Where Should You Buy Your Wedding Flowers?

Do it yourself wedding flowers is courageous, fun, and rewarding. It is also economical. Once you have calculated how much you need of each type of flower and foliage, it's time to go shopping. But where? There are at least 5 different types of places that you can get what you need.

• Florists - Even though they are the most expensive, these people will be able to tell you what flowers are available when. They will also be able to get specialty flowers in for you.
• Flower Stalls or Markets - These flowers will be cheaper than flowers from a florist, but they usually just have the more common flowers, with the colors and flower availability being unpredictable.
• Commercial Cut Flower Growers - You can go directly to the grower to get the flowers as fresh as possible. The down side of this choice is that you may have to go to at least 5 different greenhouses (if you are near any) to get all the different types of flowers you would like.
• Private Gardens - A friend or a friend of a friend may have a garden that has an amazing assortment of foliage. You can't beat the price of course, but you'll have to test the foliage by cutting a few sprigs and placing them in a vase for a few days to see how well they hold up in a vase.
• Wholesalers - These people usually have a large selection for you to choose from, but you may need to buy large quantities of each type of flower. They will not take the time to explain about how to care for the flowers when arranging them and they may not sell to the general public but to retailers only.

The choice you make is going to be affected by the sources of flowers in your particular area. Buying at least some of your flowers from a florist is recommended since they have put together the flowers for so many weddings. They are experienced, so they will have a wealth of information to share with you. Do it yourself wedding flowers is certainly a doable choice, but be informed so you'll purchase only what you need and what works for your wedding.

How to Choose and Use a Pinholder

If you have chosen the do-it-yourself wedding flowers route, you will need to know how to utilize the equipment that will keep your stems in the right place. Once mechanism to help you with this is the pinholder.


Sometimes also called frogs, pinholders come in many shapes and sizes. If you are a beginner, you'll only need to use one. More experienced and advanced arrangers sometimes need several. The most useful size is probably the 2.5 in (6.25 cm) in diameter., but a 2 in (5 cm) or 3 in (7.5 cm) work well too.


A good pinholder should have

• brass pins rather than steel (brass pins are yellow, steel, or grey - steel pins rust, brass pins do not)
• a lead base (it should feel heavy in your hand)
• pins that are close together and firmly embedded in the lead.

Usually stems are inserted directly into or onto the pinholder. Sometimes, however, florists will use a combination of floral foam and a pinholder. They do this to secure the floral foam in an awkward space where tape can't be used. You don't want to put floral foam directly onto a pinholder. It is really hard to remove all the little bits of foam when you are finished with it. One way around that is to put a piece of some nylon tights onto the pins and work it down to the bottom of the pins before putting on the foam. That way, after you remove the foam, you can lift the piece of nylon and remove all the little bits of foam left behind.


Flowers or foliage with hard stems should have their stems cut at a sharp angle before you ease them either between or onto the pins. You can then angle them using gentle pressure. Be careful when you do this because the pins are very sharp. If for some reason you have some very hard and woody stems that just won't stay in place (this can happen to the most experienced floral designers), slit the stem upwards. This will help them go on the pins more easily without damaging your pinholder.


Thin stems can also present a challenge when you use a pinholder.

• You can tie 4-5 thinner stems to the outside of a thick, hard stem, with the thinner stems sticking past the main hard stem end. Use string to tie the stems together because it will shrink in water and therefore will hold better.
• You can also tie several thin stems together with wool and then this will easily slip onto a pin.
• Another method would be to put thin stems inside a piece of a thicker, hollow stem and then slip that onto the pins.

You can place your pinholder on the bottom of either a vase or bowl. Secure it with a blob of florist's adhesive clay.


To hide your pinholder once the arrangement is finished, you can add flat pebbles, marbles, or even moss around it.


When you are finished with the arrangement, you need to wash your pinholder. By the time the arrangement has no life left in it, your pinholder will have a fine collection of bacteria that will need to be cleaned with warm water and bleach. After you've done that, rinse it with warm water and let it air-dry before putting it away in a cupboard.


Using a pinholder for do-it-yourself wedding flowers is a very effective way of holding your stems in place. You just need to use a few tricks of the trade to make it all go smoothly.

What Does Chicken Wire Have to Do With Wedding Flowers?

When you make your own wedding flowers, you need to have something that will help hold your stems in place in your vase or container. One way of doing this is by using chicken wire, which can be purchased from large hardware or farm supply stores and will be galvanized. If you have the opportunity to buy it from a florist wholesaler, you'll be able to get green plastic-coated wire. This is more expensive but is easier on your hands.

Chicken wire can be used either around a container, inside a container, or around floral foam.

Around a Container

A long narrow strip of small gauge chicken wire can be folded into thirds so the wires overlap each other and create a lot of little holes.

• Wrap this around the outside of a basket.
• You'll need a plastic container inside your basket to hold water. Pierce a hole through opposite sides of this plastic container.
• Put a piece of wire through the holes that you made in your container and use that wire to anchor the chicken wire to your bowl.
• You can now insert pieces of long lasting foliage into the wire. This will create a foliage covering around your basket. Mist the foliage often to keep it alive since it has no water source.

Inside a Container

This is the best way to hold soft stems and flowers which need lot of water (such as anemones and spring flowers).

A good size wire to use is 2 in. (5 cm) and how much you need depends on the size of the container you are going to use and the thickness of the stems you need to support. A general guide would be to cut a piece a little wider than the width of the opening and about 3 times the depth. Cut off the stiff outer edge (the selvedge).

• Crumple the wire so that if forms approximately the same shape as the container.
• Fill your container 2/3 full with water and gently work your foliage and flowers into the chicken wire. If the mesh of your wire is small, the holes will be hidden and disappear to nothing once you have several layers.
• If you need more support than the wire because your stems are so thick and heavy, put a pinholder at the bottom of your container and then add your wire.
• Put your first thick, heavy stem through the wire and into the pinholder firmly. This should provide a good firm anchor to hold your wire in place for the rest of your arrangement.

Around Foam

If you need to create a larger arrangement, you'll probably have a few heavier stems that will need extra support.

• Make a little “hat” of chicken wire and place it gently over your floral foam.
• Secure the chicken wire to your container with strips of sticky floral tape.
• The 2 in. (5 cm) gauge used for inside the container is too large for this because it will cut into the floral foam too deeply. Use a 0.5 in. (1.25 cm) gauge instead.

When you make your own wedding flowers, chicken wire is a great tool for holding heavier bulky stems as well as soft stems that need a lot to drink. It is not used as often as floral foam because it can be tricky to work with and it doesn't hold the stems as precisely as floral foam does. But if you need to put together a large arrangement for in the church or for a focal point at your wedding reception, chicken wire is the best tool for anchoring the larger, bulkier stems that are necessary for larger arrangements.

How to Use Floral Foam

If you intend to put together your own wedding flowers, you will need to be familiar with floral foam. It is the most common method used for holding stems in place.

Floral foam was mistakenly invented by a chemist named Vernon Smithers in the early 1940's. He created floral foam from synthetic substances or resins which restrict the growth of bacteria, causing the flowers to last longer. We are grateful to him because it is wonderful to work with. It allows stems to be inserted at any angle, and therefore gives you the freedom to create any design that you wish. It is available in different sizes and different shapes such as jumbo blocks, cylinders, balls, cones and bricks.

The block of foam that you buy will probably not be the exact size that you need for your container. You'll need to trim the foam to the right size and shape using a knife to trim small sections at a time. Another way to get your floral foam to the right size is to gently press the foam against the opening of your container. This will leave an imprint on your foam, allowing you to see where you need to trim it. You want the foam to fit snugly into your container. Leave the foam sticking about 1 in. (2.5 cm) above your container. You don't want too much of it showing above the container because the more that's showing, the more you'll have to hide.

After your foam is cut to the right size and shape, you need to make it wet.

Fill a large container 2/3 with water (a pail, dish tub, or your kitchen sink) deeper than the depth of the foam.

Gently place the foam on the top of the water so it floats. Do not push it down. If you push it, the foam will be wet on the outside but dry in the middle.

Allow the foam to absorb the water. It will slowly sink as it does.

After it is completely full of water, it will pop back up to the surface of the water and will be dark green.

This whole process should only take about 60 – 90 seconds, depending on the size of your foam.

Floral foam needs to be secure in your container. If you are using a vase, jug, teapot or jar as your container, you just cut your foam the right size and it should be fine. If you are using a more shallow container, you should secure it with a florist's prong.

Secure the prong to the bottom of your container with a blob of florist's adhesive clay. This clay will not stick to a wet surface, so make sure your container is completely dry. Once the prong is secured to your container, gently press your floral foam onto the prong. Now your foam should stay firmly in place.

If your arrangement is going to be quite large and top heavy, you can make certain that your top heavy arrangement won't topple out of its container by taping it with florist's sticky tape. Stick one end of the sticky tape to an edge of your container.

Pull the tape across the top of your floral foam.

Secure it to the opposite side of your container.

Use another piece of sticky tape to do the same thing. Starting on one edge, going across the foam and securing it on the other side.

You should now have a “t” of tape across your foam, with the sticky tape attached to all 4 sides.

Your foam should be very secure, held in place with a florist's prong and with sticky tape.

If you are finished with your arrangement and your floral foam is still in very good shape, you can reuse it. The important thing is that it has to stay wet – it cannot dry out. If you want to store your used foam properly, make sure it is very wet and put it into a sealed plastic bag until you need it.

Should your foam mistakenly dry out, you can revive it. Boil some water, add a drop of liquid soap, and pour that over your foam. This will bring it back to life somewhat, but it will not retain water as well as fresh floral foam.

Floral foam is versatile, easy to use and inexpensive. No wonder it is a florist's favorite. Use floral foam when you make your own wedding flowers. You'll see how nice it is to work with.