Take advantage of free flowers

My brother is getting married in August and my aunts threw a bridal shower this past weekend for his fiance. The aunts asked me to do the decorating so I tried to think of ways to make it beautiful, but not spend an arm and a leg since showers only last a couple hours.

Thankfully, there are a lot of flowers in bloom right now so I spent the two days before the shower cutting wildflowers and backyard flowers. Obviously this idea isn't going to work in December, but during the months that flowers are in bloom you might as well take advantage of them!


I also collected tin cans to use as vases. When I say collected, I mean I dug through the town's recycling bins. No shame. Technically, my only cost for all of the arrangements was the green tulle ribbon which I bought from Michael's for a couple bucks

A friend had a ton of lilies that I was able to use

Pay attention to the ditches. There are all sorts of wildflowers that work great in bouquets. And don't wear white pants.

He wont drink water out of his own bowl, but he'll drink the flower water. Go figure.

I arranged most of them outside because they make such a mess. Make sure you take all the bottom leaves off. You don't want anything in the water except the stem.

I found these wildflowers in the open field behind our house.

I eventually moved everything to the basement to keep the flowers cool.

Transporting the flowers the day of the shower. Plastic totes worked great.

Good thing I'm not allergic.

I put scrapbook paper under the arrangements.

The shower was in a "soda shoppe" room at the Kensington where my grandma lives.

The G is for her soon to be new last name and is from Hobby Lobby. The battery operated lights are from Pier 1. Her wedding colors will be different shades of greens/blues so they matched well.

I made that frame with their monogram. Check out this post for instructions.

I made tags for the food and matching signs that pointed people in the right direction to get to the shower. I just used a free pattern off the internet. The candle and candle holder are from Bath & Body Works.

I made the banner using free letters from this blog.

My cousins and I with some of the flowers.

Overall, I spent less than $15 on decorations and there were fresh flowers everywhere. The same bouquets at a florist would have cost hundreds. So keep your eyes open for flowers that are in season. The best part was everyone could take a bouquet home at the end of the shower because they were in tin cans and I didn't need them back. Nice little favor!