Si­mone Sant-Ghu­ran

It takes a brave bride to de­cide that she would like to try her hand at do­ing her own flow­ers, but I am sure the thought has oc­curred to some of you.

The key thing to know be­fore­hand is that do­ing your own flow­ers will still not be cheap but it will per­haps be more eco­nom­i­cal than if you out­source.

The down­side is that you will not be able to ben­e­fit from a flo­ral de­sign­er who would be able to ad­vise you on flower choice and struc­ture and al­so get whole­sale prices that you may not. Flo­ral de­sign­ers al­so know the tricks of the trade to get­ting cer­tain va­ri­eties of flow­ers to last longer and pre­vent droop­ing.

Hav­ing said all that, if you are still de­ter­mined to give flo­ral de­sign a do-it-your­self (DIY) spin, here are some tips:

�2 Re­search flo­ral de­sign first and per­haps get a be­gin­ner's book and look at how-to videos.

�2 Try not to at­tempt to do the flo­ral de­sign by your­self if you are a first-timer. It is bet­ter to get a team and an as­sem­bly line to­geth­er, and per­haps pre­pare a sam­ple for the oth­ers to fol­low.

�2 If in doubt about de­sign re­gard­ing mix­ing flower va­ri­eties, use one type of flower on­ly in your bou­quet or cen­tre­piece or use flow­ers with larg­er blooms.

�2 Buy your flow­ers whole­sale or di­rect from an im­porter and buy a lit­tle over the amount you ac­tu­al­ly need, in case of break­age or dam­age.

�2 Avoid do­ing your flow­ers on the morn­ing of your wed­ding. A day in ad­vance is much more ad­vis­able.

�2 Equip your­self with the tools you would need–flo­ral tape, flo­ral wire, flo­ral foam, buck­ets, flower food, a stem-strip­per, and shears.

�2 Trans­porta­tion is go­ing to be a ma­jor hur­dle, es­pe­cial­ly when del­i­cate flow­ers and wa­ter are in­volved. Think about us­ing opaque vas­es filled with flo­ral foam to avoid spillage.

�2 You will need to get prop­er re­frig­er­a­tion, es­pe­cial­ly for cer­tain kinds of flow­ers, so think about whether you will have ac­cess to this in ad­vance of your project.

If the point­ers above have you skep­ti­cal, here are some al­ter­na­tives to the bridal bou­quet:

Whether it is a cost fac­tor or whether you want to be eco-chic, here are some op­tions for bridal bou­quets that do not use re­al flow­ers:

�2 A feath­er bou­quet

�2 An an­tique broach bou­quet

�2 A pa­per flower or origa­mi bou­quet (you can use sheet mu­sic, pho­to­copies of pages from your favourite book or kite pa­per)

�2 Fab­ric flower bou­quets (think about flow­ers made from luxe ma­te­ri­als such as silk and vel­vet or you can go more ca­su­al with cro­chet flow­ers)

�2 A bou­quet made out of suc­cu­lents and green­ery

For more bou­quet in­spi­ra­tion, fol­low the Trinidad­Wed­dings' Pin­ter­est board here: http://pin­ter­est.com/trinidad­wed­ding/bou­quet-ideas/ or join me on Face­book: www.face­book.com/trinidad­wed­dings