems underwater while you cut the stems at an angle about two inches from the bottom with a knife or stem cutter.
• Make sure you allow the flowers to drink for a few seconds with the stems underwater (you don’t want the poor little guys to get dehydrated). After their thirst has been quenched, place the stems in a bucket halfway filled with cool water until you are ready to use them.

***NOTE: If you are using roses and the heads are not yet open, you can force the blooms open by placing the stems in a bucket of hot water. Do this only for a couple of minutes just before you are going to use the roses, otherwise you might kill them (oh no!).             

Step Two: Choosing and Preparing Particular Flowers

• Choose a particular stem or flower for the boutonniere (like we said, we recommend a heavier headed flower).
• Use a stem cutter or sharp knife to cut the stem to a length of approximately three inches.
• Create a bed for the flower. Take an ivy leaf, fern frond, or other bit of greenery and place it behind the flower. Make sure the bed you create does not extend much beyond the top of the flower, but is still visible from the sides as well.
• Place a six-inch piece of wire behind the stems.

Step Three: Crafting the Boutonniere

• Starting from the top of the stems, begin to wrap floral tape down the stems in a spiral to secure them together. Wrap the tape until about ¾ of an inch is covered.
• Trim away the excess stem and continue to wrap floral tape around the wire about three inches down, and then wrap the tape back up toward the flower head.
• Once you are back at the top, wrap tape around several times to be sure it is secure.
• Trim the excess tape.

Step Four: Securing the Boutonniere

• To finish the boutonniere trim the wired and wrapped stem so the total length is about 1 ½ inches long.
• Curl the end around a pencil point and pinch the tip to finish it.
• Attach a ribbon bow, if you like.
• Depending on the weight of the boutonniere, insert one or two pearl-tipped pins into the stem to use later for attaching to the lapel.

Congratulations! You’ve just completed your first boutonniere! Once you have finished, you can store the boutonniere in a re-sealable plastic bag. Mist the boutonniere with water, and place it in the bag. Blow a puff of breath into the bag before you seal it to provide airspace around the boutonniere. You can store up to two boutonnieres in the same bag.  

Stay tuned for our How-To Series Video Presentations – where you will be able to see a boutonniere made following these instructions in real time.