How to Make a Bridal Bow Bouquet

Many brides-to-be traditionally receive a bow bouquet to use in place of their real bouquet during the wedding rehearsal. Although opinions of these bouquets range from thinking that they're tacky to thinking that they're adorable, I think it's a nice touch to add fun to the rehearsal. This bouquet is quick and relatively easy to complete, and it will hopefully make the bride smile when rehearsing for her big day.

In terms of supplies, you will first need to collect all of the gift bows from the bridal shower. Members of the wedding party should collect the ribbons in order to make the bouquet at a later date; the bride should never have to make her own bouquet! Tradition dictates that for each bow the couple breaks, they will have a child, so make a game of collecting the bows. Bring a small bag with in order to save each one. To put together the bouquet, you will need two sturdy paper plates, the bows, a hot glue gun, and some decorative ribbon for the handle of the bouquet.

You will first need to make the secure base of the bouquet. With all of the bows, ribbons, and decorations added on, the bouquet can become quite precarious. I'd recommend getting either a thick paper plate or sturdy plastic plate to make this work. You'll want to cut one paper plate down into a triangle and create a cone shape. Glue the edges of the cone together with the hot glue gun. Once the cone has cooled, you can attach it to the other plate. Let the glue settle to made sure that the base and the cone aren't wobble. If you need to reinforce the cone, you can cut out extra pieces of paper plates or cardboard to and glue them to the base to add sturdiness.

Once the base and the handle have settled, you can begin to add the bows onto the base plate. As you'll have a variety of colors and patterns, you don't need to focus on creating a pattern. You might want to put smaller bows in the middle of the plate and hang the longer ribbons over the edge for a cascading effect. Make sure to hot glue each bow securely, as you don't want any to fall off during the rehearsal.

As for the handle, you can either wrap it in lace or twist some of the longer ribbons around it. Basically, you want to disguise that the bouquet is made on a paper plate, so any way you can obscure the paper is good. You can also purchase additional ribbons and curl these to fill in any empty spots in the bouquet.

When you're finished, make sure that the handle doesn't feel too loose for the base. If this is the case, I would reinforce the handle even more with additional plates and lots of hot glue. Either way, you will end up with a fun, colorful bouquet that the bride will hopefully love. This bouquet will be a great keepsake for the bride to remember her rehearsal forever!