Wedding Crafts

As we move closer to the big day (60 days to go!) a sense of panic is setting in.  Mostly around money.  Thus the reason that I plan to MAKE a lot of things for the wedding, like the table centerpieces, the bouquets, and the boutonnieres.

First the boutonnieres:

So, the website that inspired my idea for the wedding "flowers" was www.bulletbouquets.com and they are brilliant when it comes to the creation of bullet themed stuff.  The problem is that they are extremely expensive.  The three-bloom boutonnieres are $30.00 each and I need four!  So, for the guys alone, that is $120.00.

So, I looked into getting just the blooms in order to make the stuff myself (as I have a bucket of spent shells, so I don't really need someone to put those together for me).  Two dozen of the blooms are $82.00!!!!  I need at least that, possibly more in order to create everything.

I researched how to make the blooms.  It is just a hollow point shell (the right brand), shot into water or gel.  We have 45cal here at the house because hubs carries the hollow points as his duty ammo when he's doing work for the Sheriff.  So, the options are to hoard water bottles (I'd need about 100 to make 30 to 50 blooms) or to get a 55 gallon metal drum.

From a cost perspective, this is becoming insane.  If I buy everything ready-made, I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars.  If I make it myself, I will have the tools to make more, but there will be some initial expenditure.

Weighing it out, I can buy a 55 gallon drum, used, on craigslist for about $10.00.  After that it is just purchasing the right 45cal HP ammo to get the bloom shape I want.  I now hope to be able to put navy blue Swarovski crystals in the center to really make them look more like flowers.

Of course, finding the right ammo, and choosing what you shoot it into, makes a difference.  Look at the different bloom results from different caliber Winchester ammo, going into different mediums, that I found:

http://s154.photobucket.com/user/lanceJOregon/media/guns/ranger_t_compare.jpg.html

Based on my research, the .45 Federal HST Hydro-shock is going to be the way to go.  They bloom into the star shaped flowers I will need.

http://s215.photobucket.com/user/amarburger1/media/IMG_1766.jpg.html

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Now the bouquets:

I've been looking into silk flowers.  I'm not into a lot of flowers.  I like lilacs and lillies, one of which is only available a short time each year, and the other is expensive.  To get a fresh flower bouquet, I would be spending probably around $75 each!  That is not worth it to me, to not be able to get the flowers I like, and to have them die.

With silk flowers, the bouquets will last forever, and I can mount mine in a shadow box without issue.  I have no plan to toss the bouquet.  We aren't doing any garter nonsense, so there is no reason not to make the bouquet.

The plan is a combination of white lilacs, calla lillies, and navy anemone; accented with some of the bullet flowers (spray painted silver), with navy Swarovski crystals in the center (like in the picture above), and with some silver brunia and dusty miller or lamb's ear as fillers.  Best of all, I can get all of these at save-on-crafts, the same place I'll be getting the materials for the centerpieces!

I was looking at this as an inspiration piece: