Fragrant Garden Rose Bridal Bouquet

Often overlooked, fragrance is a very special part of any floral design and this is especially true of bridal bouquets. In this how-to video Leanne creates an on-trend bridal bouquet using highly fragrant flowers from GardenRosesDirect.com. The primary blossom is the “Edith” rose from David Austin Roses. This combined with Freesia and Pieres and finished with a wire collar and accenting beads make for a stunning bouquet. Enjoy!

Video Transcription 


Welcome to the Flower School.com video library. I'm Leanne Kesler, Director of the Floral Design Institute and today I'm here to share with you a fabulous garden rose bridal bouquet. I wish you could join me here in the studio. The fragrance from everything is amazing. 


The inspiration for this bouquet began when I was scrolling through GardenRosesDirect.com and looking at their choices for roses. The one that jumped out to me was Edith, an amazing rose, and I thought, "Oh, that looks like the blush, but updated." It has so much grand color. Notice sort of yellow, but then peach. Now, it's a David Austin garden rose and one way to know for sure that you're getting the best of the best is David Austin roses are always tagged with their name, their logo, so you know for sure you're getting that. Garden Roses Direct has so many different David Austin roses, but Edith, definitely one of my absolute favorites with that coloration. 


Now, when I bring them in, first thing I do is take them and give them a cut removing their thorns. Use a rose glove, strip the thorns down, give it a cut, and then let them drink. They need to drink for four to five days to make this lushness. When they come to you, they're so fresh, they're tight, so you want to bring them in early, let them drink, let them open out, and then they're ready to work with and fabulous. 


Once I had the beautiful Edith in my possession, oh so fragrant, then I started looking for other spring flowers that would be perfect. I found this freesia, which is also yellow and peachy, so perfect. A nice accent to go with it picking up that same coloration, it too incredibly fragrant. Then pieris, the andromeda or Lily of the Valley bush, but in this burgundy maroon color enhances, brings the coloration of blush into the contemporary trend with a little darker hue to enhance. 


To add a little more of that dark wine color and to pick up that kind of bubbly look, I chose some mega bead wire, beautiful wine, coordinates well, and then just clustered it together into bunches, wired it with an 18 gauge wire, and then tape so that they become little clusters that I can add into the bouquet, bringing in the color of the pieris up into the flower top. 


As I begin the bouquet, I take the roses and actually pull off the rest of their leaves. Now, when they're hydrating and waiting for that four to five days, you want to leave the leaves on because they help them to drink more fully. Once they go to design, those are going to be in the way, so I remove them, cleaning them up, and then just gathering in my hand starting with a couple of the roses, terracing one over the other, creating some depth. Adding a little bit of ruscus and that will just bring in some depth to the design, the roses terraced and then a bit of foliage. Then, holding it with a thumb and a finger loosely, my hand, everything above it has the leaves and everything below it, nothing. Then, coming in with some of the Pieris and just tucking it, letting it weave around the roses. Again, below my hand is bare, above is where the flowers are. 


They can bring in some of the freesia, feeding it right through. You can see how the colors start working so well together. Now, I could do a full round bouquet, but on trend now is a little bit looser. It can still be rounded, but you don't want it to be stiff round. Coming out to the side, coming out to the opposite side, adding a little bit of width to the design, maybe a little more of the andromeda. Then just adjusting in your hand. Coming back with more of the freesia, just feeding it in. Coming a little to the front, so it's not flat. Then, another of the roses, feeding it through and then taking a look, making sure that you're balanced from side to side, thinking about out your depth. It's a little bit low right there but keeping it so it gives a more horizontal feel and then making sure that below your hand is just bare and above is beauty. 


As I'm working, I can go back, add a little more foliage. It helps to support the flowers. Adds a touch of fresh Spring green. Pulling in some last bits, letting it trail, a little fuller. Bringing it almost into a softened cascade where it drapes down, but again, keeping it rounded, tucking it in, adjusting. A few more freesia, they give me great extension. A last few roses, maybe one more off to the side. Finding the perfect little hole for it and weaving it in. Maybe one more Freesia coming down through the center, adding fullness in the emphasis area. Then, looking, making sure that the back is as pretty as the front. Maybe one more rose in the back, so that the bride sees that. Last bits of foliage and then tying it off. I like to tie it off with raffia, a nice, sturdy material that doesn't weaken or stretch if it gets wet. Just wrapping it around two to three times and then tying it in a knot. 


Once I have it tied off, then I can go back and add more feeding in the beads, adding that little bit of bling. Then, continuing on with that cascading movement by adding just a little bit of Lily Grass off to one side and lastly, a bit more of the ruscus to cover up all the lower mechanics, making sure that the back and the bottom is totally concealed and beautiful. Then, once again, tying it off with raffia. Laying it down, tying it securely in a knot. 


Then, at this point, you can go through, squeeze the stems together, figure about two hand lengths, and then go through and cut the stems. Then, for one last bit of on trend color, copper and metallics are so popular right now. One of my stems flipped in. This is the Armature collar from the Oasis Company. Comes in this square shape, but you can manipulate it. Pull it out to a round, put a hole in the center, then just feed it up and over. Then, squish it back together, just adding that little tiny bit of sparkle to the base of the bouquet. 


To do a final covering of my mechanics, I need to conceal the raffia, so I took the last of my beads and I'm just wrapping them around, concealing, creating just a little more excitement on the back. Then, twisting it together, tucking in the end. Now, the back is just as beautiful as the front. 


A special thanks to GardenRosesDirect.com for providing these fabulous roses. They're so fragrant, so long-lasting, so fabulous, I can't use that word enough. 


For more creative inspiration, check out the website, Flower School.com. The website contains hundreds of floral design how-to videos, floral design classes, online floral classes and DIY Flowers. 


If you have questions, you can reach us through there or by telephone at 503-223-8089. Now, I'd love to see what you create. Gather your garden roses, make a bouquet, take a picture, post it on social media, and tag #FloralDesignInstitute and #GardenRosesDirect. That way we all can see what you create as you do something you love.

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