DIY beach wedding flowers

By Elizabeth's mom, edited by Elizabeth

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Elizabeth's mom had a lot of fun taking care of the flowers for Elizabeth's wedding. This is the last article of the DIY flowers-series, where she'll discuss floral arrangements for a wedding aisle. Prior articles are on DIY corsages and boutonnières as well as large floral arrangements.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a search site for bridesmaids dresses, receives no form of compensation from Elizabeth's mom... except for the occasional care package of snacks sent to our office.

With outdoor weddings, you might like to use floral arrangements to mark certain areas, such as the aisle or the ceremonial area. At Elizabeth's wedding, I used two potted sweet pea arrangements to indicate the end of the aisle and the beginning of the ceremony area. In this post, I'll discuss how to create these arrangements yourself, saving you up to hundreds of dollars.

I love sweet peas. Sweet peas bloom in Spring and early Summer, and they come in a variety of colors. They come in periwinkle blue, lilac rose, cream, and plenty of other colors. The flowers have long stems, which also give you the flexibility to plant them in vases (though for Elizabeth's wedding, I put them in clay pots). And the aroma of this flower is so sweet!

Buy Supplies

Sweet peas of your liking (buy two days before event)
Orchids of your liking (buy two days before event)
Clay pots: Buy large clay pots -- one for each floral arrangements (can be bought months in advance)
Potting soil: 1 to 2 bags of 2 Cu. Ft of soil. (can be bought months in advance)

I personally like to garden and grew the sweet peas myself, planting the seeds 8 months prior to the wedding.

Assemble the floral arrangements

A few weeks before your event, shop around to see what sweet peas and other flowers, such as orchids, might look good for your arrangements. Get an idea of what colors are available.

Then buy the sweet peas and other flowers just a couple days before the event. Put the sweet pea plants into the clay pot and arrange the flowers to get the look you want. To hold the flower/flower containers in place in the pots, pack the clay pots with potting soil. Make sure to water the flowers each day preceding the wedding. Clay pots are porous, and soil dries out easily.

For Elizabeth's wedding, on the day of her ceremony, I buried the clay pots into the sand to mark the end of the aisle and the beginning of the ceremonial area (see photos). I found two good looking drift wood sticks and arranged them around the arrangements. I placed an orchid spring in the center of each clay pot to add to the floral arrangement.

And that's it!

Posted by Jennifer Chin, Elizabeth Yin

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