Wedding bouquet recreation
It's time for another paper anniversary reveal!
When Brett sent me the photo of his wife's wedding bouquet, my adrenaline started pumping. There's nothing I love more than a good challenge—and this arrangement came loaded with tricky blooms!
I never accept a project unless I feel completely confident I am up to the task. However, with wedding bouquet recreations I put an extra dose of pressure on myself to make sure these pieces are going to be as accurate as possible. I knew this one would be tough, but I couldn't wait to dig in!
Spoiler alert—it turned out great, and I wasn't the only one who thought so!
Photo: Roland Gozun
Jenna absolutely LOVED the bouquet and was so excited when she saw it! She couldn't believe how close it resembled her actual bridal bouquet. This is such a novel gift that she will be able to treasure forever!
Had Brett's email come even a couple of weeks earlier, I may have turned this project down. Luckily, I just wrapped up my experiments with hydrangea and felt confident I could tackle obstacle number one. The second things that caught my eye were the crisp white Calla lilies and the softest, prettiest, most perfectly shaped pink roses ever.
Having never made Calla lilies before, I started with those first. I made plenty of these to make sure I could be extra choosy when it came time to finalize the arrangement—but they were a lot of fun to make, so I even added a study based on this piece while I was in the zone.
The original bouquet was lush with an underlayer of white hydrangea that acted as a bed for the roses and Cala lilies. To create the same effect I used a lightweight crepe in these hydrangeas and made them exceptionally dense. To make it appear as though there was more hydrangea inside the arrangement, I added a few leftover petals to fill the space in between other blooms.
The most challenging part of this piece ended up being the pink roses, which I did not expect! While the world of crepe has grown significantly, it still has its limitations. I originally intended to make these pieces out of doublette, but the paper I sourced ended up being too yellow. I could have solved the problem with pastels or watercolors, but I didn't want to risk these blooms fading or transferring onto the pure white hydrangea. So, I settled for a lightweight blush crepe and worked with a lot of layers instead. The effect is a hair darker than I would have liked, but the overall tone and texture was on point. (And this is why I always make sure I have extra time in my schedule!!
I'd love to hear what you think of this piece, or any of the other recent paper anniversary creations I've posted.
If you have an anniversary (or any other special occasion) coming up that you'd like my help with, send me a note.