Boutonnieres: An Easy Wedding DIY

For many engaged couples, wedding flowers are an important consideration. They often help tie together a couple’s “wedding colors” and overall theme (rustic, bohemian, coastal, traditional, etc.) In the case of boutonnieres and corsages, wedding flowers can also serve to honor important guests and family members.

We decided to DIY all of our wedding flowers, using fresh flowers for the bouquets & centerpieces and faux flowers for the boutonnieres & corsages. Many bridal guides advise setting aside about 8% of your total wedding budget for flowers, and average boutonniere prices can range from $10-20 each or more. Since we wanted 12 boutonnieres, buying from a florist would have easily cost over $100. I made the boutonnieres below for a fraction of that price and had a lot of fun doing so!

DIY Wedding Boutonnieres

Supplies:

• Faux flowers and greenery to match your colors & theme
• Twine
• Hot glue gun & sticks

Tip: When choosing your faux blooms, think about whether you want the main flower to open outwards or upwards. If you prefer that the bloom opens outwards, try to find “open” flowers that lay relatively flat (daisies for example) so that your boutonnieres don’t stick out too much. Flowers with more “closed” blooms (roses, calla lilies, etc.) are better if you want your main bloom to lay up & down instead.  

Tutorial:

1. Gather your faux flowers and lay them out. Start picking up pieces and matching them up to see what arrangements you like. Once you have an idea of what looks good together, set those stems aside. (Skip this step if you already have a good idea of what you want. I bought a lot more flowers than I needed and only ended up using a few of them. You can return the unused stems to the craft store or save them for another project!)
2. Cut your flowers down. Regular scissors should do the trick but depending on your stems, you may need wire cutters. It’s easier to work with small pieces instead of the full faux stem. Here’s how my flowers looked after “popping” them off the stems:And here’s how they looked once I cut them down to “boutonniere-sized” pieces:
3. Time to start putting your pieces together! I started with the two flowers I wanted to be in the “background” and used a dot of hot glue to attach the stems to each other. Here’s a photo of the attached stems (glue spot is circled):
   
4. Attach your “fillers”. I used these small pieces of dusty miller. I wanted these to peek out from behind the other flowers to add some texture and volume, so I flipped my boutonniere over and attached them to the back with a bit of hot glue:
   

   The first small piece of filler glued onto the back.

   

   A second piece attached to the back using hot glue.

   Here’s what they look like from the front: 

5. Attach your “main flower” to the front of your boutonniere using a bit of hot glue (either on the back of the flower itself or on the front of the boutonniere stems.) I used one of these small lilac flowers:If you’re satisfied with your flower arrangement, it’s time to wrap it! If not, continue to add flowers and/or fillers until you’re happy! I opted for a petite, simple & rustic boutonniere design for the groomsmen.
6. Cut a short length of twine to wrap around the exposed stems. Flip your boutonniere over and use a bit of hot glue to secure one end of the twine to the back of your stems:
7. Wrap your twine around the stems, using a dot of hot glue on the back every other turn (or every turn!) to keep the twine in place. 
8. Cut the twine so that the last turn ends in the back and use hot glue to secure the loose end. I chose to leave a bit of stem exposed for aesthetic reasons, but you can definitely wrap the whole length. 

That’s all there is to it! Repeat the steps above for each boutonniere. I made 8 more just like the one above for our groomsmen and fathers. To set the groom’s boutonniere apart, I used a larger white bloom for the center, added a third “background flower”, and used a more fillers in the back:

Here’s a photo of all the boutonnieres I made for our wedding:

I hope to post soon about how I made our wedding corsages and bouquets. Did you DIY your own wedding flowers? Tell me about it in the comments!