The whole idea of having a brooch bouquet for my wedding stemmed from my Grandma Sanford. I never got to meet my Grandma LuAnn, she passed away while my dad was still in highschool. I have seen many pictures and heard many stories, all which make me wish I could have known her. Of course getting married comes with a lot of emotions and I started to think of my Grandma LuAnn. I decided that I really wanted to have her with me in some way on my wedding day. The only tangible thing I could think of was her jewelry. I asked my Aunt Julie (who has Grandma’s jewelry) if I could look through her jewelry box for something. Julie was so giving and let me look through the box and take anything I wanted. (Thank you Julie!!!) I found some beautiful pieces, but wasn’t exactly sure what to DO with them quite yet. I started looking around online and came across “brooch bouquets”. I loved the idea instantly. I decided that I would include pieces of my Grandma LuAnn’s jewelry, as well as ask my Grandma Jody, my aunts, friends, my mom and Alex’s family for any pieces they might have. I decided I wanted to use fake floral with the jewelry, so that I could keep the bouquet forever. (I was sure to tell anyone who gave me a brooch that they would not be getting it back! hehe) Everyone pitched in over the last year and eventually I found myself with over 50 pieces! It wasn’t until 2 weeks before the wedding that my mom and I decided to tackle the task of actually MAKING this bouquet. Well, it certainly was not easy. Be happy you weren’t there, I may have had a meltdown or 5! Thank goodness for my mother because she kept her cool and just kept on working at it (amidst my meltdowns). We spent an ENTIRE Saturday putting it together, but the end result was totally worth it. I am in love with this bouquet and it means so very much to me!!!!
Some of the brooch collection!
The supplies to assemble! Fake floral, floral wire, floral tape & wire cutters.
First step was taking each brooch (one by one) and using the floral wire to essentially make each brooch into a flower! Stem & all!
Brooch turned Flower!
Be prepared for a full days work and a decent mess! Have extra Diet Coke on deck…it gets a little frustrating!
After group the fake floral together, we basically scattered the brooch flowers out, placing each one individually into the hydrangea. In the end, it ends up looking like one hot mess! This is where extra taping & satin-wrapping comes in handy.
Tah-Dahhhh!! Photo by Agape Moments.
The finished product! Photo by Agape Moments.
rachandalex 