Rose Wedding Bouquet

A rose wedding bouquet can be a lovely addition to your big day! Find out more about this critical piece of the bride's attire!

You can use many different types of flowers for a bridal bouquet. Roses are probably the best though, because they can be more easily arranged and are very hardy, so they can take the rough abuse they'll get that day! Again, you can buy or order one through a florist, but you can also make your own to save some money and put your creativity to use. Also don't forget about the corsages, either!

Making your own rose wedding bouquet is not very difficult. Here is what you need:

30 stemmed roses, thornless if possible. You'll want 20 or so for each bridesmaid's bouquet. This is where buying wholesale can help!

Sink, or bucket if not available

Paper towels

Ribbon (matching color), up to 2 inches width

Rubber bands or green waxed floral tape

Stem cutter or very sharp knife

Stem stripper

Straight or corsage pins

Note: For best results, you will probably want to make the bouquet that morning so it is freshest.

Rose Preparation

Remove extra thorns and foliage with the stripper. This is where the thornless roses suggestion comes in!

In a filled sink or bucket, hold the stems underwater and cut the stems two inches from the bottom. Allow the cut stem ends to drink. Don't cut too short as it will be harder to work with them later.

Dunk stems in a bucket or sink to keep submerged

Assemble the Roses

Grabbing a rose stem in one hand, hold the flower bloom open with the other. Put four flowers at the same height in a square or box shape. This is the center of the bouquet. Arrange the other roses around the box, creating a dome space.

Binding the Bouquet

Join the flowers at a natural merging spot, maybe 3 to 4 inches below the blooms. Use rubber bands or tape.

Bind again at the bottom of the stems, about 2 inches from the cut ends.

Build the Handle

Starting from the top bind, secure the ribbon there and then wrap in a spiral pattern down to the bottom of the stems, wrapping back up again. Pin the ribbon at the top.