If you want to DIY your wedding flowers, here is an exhaustive list of everything you could possibly need.
I recommend going in with a careful plan ahead of time, which I help you create in the DIY Wedding Floral Guide. Click here for more info on the DIY Wedding Floral Guide! It has everything you need to know to create your DIY floral plan; once you’ve created your floral plan, then you can figure out which items you will need to purchase from this list.
I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible by dividing the list into the items you absolutely must have and the ones you might need.
While I am linking mostly to Amazon for an easy shopping list for you, you absolutely can get most of these items from your local hardware stores or your parents’ house. I always recommend borrowing and shopping locally whenever you can.
*I am an Amazon affiliate and will earn a small commission if you purchase items from Amazon using my links. Thanks for using them!*
DIY FLOWERS MUST HAVES
Floral snips. If you’re investing in only one, get a large one that will cut through branches. If you’re getting more than one, get one large and a few small ones.
- Floral stem tape. Needed to make boutonnieres.
- Wire cutters. Needed for cutting wires and chicken wire. Not needed if you’re just doing bouquets and vase arrangements.
- Boutonniere pins for pinning on boutonnieres and corsages. Also used to create the pearl look on the bridal bouquet handle.
- Wire: used to wire flowers and other places like an installation.
Waterproof Floral Tape: Needed if you’re making any centerpiece larger than a bud vase.
Oasis Floral Glue: Used for making wrist corsages. One tube will be more than enough.
Rose Stripper: These are invaluable for roses if you plan to use them. You can use your snips to cut off each individual thorn or you can use the stripper to take off leaves and thorns in one swipe.
Rubber bands. You want a “not too big” size, but not a tight small one. You’ll get some rubber bands when you order your flowers, so you can buy some if you want, but you probably will acquire them throughout the process. You need as many rubber bands as you have bouquets.
Wire Cutters: You want a reasonably strong one, but not a big one with long blades, it won’t cut the chicken wire easily.
Ribbon: You can find some nice ribbon on Amazon, but here are my favorite sources. A good ribbon seriously uplevels your bouquets!
- Unfettered Co: Beautiful silk, cotton, chiffon, and velvet ribbons based in Canada.
- Honey Silks & Company: Beautifully hand-dyed ribbons made in Indiana.
- Silk & Willow: Plant dyed ribbons that ship internationally.
Fabric scissors: You might want a scissors dedicated to fabric in order to end up with smooth cuts on the ribbons.
Large lunch dishes: You’ll use these to store boutonnieres and corsages. Also, can be used for silica preservation. The Dollar Tree has nice sizes too.
Buckets. No need to pay a lot for these, go to the dollar tree and get them for $1.25 or check out your local grocery store bakery to get frosting buckets. Watch FB marketplace to find some used buckets.
Vases: You’ll need different kinds of vessels and vases depending on what you’re planning to do for your event. If you get started early you likely can thrift most of these items from stores or FB marketplace or get great lightning deals on Amazon.
- Cylinders:
- The Dollar Tree has nice cylinders that work well for bouquets and one of the sizes needed for pillar or floating candles.
- Quickcandles has a lot of different trios if you’re looking for trios of hurricanes.
- I’d also scout on wedding facebook groups for these. They aren’t too hard to find and often brides create lines of who will get them next.
- Bud vases:
- Mismatched bud vases
- Amber bud vases in a beautiful ombre, also has options for other lovely ombre colors.
- Minimalist/Modern bud vases
- Mismatched white bud vases
- Matching white bud vases
- Compotes: These are for your traditional round centerpieces. You can choose a slightly elevated style or one that is lower to the table.
- DIY these. Glass candle holders and a bowl from the Dollar Tree glued together and spray painted or left clear.
- Gold Compotes: These 6″ ones are good for larger centerpieces.
- Ice Cream Dishes: These are good for smaller centerpieces and tend to be a little more affordable, plus they come in lots of awesome colors.
- Ceramic Cereal Bowls: I love these because they are cereal bowls, but they mimic pottery. Check out Target and Walmart to find some good options, you can use planters or any type of bowl.
- Chinoiserie Inspired Bowls: Get that ginger jar look without the price tag, here’s another one I love. Do some browsing in whatever theme you are going for, you might just find the perfect thing! Don’t forget to think about how you might reuse these things in the future. If you end up with your cereal bowls for your new home, then that isn’t a one time investment: “girl math.”
DIY FLOWERS MIGHT NEEDS
Nitrile gloves: Gloves protect your hands from thorns, sharp chicken wire, and sticky sap.
Lemon Essential Oil: Great for getting labels off vases and sap from eucalyptus off your hands. I like this one because it has a dropper. Just use a drop or two on your hands or on a stubborn label, add a bit of water and actually get that residue off!
Slap bracelet or Gold cuff: You’ll use these to make wrist corsages.
Marine Vinyl: Needed for wrist corsages. Go to a fabric store and get a quarter of a yard, you do NOT need a full yard!
- Large zip ties if you’re doing an arbor piece.
- Small zip ties if you’re using chicken wire in any capacity.
Chicken wire: I like the green, it’s malleable, hides well under foliage. This pack comes with gloves and a wire cutter, which is a bonus. (If you’re doing a baby’s breath installation, you want silver chicken wire.)
Clamps: I use these when attaching things to tables. The small size works great on tables, the large ones work well for other installation pieces when zipties might not make sense. You may need to wrap the orange tips with stem tape or spray paint them to hide the orange.
Oshun Pouch: You’ll use this if you are creating large, low centerpieces, any kind of arbor installation or any floor pieces.
Lomey Dish: A low, shallow bowl to put oshun pouch into. Also, check your Dollar Tree, you can find 6″ ones there sometimes for a good price.
Acrylic Sheets: Used with stands for high centerpieces.
Gold Stands: Gold geometric stand used for altar pieces or tall centerpieces. This style has a top that you can set bowls on, so acrylic sheets aren’t needed for these.
24″ Clear Vase: Used for tall centerpieces.
Ikebana: Japanese inspired arrangements that are a refreshing take on bud vases. I like to mix bud vases and ikebana for visual appeal.
- ~1″ flower frog: These small frogs hold 2-3 flowers.
- Plastic flower frog: Larger, but great for “invisible” mechanics. You can put them in a clear dish that blends well into a table, giving the appearance of a floating flower, or a cylinder. Put the flower in the frog and fill the cylinder for submerged blooms.
- ~1.5″ flower frog: These hold 5-7 flowers.
- Floral putty: You need this to secure the frog in the dish so it doesn’t fall over.
- Clear ramekin: The plastic frogs will fit in this dish, but you should always double check the measurements. (Ramekins work so well for these arrangements and there’s so much variety to fit every aesthetic!)
- Pottery ramekin: Either of the metal frogs will fit well in this dish.
- White ramekin: Either of the metal frogs will fit well in this dish.
Nitrile Gloves: You’ll use these if you are going to preserve your own wedding flowers.
Flower Press: Pressed flower preservation.
Silica Beads: Non-pressed flower preservation.
Drapes: Used to add depth and texture to wedding backdrops.
This list should send you well on your way to getting everything you need in order to DIY your wedding flowers. Don’t forget to sign up for the wait-list if you’re interested in using the full guide for your wedding DIY plans. Have so much fun creating your flowers!
