Ribbon Bouquets!

I don't know about any of you, but I have been maid of honor a few times or in the wedding party and have been asked to make the traditional ribbon bouquet for the rehearsal.  It is fun and there are many guides online, but I believe I have an easier method than the "paper plate full of holes and garbage ties" or the "buy a bouquet base and hot glue them" instructions.

I made one for my sister in law last week. 

Steps:
1. Collect all bows from all showers and keep them safe until you are ready to start
2.  Keep a wire hanger (or two) from your dry cleaning (preferably white)
3.  Buy some floral wire (about $2 at Wal-Mart, I bought some when I made my first ribbon bouquet and have never needed more.)
4.  Keep it all together and when you have all the bows, you can start.

I start by bending the wire hanger into a half circle and crossing over making an X.  Then I loop the hanger over the x and make a half sphere.  I use the leftovers to make the stem of the bouquet. 

I then wrap the entire wire section with white ribbon or tulle.

I use floral wire cut in to 2 inch length to attach all the large bows to the wire junctions to hide them. 

I then look at what kinds of ribbon I have left. I separate lengths of ribbon, bows, tulle, and curled ribbon.  I then attach all the bows first to fill the area, then add the curled ribbon and space it evenly to hide the wire. 

I use the length of ribbon to either dangle from the front of the bouquet or weave into the bouquet, as shown in this picture.

 

Happy making!  It all depends on what you have on hand and how much money you want to spend.  In my case, I have spent $2 and made almost 10 ribbon bouquets!