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.