QuestionQUESTION: Hello, and thank you so much for taking the time to help me! I am getting married in a a bit less than 2 years, and I know its early, but I am attempting to configure everything that I want to do now, and I DO want to arrange all my flowers, along with the help of family and friends of course. :D
One thing that has me stumped is my wedding arch. I would love to do something rather traditional, like a salal garland, however, how on earth are the roses specifically (all flowers etc...) attached to the garland? Florists wire? Water picks? I cannot seem to figure this out!
Also, in your proffesional opinion, do you think that a florist would be willing to arrange an arch as long as I provided the flowers? Just in case I didnt feel like I could tackle the project?
Thank you again so much! Your assistance is greatly appreciated!! :D
Sincerely,
-Victoria Freist
ANSWER: Hi Victoria! congratulations on the wedding coming up.. two years will FLY by and soon you'll hit that point of "ACCK! I'm running out of time!!".
When I was doing flowers, there were very few of the florists in my are that would consider doing flowers from a third party. Simply because this is where they make their money.
I used to charge quite heavily for doing them, but I would do them. I would also make them sign a waiver stating I could not be held responsible for the quality of flowers chosen, etc etc.
So, not sure if you will have any luck finding someone to help you. Don't be surprised if you get turned down.
Flower garlands are quite easy to make. You will need both floral wire and florists tape to do it. If timing is an issue, (where the garland simply cannot be made the night before), you may want to consider water picks for the roses to help keep them looking good over the time frame.
You will also need access to a refrigerator that has NO fruit or vegetables in it, so you can store all your flowers. If you know someone who has a "beer" fridge in their garage (a full sized one.. not the little ones) PERFECT.. just make sure the beer is gone. :)
(fruits and veggies give off a gas that will turn your roses black.)
You will want a large clean floor space to work on.. garage floor with plastic laid out to work on, is probably the best.. you'll want to stay out of the sun with the flowers.
Prep your flowers the night before.
You will need to gather this stuff together:
-tall buckets of cold water to hold the processed flowers.
-good sharp pair of scissors or hand snippers to cut steps. **Clean them thoroughly with bleach and water before using them on your flowers***
-Small clean(bleached and rinsed) pairing knife for knocking thorns off and cutting stems
-Flower food (dissolvable stuff)
Fill your buckets with cold water and flower food (mixed at proper ratio) first and have them ready to go..
Begin by stripping all the leaves off the stems and removing all the thorns.
Remove the "guard" petals of the roses. These are the outer few layers of rose petals that are usually scarred, damaged, brown and torn. Don't be afraid to remove up to 10 if needed. You can bag these petals up and stick them in the fridge to use for table decoration, flower girls, etc.
The stems are then cut on an angle (45degree) and the flowers are promptly placed in the buckets of water until you are ready to work. Place these buckets in the fridge (you may need to remove the racks and drawers to make them fit. Leave them in overnight.
Process your greens in the same manner, usually just by removing any unsightly leaves, and re-cutting the stems. Refrigerate if you have room. If not, just leave somewhere cool.
**Some flowers do not tolerate refrigeration.. mostly the tropical ones.. like calla lilies) Roses, baby's breath, greens are all fine.
To Build you garland be sure you have the following materials at hand:
-Scissors or pruning shears
-Precut lengths of florists wire (you can get these packs at Michaels)
-floral tape (green is best for flowers.. brown for anything brown-stemmed)
Start with your greens. In your case, you mentioned Salal. Nice choice. You can also do Laurel which is a brighter shiny green. Both are very hardy and withstand being out of water for a long long time without noticeable suffering.
Calculate the length you will require by measuring the overall length of area you will need to cover. Mark out this distance somehow on your work floor.
Start by laying out your greens. Find stem sections that are longer and lay straight and fairly flat. Strip the last couple leaves off the ends and "overlap" this stem piece with the greens of the next stem. This is where you will wire the stems together with floral wire. Be sure to secure all along the length so they don't pull apart.
The "end" of the garland should be the "top" or leafy part of your greenery stem, not the stem itself.
Make sure it is wrapped fairly snuggly.. As the greens dry, the stems will shrink.
When you reach the "middle" point of the garland, change direction with the lay of the garland. Basically you will want all of the stem ends to point inward to the middle of the garland. This way you won't see any "ends" when the garland is up.
So the middle section will have stem ends that are end to end. Hide them by tucking them deep under the built section of the garland and wire tightly in a few places.
When the garland is done, you can now prep for flower placement:
Pre-cut a bunch of floral tape into approx. 5" lengths. Have these on hand for attaching this next step.
If you are including a filler such as baby's breath or some other smaller flower, take sprigs of this and use the floral tape to secure randomly and evenly along the length of the garland.
**Floral tape sticks when it is stretched only.. Be sure to pull and stretch the tape as you wrap to ensure it will stick!**
Rose attachment is a bit tricker. You will need the following on hand to get the roses ready.
-scissors or pruners (clean)
- floral wire pieces (approx. 6-7" in length)
- wire cutters
- floral tape (green)
- water picks, if being used, filled with water.
Start by cutting your roses down to about 3" long stem length (measure from UNDER the rose head, down to 3")
Take a piece of the pre-cut floral wire (apprx. 6" length) and stick one end of it through the middle of the stem as high up under the rose head as you can get. Pull it through so there is even amount of wire sticking out on either side.
Bend the wires on both sides downward along the length of the stems.
With NO water pick:
Take your floral wire and attach the end of the tape under the head of the rose and hold with your one hand in place, while your other hand stretches and wraps the tape, spiraling down the length of the stem and wires. Tear away when the end is reached and secure the tape end, being sure to cover the bare end of the rose stem with tape. This ensures that the "air" that can enter the stem is blocked, thus keeping your roses from wilting.
WITH water pick:
Omit the wire step, but instead, attach a water pick and tightly insert the rose stem into the filled pick. Some of the water picks are not very good at being leak-proof.. so you will want to ensure that you are only working with picks that seem to be fairly water tight.
Make sure the rose stem is inserted through the rubber stopper lid snugly.
Wrap the stem AND the water pick with floral tape. This will ensure that the two remain together, allowing the rose to have access to water, and will also help keep the water in the water pick.
When these are done, simply attach them to the garland as desired.. be sure to lay them in the same direction as the greenery was laid. IE: if the stems point inward, so should your floral stems..
Voila! You're done! You can carefully coil up your garland and store in a large plastic bag (don't seal the end of it though) and keep it cool. If you don't bag it, keep it misted lightly until you are ready to use it.. Don't let the water drip off of it, or your petals will rot.
The day of the wedding, have a volunteer helper go through the garland and remove any unsightly petals.. this will ensure all your hard work pays off by looking its best on your wedding day!
The above process is the same for prepping for flower arrangements (bouquets etc) and wiring for corsages and boutonnieres.
You're a brave girl to want to do this on your own. It's a large job and I think you will find that the closer you get to your day, you may even decide its too much work...
I hope I answered your questions..
Feel free to contact me further with any other concerns!
Melanie
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: ahhhh, I see, so basically, without a water pick, your just wiring the head of the rose, as if you were making a boutonniere? I will do water picks, because I would prefer to do this the night before, also, just so you know :D, I am (smartly! lol!) going to order a premade salal garland, ready to go. Do I just have to wire my garland to my arch. Let me tell you though, that you have been and INCREDIBLE help, and without this, I would have been clueless! You are the first helper to actually write me and describe everything that I would have to do! Thank you so much! I very much appreciate that you have gone above and beyond to assist me! You are incredible kind!
Thank you Melanie!!!
Sincerely,
-Victoria Freist
ANSWER: Yes, exactly like the wiring involved to make a boutonniere. You won't necessarily need the waterpicks if you are able to do it the night before, as long as you have a cool place to store it.
Kudos on you for getting a pre-made garland.. that makes it MUCH easier!
I would only worry about the water picks if you're talking 2 days or more before.. otherwise, I wouldn't bother.
Thanks for the kind words about my assistance. Flowers are my fave.
I loved working with them and making beautiful bouquets.. it's one of the things I wish I was still doing..~sniff~.
You've been great, and I'm glad I was able to help! Best of luck and congratulations again!
Melanie Lauren
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Im sure that when you used to work with flowers, that you were excellent! Thank you!
So, just one last question. So if I DID use water picks, and I did it the night before, or even early in the morning, then I should be okay? The only reason I dont want to wire the stems, is because I understand that the flowers will sometime cease to open and remain rather closed. Also, it leaves them with no water supply technically. However, I did find these 'corsage stems', I dont know if you have seen them, but here is a link so you can look.
http://www.wholesaleflowersandsupplies.com/store/p/1133-Corsage-Stems.html
Basically, its like a mini water supply for a wired rose. I am doing this with the bouts and corsages. Perhaps I could do this to all the flowers for the arch? Sorry for all the questions, but now that someone is finally helping me, I am eager to understand what is best for me to do!
Thank you again Melanie, you are ever so kind for all the help you have given,
Sincerely,
-Victoria Freist
AnswerHi Again!
No problem on the questions, that's what I'm here for!
Either one is a great way to supply them with some water. The stems should have plenty of water in them from "processing" them the night before as well. If they're not "opened" by the night before the wedding, chances are they won't fully open regardless of whether they have water or not.
If you feel better by giving them a supply of water, I would perhaps do the corsage stems.. that way its completely sealed once you tape around it and the stem of the rose, and you won't have to worry about whether the water picks have leaked or not..I'm sure you'll be wanting to use the arch for some photos too, so you'll want them to last, especially if it's outdoors and hot.
The corsage stems are more pricey perhaps than the picks, but I feel its a far superior product for what you need them for.
Hope that helps! It's really what you feel more comfortable doing. :)
Melanie
