DIY Wedding Trial: Paper Flowers

Did I make these? Yes.
Would I make them for my wedding? Undecided.
Sure, these are easy enough to make compared to deciphering instructions for the Kawasaki Rose, but don't mistake easy for quick and depending on your choice of paper, these lovelies aren't necessarily cheap. I bought a combination pack of chiyogami paper because I couldn't resist, but $25 worth didn't make a whole lot of flowers. I also bought a pack of origami paper from the art store for $2.99 and I'm sure that from a distance you wouldn't be able to tell which was which.
 

I am attracted to the idea of paper flowers for a few reasons. Mainly because I can prep them far in advance without having to stress over centerpieces or floral arrangements on the day of my wedding.
I have many friends who could assist on this (provided they had enough wine to drink) and my fiance is half Japanese, so it could be a nice way to tie in a bit of tradition, even if it is just the paper. I also like that I could do centerpieces as blocks of colour seeing as I'm having a hard enough time figuring out what works with salmon and happen to love colour. But...I do really love cut flowers.
I still may use these to make kusudama balls, maybe for our ceremony.
Or I might try for more of the tissue paper look or just an increase in scale. How amazing are these:

Chanel Couture Spring/Summer 2009

A few tips for aspiring brides:
- Pre-cut origami paper is the way to go. I love the chiyogami, but had to cut it all down which is time consuming unless you invest in a handy-dandy paper cutter.
- Get an assembly line going. This isn't true origami, you need glue. Someone can be folding, another gluing, and if you like the fancy paper like me, someone's bound to be cutting.
- If you do involve your friends, make it fun. A little wine and some snacks go a long way to making helpers happy.

If you want the flowers but don't want to do the work, head to Etsy!

Enjoy!

The Wedding Centerpiece: Do it Yourself Inspiration- Paper

 Wreath by: dontbothermeimreading.com

Since Pinterest seems to have a waiting list, I'll make my own inspiration board right here on my very own blog. I guess people re-posting pictures of cute dogs and boys takes priority over planning a wedding. To each their own frivolities... I'm just miffed I'm not on the inside.

Getting engaged has opened a whole new world of the internet up for me. I now spend a ridiculous amount of time searching.
For anything.
And everything.
In the process I've discovered some amazing and lovely things, and I've only just begun.

My venue has a sparkly chandelier. A gas chandelier. Meaning: no votive candles or any other kind of flammable sort of candles for me. While racking (wracking?..you decide) my brain over paper or real flowers, I've also been thinking about centerpieces and centerpiece alternatives in general. I could just get some LED lights and dump them into a votive holder, but it would be more fun to do something creative with said holder (don't you think?).

This is the part where I admit how madly in love I am with Ruffled. There are so many do it yourself projects and inspirations on this site I can hardly decide! Thanks to weddinggawker for bringing Ruffled to my attention.  Here are a just a few of the many great ideas I am hoping to test out over the next few months before I make my final decision.

  Ruffled: DIY Paper Cone Art Installation

I love this backdrop! Unfortunately I can't hang anything at my venue, but I was considering modifying this idea into a centerpiece for my LED lights. I think light coming through this would look amazing. I can imagine it being a combination of the image above and the wreath at the top of the post by dontbothermeimreading.com.
I feel it would be a nice variation on all the paper wheels floating around.

 Of course, it's equally as hard to decide between using paper and these elegant lanterns, also from Ruffled.

Ruffled: DIY Aluminum Vases + Lanterns

Ruffled: DIY Aluminum Vases + Lanterns

The Wedding Centerpiece: to D.I.Y. or Not?

Flowers.

After casually looking online and in the Toronto Life Wedding Guide I have to say: I was shocked. Bouquets starting at $100? Who knew? But so far that's been the case for with everything to do with weddings: it costs more than you think, and then some.

Battling with a tight budget means deciding what you want vs. what you need, and often paring that list down once again. I've been exploring the options from D.I.Y origami flowers and feather boutonnières (both to be covered in other posts) to making my own floral centerpieces.

The pros? Saving money. I hope. I've been trying to meet with florists to see what I can get for my budget. If nothing else I will have them put together the bouquets as I'd rather not be dragging around a handful of wilted flowers. I was in love with what I saw from Jaiden's Petals, but they are on vacation the weekend of my wedding. I'm hoping to connect with Coriander Girl soon.

The cons? Several. First of all, I'm not a florist. I am a designer however, and the sort that thinks they can figure out anything - which is hardly the case - but I'll certainly give it my all trying. I don't know what quantities to buy for my wedding day, and I don't know how smart it is to be trying to arrange 13 centerpieces at the last minute. We will be getting married later in the day and the venue is large enough for me to go there, put the flowers together and get ready. I have to get ready there anyway, so why not get the flowers ready too? I can also enlist some of my ladies to help me out. Is it crazy? Maybe. Check out how today's experiment went.

What's this?

Thirty-five dollars worth of flowers and berries and stuff that I picked up at Ave and Dav.

I have no idea what the "theme" is or what colours I want at my wedding. I just know that the hall is an unflattering shade of salmon and that I want my ladies to be in black.

I like a lot of different flowers and chose today's bunch around the lovely thistles that happened to be a the store. What do you think? Legit centerpieces or no?