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A Beautiful Mess wedding: Elsie + Jeremy, and a DIY boutonniere/corsage tutorial

June 17, 2011

You know that binder you have with all of your wedding inspirations? We promise you’re going to want to squeeze a few more pages inside after seeing today’s wedding! If ever there was a bride who outdid herself, Elsie Larson (of the indie fashion/craft blog A Beautiful Mess) wins the prize. Her wedding is not only irresistible – it’s a DIY masterpiece. A bursting celebration of fun, colors, textures and craft. Our gal pals over at Style Me Pretty featured this wedding yesterday, but there were just too many brilliantly cute details going on that we had to share it too! Lucky for us (and you!), Elsie is sharing tutorials on how you can make your own boutonniere and corsage. Thanks Elsie!

A Beautiful Mess bridesmaids A Beautiful Mess bouquet A Beautiful Mess wedding A Beautiful Mess wedding

Here’s a fun video of their day:

Hello there Cakelets! I’m Elsie from A Beautiful Mess. I recently planned my own DIY wedding and wanted to share a few things with you. When my fiance and I were planning our big day we chose not to hire a florist. Not only did it save us hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars, but making my own corsages, boutonnieres and bouquets is one of my happiest wedding memories! We ended up with pieces that were really special to us and better reflected our personality than something we could have ordered at a flower shop!

A Beautiful Mess boutonnieres

DIY Feather Boutonniere

Step 1: Choose feathers and accent pieces in your colors. I used some berry garland too. I ordered most of my supplies from Etsy.com.

Step 2: Gather the pieces and arrange them exactly how you want them to look on your boutonniere.

Step 3: Using floral tape (or deco or twill tape) bind your feathers together at the base. Be sure they are all secure in the adhesive and will not slip out!

Step 4: You’re done. Just use a floral pin to pin your boutonniere to a piece of paper (this way you can also label who the different boutonnieres are for). Go get yourself a treat or have a fancy dinner with your fiancè because you just saved yourself a bundle!

Making our own feather and floral pieces was one of the easiest DIY’s we chose to do! I highly recommend it and it’s a project that can be done months in advance, which is always nice!

DIY Vintage Brooch Corsage

I own a vintage boutique and we have these pretty enamel floral brooches from the 1960s sitting around everywhere. I thought it would be fun to dress them up as a special corsage for our grandmothers to wear!

Step 1: Collect flowers, berry garland and millenary leaves in your colors. I ordered most of mine from Etsy.com.

Step 2: Choose pieces to accent your brooch. Trim the pieces to about 4 inches.

Step 3: Glue the feathers and findings to the back of your brooch. I used glue dots.

Step 4: Cover the back of your feathers with some twill tape or deco tape. They are already firmly attached with the glue dots, but this just makes the back look a little bit more polished.

A Beautiful Mess wedding corsage A Beautiful Mess wedding corsages

Have fun! xo-Elsie

What a perfect way to start your weekend, right? Call your girlfriends up, make it a girls night in, and get crafting! Elsie will be back soon, sharing her DIY flower bouquet tutorial. You won’t want to miss it!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Photography: Arrow & Apple / Wedding Reception Design: Sharon Taylor and Stylizing by Kendra Skinner of Lonie Mae / For more of the lovely vendors involved see Style Me Pretty