DIY Your Wedding Cake With Fresh Flowers and Not Blow Your Budget
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it 50 times before: if we weren’t doing what we’re doing right now ((for me, that’s writing about all the coolest trends and creatives in weddings and PR-girling on the side)), we’d 1) be florists and/or 2) be pastry chefs. In our opinion, these pros have the best jobs in the world - full of fun, innovation, playfulness, skill, craftsmanship, and a whole lotta DELICIOUS duties. And when you bring those two worlds together, pssh, it’s everything and more. We’re talking stunning cake + the most stalk-worthy display of fresh cascading florals ever. Yes, it can cost a ton, but with our friends at FiftyFlowers.com, we attempted this type of confection perfection - and guess what? It didn’t break the bank - we still had plenty of funds left over for some post-project rosé to wash it all down - that’s what it’s all about, arewerite?!?!!
Our muse.
So, when you follow a lot of wedding-professional pâtisseries on the Gram like we do, you get exposed to a lot of looks. Cakes with gum paste flowers, cakes with sugar flowers, you name it, they can do a frosted kind of flower motif and make it look 👌👌👌. That said, it will end up costing you, because the work is a beast: time-consuming, tedious, and incredibly skill-intensive. That’s when you can call on your floral designer, to contribute some fresh blooms for embellishment, but typically they won’t have a full picture of your cake ahead of time, to be able to curate the perfect use for the flowers. So, it’s either a game-day add, with left over flower heads + petals, or something even more statement and strategic, meaning $$$$.
Our suggestion - if you want to save a little money and do something creative and cute with your partner leading up to the big day - is to go blank with your cake and then embrace your artistic inner selves with some fresh flower arranging. You can trust in our tips ((seriously, we did this ourselves, and none of us have these aforementioned careers on our resumes, we’re just fans and followers)) and the best materials ever from Fifty Flowers.
Not to toot our own horns... but WTHN?! She's gorgeous!
That classic, three-tiered, white buttercream canvas served as a stellar supporting player to our bright, energetic, and endlessly ‘I Do-’destined floral details. And, again, we don’t have cake credentials to our names, but we’re pretty sure even some of the bestie bakers in the business would give us some 🙌.
Just some things to keep in mind (before the masterpiecing can begin)
It’s much easier to work with a cake that is frosted and not dressed in hard fondant. When cake is covered in fondant it’s harder to put flowers in.
You’ll want to ask your baker to make sure the frosting is textured as opposed to perfectly even/flat. This will allow room for error (for instance, maybe a petal nicks the frosting or you want to move one of the flowers after you’ve placed it. with the textured frosting, you’re more flexible for quick fixes).
Flower water vials are great items to have on hand for two reasons. For starters, from an aesthetics perspective, they’ll keep the flowers looking fresh, as they’ll be able to soak up that water. And secondly, from a safety/hazardous perspective, some flowers can be poisonous or cause allergic reactions, so it’s best to keep the florals from actually touching food. You might want to refresh yourself on some of those poisonous stems, just to practice due diligence (and, you know, not send yourselves or any of your guests to the hospital…).
What we used.
Okay, so it’s a little more than three supplies for a cake with three layers, but it’s still pretty short and sweet.
- Eco Friendly Flower Tubes
- Stock Lavender Flowers
- Stock White Flowers
- Lavender Blush Scabiosa
- Peachy Watermelon Ranunculus
- Peach Roses
- Pink Garden Roses
- Flower Cutters (we used ones we already had on hand, but you can source pretty easily from a craft store, Amazon, and FiftyFlowers.com, as well!)
How we did it.
And so can you - in six easy to-dos!
Trim all the flowers and put each stem into its own water vial.
Use your “money” blooms first. We placed the bigger flowers first, because they’re true focal points. They’re going to be your stars of the cake (the ones that everyone who comments about on social media is going to point to)
When arranging the flowers, think about going up and around the cake, so the design snakes like a diagonal angle
Go in with your white and lavender stock flowers and pepper them in from bottom to top. On the bottom layer of the cake, we had longer stock stems and as we placed closer to the top, we cut the stock stems shorter (ideally, you just want the stems to match the length of the cake tier)
Add in smaller flowers to fill in any gaps
Take a picture - pleaseee, you’re going to want to remember this artistry, cut right in, and take a big bite!
One of our favorite DIYs ever!!
Drooling yet??
All good things come in threes, right? Well, let’s make it 4!
If you have a different vibe in mind for your cake, we’ve got recipes to help. Destination, moody, romantic? Take your pick, here are the flowers you'll need to purchase!
Tropical
- Monstera Leaves Tropical Greenery
- King Protea Flower
- Protea Yellow Pin Cushion Flower
- White Freesia Flower
- White Ranunculus
- Tropical Bellini Bulk Garden Rose
Moody/Jewel Tone
- Fresh Cut Designer Anemones (White with Dark Centers)
- Silver Dollar Eucalyptus Greens
- Purple Flame Dahlia Flower
- Stock Midnight Purple Flower
- Italian Ruscus Greenery
- Dark Pink Bulk Spray Roses
Romantic/Classic
- New Love Baby's Breath
- Stock White Flower
- Paper White Garden Rose
- Hybrid Tea Rose Sweet Avalanche
- Alex Flemming Peony
- Lamb's Ear Greenery
FOLLOW FIFTY FLOWERS ON IG, TOO, IF YOU AREN’T ALREADY! YOU’LL GET A LOT OF IDEAS
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- Hair, Makeup & Beauty: TSG Artistry
- Wedding Photographers: Radion Photography & Cinema
- Bridal Boutiques: Kate's Bridal Cottage
- Florist: Jewels Floral
- Model: Make Up by Morgan
- Styling: Wedding Chicks