Inspiration: All-White Wedding Bouquets

I've been asked to make bouquets and boutonnieres for TWO upcoming weddings! The first one is next week! You'll have to wait till 2013 for the second.

Both brides are interested in all-white bouquets. I've been searching for inspiration online, and wanted to share my findings with you.

There are loads of beautiful white and ivory flowers available, in the form of roses, peonies, calla lilies, lilies, carnations, mums, hydrangea, gardenia, ranunculus, snapdragons, dahlia and more. And of course, there are prices associated with each of these.

My bride really wanted peonies, but they're typically only available in the spring. This time of year, if you can even find them, they are incredibly expensive. Even in season, they're not cheap.

white peony bouquet

If the fluffy, delicate look of peonies is what appeals to you, you can get close by using garden roses or fully opened regular roses. Garden roses are about 30-70% cheaper than peonies, but regular roses are the most affordable way to go. Hydrangeas also give that fluffy look. Plus, not only are hydrangeas easy peasy to prep and assemble, but they are also quite affordable.

Once I told my bride about the peonies, she decided to go with garden roses for her bouquet and hydrangeas for the bridesmaids. {If you're thinking, "why didn't she just use yours?", I thought the same thing. But she wanted fresh flowers, and who can blame her, so we're doing fresh flowers! Besides, mine all scattered back home with my bridesmaids.}

Her wedding is in the Outer Banks, so I won't be able to use my go-to store, Potomac Floral. Thankfully, Norfolk is less than 2 hours away from the location and has a wholesale flower shop, Norfolk Wholesale Floral. I spoke with them on the phone to pre-order the flowers, and it seems like they'll have everything I need! Unfortunately, they don't supply pure white garden roses, but I was able to get regular roses at a great price. I'll make sure they open fully before assembling her bouquet.

Once I knew I'd be working with roses and hydrangeas, I got busy getting inspired! She wasn't interested in greenery built into the roses, so I avoided that. I'm only giving one photo, because honestly they all look quite similar!

White rose bouquet

White hydrangea bouquet

So lets review!

Where you can really customize an all-white bouquet is in the wrap. She's having a slightly rustic theme, with burlap table runners and lots of mason jars, so we decided to go with a twine wrap. Too cute! She really liked when a good bit of the stems showed, too.

white peonies with twine wrap

twine wrap where several inches of stems show

I've never done fresh bouquets with all one type of flower before, and I'm looking forward to it! Stay tuned for the final product...

Bonnie Projects