17 wedding bouquet alternatives for fearless brides
Posted by offbeatmegan · OMG OBT, Wedding porn

Gorgeous, gorgeous!! I love the crystal vintage one, I love the feathers and the fan! Anything with a touch a glam is gorgeous!

I'm not going to be holding anything, no flowers, no nothin'. Apparently this makes me QUITE the rebel and my mother was a bit confused and I think disappointed we wouldn't be arguing over bouquets…lol.

Oh man, i love the feather bouquet, but me and my vegetarian ways won't let me have 'em. But, as a result of a Google search for synthetic feathers, here is one source suggested on DeviantArt that I hadn't thought of:

"Pluck a synthetic bird."

really REALLY LOVE the crystals, seashells, buttons and muffs, but I keep thinking that lantern would be awesome with incense in it……
just think, you walk in and the room is filled with your favorite scent!

Instead of an all-flower bouquet, mine had glittery roses and greenery with lots of silver, gold, and iridescent stars. Went well with our celestial theme.

aww, i feel so *sniff* special, haha.

and i think i need a lantern for my dinner party…hmmm *off to think of a way to work lantern carrying into a party that doesn't involve an actual wedding…*

I LOVE the leather roses but those bad boys run about $50 a piece! NOT gonna work with my budget. Time to put my DIY thinking cap on…

Hey everyone! I'm so glad you enjoyed my first "big girl intern" post. I loved finding all of your creative ideas.

@De good luck with that. I got SO MUCH crap from all angles bc I wasn't holding a bouquet. meh.

@Courtney damn! I was traveling all day yesterday. I had been checking that discussion religiously until yesterday. Oh well, thanks for posting a link.

@Courtney Lear make sure to post your DIY solution once you come up with it!

@Danielle Thanks for the link! It looked absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

-Megan

Random story…when my aunt got married in the 70's, her florist never showed up. My grandma improvised and handed my aunt her Bible to carry and saved the day. I'm not religious, but I think it's awesome that my grandma thought of something off the cuff and took away the panic factor for my aunt. That's just how she was. If she were still around, she would think all of our weddings rock. She was offbeat in her time too.

Ahhh! I have no eyes! Trying again…

o)

Feeling that flowers are a waste of money, we decided on crepe paper flowers. They're amazing, and will work as the bouquets, boutineers, and table decor. Hooray!

I love the shells, so clever/creative and what a lovely keepsake after all is said and done (same for the buttons)!

This is a great post. I love all these alternative, they make such fun details!

@island_monkey thank you for the support girl! you know I adore ya.

I embroidered a handkerchief for my sister that she carried down the aisle. In each corner I sewed initials – of my sister the bride, our mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. It was particularly sentimental because it was made from the cloth of her baptismal gown, and was a great conversation piece. Plus, it does double duty when those tears start flowing!

I LOVE all these non-floral bouquet stuffs! Don't get me wrong, I love flowers, but like most of us, I want to be different and do not/cannot afford to spend out the ass for florals.

I had two thoughts: One- Cost Plus World Market has these really awesome round paper lanterns with battery operated lights. They come in different colors and sizes; I think they would look awesome going down the aisle all lit up.

Two- I know at rehearsals, most brides carry the ribbons from gifts they got at their showers. My thought is, why not carry that over on THE day? Get a crap load of different color/textures of ribbon to make lotsa pretty bows.

Hope y'all like these ideas!

My aunt carried a large tambourine with long ribbons at her wedding. Us bridesmaids had smaller tambourines with glass beads around them and ribbons. The 2 flower girls had some other adorned noise-maker (I don't remember exactly what it was). Thought it was a totally random, fun, and different idea.

Gotta add one more: walking down the aisle with a lollipop!

I carried a book of poetry – and read from it during the vows.

Oh no! I broke the internet!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2629255297_10a4d0eb51.jpg?v=0
Here's the link again.

nice and original

@Arwen- yes, definitely, most of these could be tweaked a bit (or, in fact stripped down) to be made into boutonnieres. If you can see in the second picture there are the bouts pictured next to the bouquet and in the origami example the link takes to you an example of an origami bout.

ok, here it is, if you are on OBT:
http://offbeatbride.ning.com/profiles/blogs/1190964:BlogPost:328816
ninakr!stine
Fan-f-ing-fantastic!

Great ideas, my artist friend is making a bouquet out of swaroski crystals for me, I can't wait to see the end result!

if my wedding had been more toward the dusk time I would have used lanterns for the bridesmaids!

Somehow reading these posts just inspired me with a new (and oh-so-cheap!!!!) idea for our wedding:

Our theme is "going back to our roots" with a tree motif throughout. I have been really struggling with the whole bouquet thing (expensive, may be hard to find organic flowers, blahblahblah). So, here's what I think we'll do:

Each of us carry a branch (picked up from the ground somewhere) with family photos hanging from them. Once at the "altar," we'll put them together in a vase or some sort of container. Voila! Inexpensive, "green," and oh-so-symbolic!

Wow, I feel better.

Wow! Those origami flowers look amazing!
Great collection of creative ideas there.

Mileah…I LOVE your idea. Our theme is "Retromantica Carnivàle" and we'll also be including as much family memorabilia as we can round up. You could make vintage style mini photo frames for your pictures too, by cutting recycled cardstock. And I've seen vintage looking "frame" stamps at the craft store…. There is a special embossing ink you can use, and then dust with a metallic pigment. It makes kind of a relief design. That would be so neat! Also, I'd say print duplicates and do them front and back so they don't get flipped backwards. OK, now I'm gonna have to do this with our photos. I love how ideas evolve on OBB!!! Thanks for the inspiration! Good Luck!

fantastic list! i love the parasol idea. and candy bouquet too! yum

interesting blog you have here.

I'm making my bridesmaids carry parasols with ribbon and flowers wrapped around. I'm carrying flowers and maybe a pretty lacy fan too. My favorite of these ideas is the outrageous fake flowers and the ball bouquets. they are so fun.

I'd love to find out where to get the black lantern pictured in the post…

Yep, Rega — that's called a "Guest Bouquet" and I've written about them here before: http://offbeatbride.com/tag/guest-bouquet

I am currently working with this amazing artist in NZ http://keepsakebouquets.co.nz/ to do my bouquets. I love them!!

I love the feather and crystal bouquets. Fabric or ribbon bouquets can also be a good alternative.

I am planning a very OBB wedding in Northern Portugal. I have designed my dress to be in shades of blue, cream, butter yellow, and periwinkle (this will match the blue and white tiles and the gold leaf on just about every surface of the church). The dress will have a corset (removable), and for modesty, a medieval style hooded cape with late medieval/early renaissance sleeves that would be awkward with a bouquet. Because I'm doing the medieval/renaissance look to go with the church (circa 1400s) I'm doing a faux flower head wreath for myself as well as my attendants. I made them, they're easy to carry, affordable…and when done can be hung on a wall or reused (either in the home or to wear)….so they will double as a 'thank you' gift for the bridesmaids (my sister and nieces.) The other challenge, and reason for not carrying a bouquet, is that I am doing a bilingual ceremony and will have to carry a 'cheat sheet' of vows etc. in Portuguese (which I will disguise in some kind of nice leather-bound journal or prayer book thingy.

these are really inspiring! I wonder if brides ever thought of carrying a giant candle! might be risky (of flames blowing out) but the illumination effect would be spectacular especially at sunset

Years ago, when I was both engaged and working as a cook, I was going for an all-vegetable "floral" theme–a bouquet made of crudites and sort of a harvest cornucopia effect at the chuppah. The wedding didn't happen in part because my MIL-to-be thought the vegies (and me, and my friends, and my folks, etc.) would embarrass her in front of her family; my intended agreed with his mom, and this is too much information, isn't it? Sorry.

This isn't exactly non-floral, but I did see a more a successful wedding in which the bride–a neuroscientist marrying another neuroscientist–carried a bouquet made of coxcomb celosia in the form of a brain, with the major lobes color-coded.

I'm still carrying flowers, but my bouquet will be hand assembled with dried flowers with wheat instead. I love the look for my fall wedding, and that way, I don't have to worry about trying to dry them or preserve them later!