Making your own dried wedding bouquet can be such a special part of planning your wedding. Before you start buying or gathering flowers, though, I always recommend taking a little time to figure out what you actually want your bouquet to look and feel like.
Start With an Inspiration Board
My first step would be to create an inspiration board on Pinterest. Start saving bouquets, colour palettes, wedding photos, and flower arrangements that catch your eye.
Look for patterns in what you're saving. Are you drawn to soft, neutral colours? Delicate wildflowers? Bold, colourful arrangements? Rustic, vintage, meadow-inspired weddings?
Having a clear inspiration board can really help you stay on track while you're choosing flowers and building your bouquet. It's surprisingly easy to start adding beautiful flowers simply because you like them, only to realize halfway through that your bouquet is heading in a completely different direction than you originally planned.
Decide if Dried Flowers Are Right for Your Wedding
Before you begin, it's also important to decide whether dried flowers are actually the right fit for your wedding.
Dried flowers have a very different look from fresh flowers. They're naturally more delicate and often work best in arrangements that feel a little lighter, humbler, and more relaxed. If you're dreaming of a huge, lush, overflowing fresh flower arrangement, dried flowers might not give you exactly the same look.
But they're absolutely beautiful for the right aesthetic. Dried flowers can be perfect for rustic, meadow, garden-inspired, vintage, whimsical, and natural weddings. They also work beautifully for couples who love soft, neutral arrangements or want to create something colourful and unique that will last long after the wedding.
Choose Your Colour Palette
Once you've decided on the overall style, choose a colour palette that fits your wedding theme. Do you want soft creams, whites, blushes, and muted tones? Or are you drawn to bold colours like burgundy, bright pink, orange, yellow, and purple? One of the things I love about dried flowers is that you can create completely different looks depending on the flowers and colours you choose.
Where to Source Dried Flowers
When sourcing flowers for your DIY dried wedding bouquet, look for flowers that are specifically suited to drying and still look beautiful once preserved. You can grow and dry your own flowers, purchase from a local florist (most convenient, but also the most expensive), buy dried stems from a local flower farm, or source them online. I always recommend ordering your flowers a little early so you have time to see everything in person, play with your colour palette, and replace or add anything you feel is missing.
If possible, try to source flowers from a grower who can tell you exactly how they were dried and what condition they'll arrive in. Dried flowers can be delicate, so buying a few extra stems is also a good idea in case of breakage or if you simply want more options while designing your bouquet.
The Best Flowers to Include in a DIY Dried Wedding Bouquet
When I'm building a dried bouquet, I like to think about the different jobs each flower has. You'll usually want a mix of focal flowers, filler flowers, and taller or more textural ingredients.
Statice
Statice is one of my favourite flowers for dried wedding bouquets, especially for delicate, airy arrangements.
White statice is beautiful if you're going for a soft, delicate look, but it also comes in so many gorgeous colours. Purples, lavenders, bright white, pinks, and different shades in between all hold their colour beautifully once dried.
Statice is one of those flowers that can really help fill out a bouquet while still keeping it feeling light and natural.
Baby's Breath
Baby's breath is a classic choice for a delicate filler. It adds lots of tiny details throughout the bouquet and can help soften the space between your larger flowers. It's especially pretty in romantic, delicate, meadow-inspired arrangements.
Strawflowers
Strawflowers are one of my favourite focal flowers for dried bouquets. They're available in beautiful colours, including burgundy, pink, white, orange, and yellow.
I like choosing strawflowers in different stages of opening. Some can be smaller and only partially opened, while others are fuller and more open. Using different sizes and stages of bloom makes the bouquet feel more natural and realistic. It also keeps all of your focal flowers from looking identical.
Other Delicate Fillers
Feverfew, yarrow, and rodanthe daisies are also beautiful additions to a dried bouquet. These smaller flowers help create space between your focal flowers and add that delicate, meadow-like feeling. They're especially useful if your bouquet is starting to feel too dense or crowded.
Add Height and Texture
Once you have your focal flowers and fillers, add some ingredients that bring height and movement to the bouquet. Lavender, grasses, bunny tails, and larkspur can all work beautifully.
These taller flowers and stems help break up the shape and stop everything from sitting at exactly the same height. They can also give your bouquet that loose, wild, garden-grown look.
Gather Your Tools Before You Start
Before assembling your bouquet, make sure you have everything ready.
You'll want:
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Floral tape
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Scissors
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Floral stem cutters or pruning shears
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Burlap or twine
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A hot glue gun, if needed
Having everything nearby makes the process much easier, especially once you start holding your bouquet together.
Build Your Bouquet Using the Spiral Method
I like using the spiral method to assemble bouquets. As you add stems, continue placing them in the same general direction around the bouquet. Try to distribute your flowers evenly as you go rather than putting all of one type or colour in the same area.
Sometimes I actually add some of my focal flowers later in the process. This gives me more control over where the colours are placed and makes it easier to space the blooms evenly throughout the bouquet.
Keep checking your bouquet against your inspiration photos as you work. Your Pinterest board can help you stay focused and avoid losing sight of your original vision.
Create Layers and Different Heights
One of the biggest things that can make a dried bouquet look more natural is creating different layers. You don't want every flower sitting in one perfect, rounded ball.
Try placing some statice and strawflowers lower in the bouquet while allowing other stems to sit higher. Let some grasses or other delicate ingredients extend above the rest, and point them in different directions.
This creates texture, negative space, and movement. It also gives the bouquet a more realistic, garden-inspired look. For a wilder bouquet, leave even more negative space and allow grasses and taller stems to stick up higher. Don't be afraid of a little air between the flowers. Sometimes that space is what makes a bouquet feel natural instead of looking like a tight ball of flowers.
Secure the Bouquet as You Go
As you build your bouquet, you can use floral tape partway through to help secure everything and hold your design in place. This can be especially helpful if you're working with a lot of delicate stems or building a larger bouquet.
Just remember that once you secure the stems, they're much harder to move around. I like to make sure I'm happy with the overall shape before taping too tightly.
Clean-up the Stems
Once you're happy with your bouquet, secure the stems and evenly trim the bottoms. Then you can use burlap, ribbon, or another material to cover the floral tape and create a finished handle.
Remember: Dried Bouquets Are Naturally More Delicate
One important thing to remember is that dried flower arrangements are naturally less sturdy than fresh flower bouquets. They're delicate, and some of the flowers may move or break if they're handled roughly.
I also recommend holding a dried bouquet a little differently for photos. Hold it at your belly button and tilt it slightly toward the camera so you can show off the beautiful blooms rather than mostly photographing the stems. And definitely tell your bridesmaids this too!
A dried bouquet will usually photograph best when it's held slightly forward and tilted toward the camera. This small adjustment can make such a big difference in photos and helps show off all of the beautiful flowers you've carefully arranged.
Making your own dried wedding bouquet takes a little patience, but don't feel like everything needs to be perfectly symmetrical. Some of my favourite bouquets have movement, texture, layers, and a little bit of natural imperfection.
Let your flowers do what they naturally want to do, keep your inspiration photos nearby, and don't be afraid of negative space. That's often what gives a dried bouquet its beautiful, natural character.
