winter inspiration: boutonnieres! {guest blogger charity wedding}
by jacin on December 13, 2010
From Jacin: Today’s guest blogger, Alicia McDonald, is such an amazing person, and the mind behind The Charity Wedding. You must go check out her blog and learn about how she and her husband raised money for charity during their wedding planning process. She is a true inspiration and I am so honored to have her here today! (You can also find her on facebook and twitter - tell her I sent you!)
From Alicia: I am so excited to be a part of Jacin’s Winter Inspiration Series! I love the serenity of winter, the cozy feeling, and the holiday cheer. For some reason I was drawn to providing you with Winter Boutonniere inspiration. For my own recent wedding, I made one decision early on, no boutonnieres. In my opinion they were much too formal for our affair and didn’t fit our personalities. In addition they added extra money to the budget which I was much happier to spend elsewhere. However the more I started looking at other people’s wedding photos via wedding blogs, I started to see a ton of adorable DIY boutonnieres that I felt were much more us. I DIY-ed a lot of things for my wedding and my best intentions were to create bouts for the gents. But it slipped through the cracks and they were left bout-less as originally planned. Now, I get to live vicariously through this post. Here are a few favorites I found around the web.
For those of you who want a more traditional, formal boutonniere this Christmas colored one is my favorite.
If you want to incorporate the foliage of the winter season, these are my top picks:
Having a winter wedding that is after the holidays and you don’t want anything to look Christmasy, these are for you:
This one is quite possibly my favorite. It is made from mint leaves. I love the simplicity of it. Mint is cheap, you could make these easily even with a large wedding party.
Want something that won’t die when the night is over or wilt in the freezing wind?
Balsa wood flowers are a great winter option. They are made out of wood and will not wilt, freeze or die. Plus that creamy white color will blend perfectly with other winter elements. You can buy balsa wood flowers
here and create your own!
Fabric is a great option too as again you won’t have to worry about it wilting or freezing in those chilly temps.
While I love all of these options and I feel like they pretty much cover the gamete of winter themes and plants, a very obvious winter plant seemed to be left out. I searched and searched to find a boutonniere constructed out of this plant to no avail. I felt I had no choice but to DIY the boutonniere that I never got to make for my own wedding. Can you guess the wintery plant I am thinking of? One that so clearly goes with weddings, I can’t believe it was left out?! Let’s take a trip to the creek.
In Sedona, winter isn’t marked by freezing temps and snow covered sidewalks. While snow is possible, we are likely to get a dusting at best, so the clear sign of winter is leaf barren trees with bright green patches high up in their branches. If you look closely at the trees on the left you can see it, clustered along the trunk.
This parasite that thrives on these trees is Mistletoe my friends. This classic winter plant that inspires kissing seems perfectly fitting for a winter wedding. Despite all my searching, I couldn’t find a boutonniere that encompassed mistletoe. A floral tragedy in my book. If you suffer from actual winters, you may not be able to pluck this stuff for free like I did but if you can, it will make for some great DIY boutonniere options.
Thanks to Kyle for being my model. I had to promise that I would not show his face!
The rest of the plants came from my neighbors yards, Thanks neighbors! I didn’t have floral tape but just to give you an idea I used a scrap of fabric. I think they turned out pretty cute! How cute would it be if the groom took if off and held it over their heads before the kiss?! Adorable.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Winter Boutonniere Inspiration! Happy Holidays!
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
the pinecone & balsa wood are my favorite for winter weddings.
Love love love!!
oh my goodness love the pinecone!
oh my goodness love the pinecone!
oh my goodness love the pinecone!
oh my goodness love the pinecone!
oh my goodness love the pinecone!
oh my goodness love the pinecone!
LOVE the fabric rose!
Ah Thank you for the sweet introduction! I am so honored to be a part of the series!
This is a great post! The first three are my fav.
just love the balsa wood flower. gorgeous.
I love the balsa wood and the mistletoe! What fun!
The pine cone was adorable! And I love the idea of mistletoe!!!!
I am heading over to check out your blog now!! can't wait
I would never have thought of mint, but it's brilliant! Love all of these, especially the mistletoe.
The mistletoe—brilliant!!! I was like "hmm, what is she referring to" and then you said it and I was like "duh!" Anyways-GREAT DIY! And thanks for the series, Jacin!
-Miss Puppy Love
http://classicpuppylove.blogspot.com
Ok wow.. it is possible to love every single pic above? The succulent boutonniere is my favorite. So classy.
I don't know how I could pick a favorite-they're all so lovely!
Such a great post! I love, love, love the first one…that creamy white and red is perfect. I enjoyed browsing your blog…such great ideas! I'll be back…
Awesome DIY Alicia!! They're perfect. And how sweet of Kyle to model :)
Nice job Alicia (and headless Kyle)! Are these the pinecones that brought the bugs in this weekend? lol Very creative!
I love them all! and I love the word-boutonniere! Also, something we dont do here!
Can't go past the pinecone one but I also like the touch of gingham in the top one, and your mistletoe one's are so sweet!! Great post Alicia!
Great post! Thanks for the ideas :)
DIY Mistletoe Boutonnieres - what a fabulous idea, Alicia! Fabulous! As are the other bouts you included in this round up! The balsa wood, fabric, the mint leaves - love them all!