The Brooch Bouquet
I’m not sure if you noticed the bride’s bouquet in the movie I posted last week about Stinson Beach. If you didn’t, you missed it! But, don’t fret, that’s what today’s post is all about.
When I arrived at the beach house in Stinson on Saturday late morning with Miles, I unloaded the car and tried to get settled. The house was a hustle and bustle of activity. People were arriving, others were hanging out and most were preparing for the wedding later that day.
After going on the ‘journey walk’ with the group to find items washed ashore to add to the beach front wedding site, we went back to the house to prepare. I was walking through the kitchen when Denise came up to me and told me she had a project that she needed me to do. She led me to the dining table where others were fast at work and handed me two stems of artificial hydrangea’s and told me I was making the brides bouquet…out of brooches. No pressure.
I took a deep breath and sat down amidst people twisting and tying and taping. I seriously had NO idea what I was doing. In fact, she told me there were instructions online and I was so nervous about what I was doing that I completely forgot about them. Thankfully, Stephanie and her husband Asa along with the bride’s sister Shelly had the production part of the project under control.
The brooches were amazing, and there were a ton of them. Tracy had sent an email out the week before right after announcing the elopement, requesting all of us to bring a brooch to contribute to the bouquet. I seriously didn’t put two and two together because I had never seen a brooch bouquet before. The process was so interesting. Shelly, Asa and Stephanie were taking each brooch and individually adding floral wire to the pin and twisting away, turning each one into an individual “flower”. Tracy shared that she had collected brooches from her relatives and friends. She had some from her grandmother’s and a very special one that was worn by her fiance Jason’s mother on her wedding dress. How amazing is that?! She even had a brooch from her car racing uncle who lent her a Formula 1 “brooch”. Awesome.
As I sat and crafted the bouquet I could see the beauty grow. I added each one individually, looking for just the right placement. I needed to round out the bouquet so that it wasn’t too heavy in any one spot, and some of the brooches were HEAVY!! I wasn’t sure at first how it was going to turn out, but after all of the broaches were placed, we added the finishing touches which pulled it all together.
Maya came to help form the small beaded “petals” that were to go around the main bouquet. I then wrapped the stem of all of the elements together with floral tape and added the thick golden ribbon just under the floral top. Then I wrapped the thick main stem with another golden ribbon and finished it off by wrapping a thin string of beads that twisted from top of stem to bottom. A final purple ribbon tied around the upper base, a brooch pinned at just that spot and…voila!
The end result….AMAZING!!
For DIY instructions, visit Fancy Pants Weddings!
