I hope you all enjoyed your holiday with friends and family. I am noticing everywhere that people are getting engaged left and right (CONGRATULATIONS IF THATS YOU), and so I wanted to share a couple DIYs with you that could save you some money on your wedding day.

For this styled shoot, my friend Johnna and I DIYed the “floral” installation and bouquet. We had been talking about this shoot for several weeks, and the only thing we really decided on was that we did not want to spend any money. Luckily, she already had the dress that she had her sister wear, and Trey purchased his suit from Overstock. The venue we used is actually being remodeled to be an art studio/potential music venue and maybe more in the future, which is something Fort Smith desperately needs.

On the day of the shoot, we drove out to Oklahoma, parked the car on the side of the road and literally just started cutting off branches of this bush. I tried using a pair of scissors, but they were worthless essentially and just broke the branches off with my hands. I recommend using pliers or other tools made specifically for cutting branches.

Once we got to Underpin, we brought everything inside and sorted it. Since the branches by themselves were pretty thin, we combined one or two together with floral wire and then connected it to the wall (there were two-three nails sticking out of the wall, which was all we needed to hang this piece). Johnna worked from the top down, and I created the thick base and worked up. When we met in the middle and connected, we both took a step back and basically didn’t breathe for fear of the thing collapsing. It didn’t though, so we were both very surprised and pleased with ourselves. Then our focus turned towards the bouquet.

We had several branches left over from the installation, and then I had brought in several other foraged goodies that were left over from a shoot at Heritage Acres Venue. The dried hydrangeas were literally PERFECT, but it just seemed to be missing something. So while Johnna was working on putting together the bouquet, I went out back and broke off a free branches from a tree. It had some sort of berries on it, and it added additional texture and color to the overall look of the bouquet. Literally, it looked so good that I took it home after the shoot.

I wish I would have thought to take pictures of the process, but sadly, I did not! If DIYing on your own wedding day doesn’t sound like something you’d be interested in, I highly recommend reaching out to creative florists like 27 Rue de Fleur or Faith Hundley (if you’re local to Arkansas). They are both amazing artists and can help make all your floral dreams come true.

If you have any questions on how to make this yourself, feel free to email me at hello@stori.photos