So rather than get too deep into that process now, I'll save it until I have my placeholder text all filled in and some slave labor to help me demonstrate.
Instead, let's chat about flowers. Sneak peek:
I've known since shortly after I got engaged that I would not be carrying real flowers down the aisle. While I like a bouquet probably as much as the next girl, the idea of such perishable decor festooned all over my wedding venue seems a bit wasteful, and not a little expensive for the enjoyment I would derive out of it. Fiance and I have a tried and true formula for deciding the value of any purchase which is roughly equal to cost divided by enjoyment (scale of 1-10) divided by time spent enjoying. And wedding flowers wouldn't do very well in that equation. Plus, options would be pretty limited for a January wedding, and the flowers would need to be DIYed in the day or two before. And, on top of it all, I got sort of interested in organic florists when I was in Australia, so I would certainly want to spend the extra money and energy to do things that way. For a while I was considering having flowers for the bridal party only (never for myself), but I eventually decided that they'd be a bit out of place with everything else I had planned.
So what's a flowerless bride to do? Well, I decided to craft a non-perishable, sculptural, and largely inorganic bouquet. How I got there, I have no idea. I guess I hadn't yet been inundated with all of the wedding photos that I've seen by now showing muffs, pomanders, candles, books, sparklers, fans, parasols, etc, so I only thought of non-flowers.
I wish I had photos of the process, but then again, they probably would have been primarily of me on the floor in front of the tv, frowning, in pjs and glasses, so perhaps it's not so bad.
The supplies:
Silver solder - had this in my crafting arsenal for ages and have finally almost exhausted my supply. Bought a new spool and realized how darn expensive the stuff is. $20 for 1 lb! But I'm still using my legacy supply, so it doesn't count as an expenditure, yet. Get from a hardware store.Various light bulbs - an assortment of sizes from medium small to very small. Got some "daylight" bluish looking bulbs and some high-power outdoor bulbs and a couple tiny colored ones, but the ones with normal light-bulb threading around the base are the easiest. Get at a hardware store or your local Target (pronounced Tar-jay, as French). The Target near me actually has more of the bulbs I like than the nearby hardware superstores. It's a good thing you know what these look like, because I've used mine all up, so there aren't any in the picture.
Clear glass ornaments - These are tricky because they're only easy to get around Christmas. I got some cubes, some flat ones, and some regular spheres at AC Moore just after the holidays, since I already knew I wanted to use them.
Crystals on wire - Yes, I copped out and got these at a craft store rather than making them myself.
Dried curly willow and tall grass - I originally intended to spray paint these a glossy silver (and I did try with a few pieces), but when I first tested them out au naturale with the silver and glass, I really liked the bare wintry effect of leaving them brown. Got mine on sale at Pier1.
Tools - Wire cutter, pliers, stem cutter
After really minimal wrapping and molding and considerable arrangement, my bouquet now lives in a vase:
I've tried to bundle it all into a bouquet that means business, but it gets a bit busy and difficult to discern individual elements.
Any suggestions?
Next up: attendant arrangements
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