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Hubby and I just got back from our wedding & honeymoon in Maui and I wanted to share with you my favorite part of the planning: making my own bouquet. Really enjoyed making it!! And my very first experience as a florist. Never ever thought I would be able to do this- it was a very last minute idea. But it turned out so pretty, don't you think think?  The process was easy, but I was meticulous so it took me about 2-3 hours. These are real flowers! I bought 2 different bouquests of roses (because I loved both shades) at Safeway and some greens for contrast. I got florist tape at a florist before the trip. Let me know if you'd like more info on how I did it.  I'm happy it turned out exactly how I imagined. So if you have a desire to make your own flowers, go for it, it's completely possible!

@SydneyScribbler: Thank you!!

@Juliepants: Thanks! Sure, I'd love to tell you more. Florist tape is the special tape that florists use to tape the stems together. It's usually green to match the color of the stems, as you can see in my photos. The tape is nice and stretchy, a little bit sticky on one side and has a paper-ish feel to it. It's thin and clings to the stems real well, so it really secures them together. You can just go to your local florist and ask them to sell a roll to you, that's what I did. It cost me between $2-3. At the time I purchased it, I was just intending to use it for my hair flowers which I was thinking to make, and the florist gave me ideas how to do it and even gave me some flowers to practice, which was super nice of her. But I ended up not bothering with the hair flowers. Anyway, here's what I did to create the bouquet (the night before my wedding):

• Tools I used: florist tape, scissors, rubber bands, some pin needles
• The night before my wedding, I went to Safeway and bought 2 dozen roses ($15 each), plus some green leaves, don't know what they're called ($6) total cost =$36.
• The rose stems were really long so I cut a few inches off to be able to sit them in water while I worked.
• I tore off all the leaves from the stems. They don't look good anyways and it's easier to work with bare stems. Besides, I had my special greens to add later.
• I took a few roses and practiced taping the stems together. Tear off a long piece of tape, hold the tape to the back of the stems and then rotate the stems counter-clockwise slowly with your left hand while you adjust the tape around the stem with your right hand. The tape should wrap around the stems in a slightly diagonal way so that it actually covers a good length of the stem.
• Then I picked out the 3 best looking roses= they would be in the middle of my bouquet. I tucked in some of the sepals (the pointy leaves that surround the rose bud) and tied the 3 stems together with the tape, starting from the top where the stems comfortably fit together and continuing to twist the tape around the stems for a few more inches. I had to really make sure the tape was nice and snug, not loose, so I stretched it a little. 
• Next I added a couple more roses, taping them tightly to the existing piece. Some rose buds are more opened up then others, so I just played around with different roses to see which ones fit better here and there, and added taped them to the bouquet a couple at a time. I added the green leaves here and there, and the leaves actually helped to cover up the untaped parts of the stems all around the bouquet. 
• Once I added enough roses to achieve the right size (I didn't want a large bouquet so I stayed with 15 flowers total), I began to tape over the stems with a fresh piece of tape, neatly from top to bottom and back up to the top.
• I secured the loose end with 4 pin needles.
• I used a spray bottle and sprayed water all over the bouquet. Stuck it into a cup of water and put it into the mini fridge we had in our hotel. Overnight nothing happened to the flowers, and I actually kept my bouquet in the fridge for the whole week after the wedding because I just could not bring myself to throw it away. It stayed fresh, which was amazing.  

I think that's all. Hope this makes sense. If something is not very clear, let me know! 

@lazybee: Oh, I forgot to mention how I used the rubber bands. So when I secured all the flowers together and before I had put on the final layer of tape, I had tied the top and the bottom of the stems with the 2 rubber bands. Then I put the final layer of tape over everything. I also forgot to mention that, at that point, I used the scissors to do a final trim on all the stems.

@MademoiselleL: I'm so excited for you! For us it was a dream come true to get married on the beach. I did a lot of research beforehand, having never been to Hawaii, about hotels and beaches and where to get married. I'll start with our hotel. We stayed at Makena Golf & Beach Resort, which we both really enjoyed. This hotel is the last one on the south shore strip of hotels, and it's super relaxing and quiet there. We went in September so there were no kids and barely any people during the week. The beach that is next to the hotel (Makena Beach) is very nice. The hotel staff were super friendly, we got a free upgrade, they clean like all the time, and overall we are very satisfied with our experience there. However, we did not get married at this hotel. We did see a couple of weddings there and from what I could tell from the brides' behavior, looked like they were happy brides. There are several beautiful locations where you could choose to have your ceremony and wedding reception, from what I saw. Keep in mind that if you have a sunset wedding, it gets really dark outside after the sun sets (~6:30 every night). So think about lighting if you want to do that. I can give you more info on this if you are considering them.

Now the wedding. Sounds like you already booked something, but I can just tell you that we did not go with any hotel, and said our vows on White Rock Beach, a small private beach which is a short drive from the Makena resort. So if you do end up on the south shore, I recommend you visit that beach. We booked with The Maui Marrying Man (Rev. Ron) and his wife, Dot, who is a photographer. They were great, easy to talk to and friendly, we are very happy we found them. I was very picky about finding a good photographer without spending a fortune, and did not find any better photographer for the price that Dot and Rev. Ron offered. Check them out: http://www.themauimarryingman.com/ So we kept it super simple in Maui, but we do plan to do a wedding celebration later in spring with all our friends and family. Where you are planning to get married in Maui?

As for Safeway flowers...We visited two Safeways and they had good flowers. I also checked out the flowers at Costco, and they were good too, just not exactly the color that I was looking for. What you should do is talk to the florist at Safeway beforehand and find out when their freshest roses get delivered. Make sure you ask at the exact Safeway where you plan to get them, because as I found out, each store is different. If you don't see the flowers you like out, ask the florist if they have some in the back room and she'll bring what they have out for you. If you go with Costco, I found out that they do special order. Call them and check out what that means, maybe they can get you the type of flowers that you want.

And just so you know, both Costco and Safeway sell leis. Costco had inexpensive leis, and the special cool looking leaf and nut leis for the guys (whatever those are called), and a selection of tropical flowers.

Let me know if you need anything else!

@MademoiselleL:Yes, the centerpieces! I am thinking of doing those myself for our spring wedding...that will be interesting and perhaps harder if I want to do some creative combinations. But it should be fun though. I know your wedding is later than mine, but I hope you post about what you did!  I have not seen very many posts about DIY with fresh flowers.