DIY Boho Flower Swags
This will be a small series showcasing wedding decor that I have helped with as well as some DIY options you can do to create the perfect day!
First, I want to mention at the end of the blog is a link to my video showing more behind the scenes leading up to the big day! I love having the video option so that you can see how everything came together, and see how the professional pictures turned out. —
In this blog, I will go over how we did the archway and boho flower swags. So stay tuned for the macrame backdrop! If you sign up for our newsletter, you will receive a free downloadable PDF plan with step-by-step directions so you can recreate the project yourself. Let me know in the comments if there was something you wanted to know more about. :)
DISCLAIMER: **I do make a small commission on everything that I have linked.**
Mountain Arch & Boho Flower Swags
A boho wedding is one of the easiest and most aesthetic directions to go for a mountain wedding in the Fall! The colors and textures will contrast well against the deep forest green backdrop and the other natural elements. Other style directions to go for a mountain wedding destination would be: rustic, country, classic and traditional styles.
Creating a mood board to begin planning your wedding is a great way to start! Click to read more about the mood board created for this beautiful Fall mountain wedding. :) From the ideas you gather on your board, you will be able to determine 1. Where you want to get married, 2. The types of venues to tour and will choose from for your wedding, 3. Overall color scheme to help choose wedding attire, floral color selection and tablecloth selection, 4. Decorations you absolutely want to invest in.
Let’s jump into how you can recreate these boho swags! ✨
The Boho Swags
If you are not a boho style fan, you can use these same steps and concepts for other themed dried floral swags.
Each swag took me just over an hour to create. The first swag taking the longest amount of time making sure the look is what I wanted as I went. The second swag still took some time making sure it matched the first swag.
Pro-tip: You will want to to plan out your dried grasses, faux flowers and greenery. The best way I have found is to first gather some inspo pictures (I use Pinterest) for size, grass types, and color options. Then make a list of each type of grass you will need to create the look you want. Then place your order. Be sure to order an extra 5+ stems over to sort through since some grass stems will be bent or broken.
The goal for this wedding was very much boho style, which meant I needed to get a large variety of grasses. Mainly pampas grasses. Keep in mind there are many different sizes or stem lengths you can order. Follow to the end for the full list of grasses, faux flowers and greenery complete with links to purchase for your own swags.
The basic concept to create the perfect swags for your archway is to start with large grasses or dried leaves and work your way to smaller and different textured grass until you get to the front/center part of the swag. In the center, you will want to put greenery, flowers and fillers. In these swags I used palm leaves as my background. They helped create the shape of the swag. Once you add the large palm leaves, you won’t be able to see through the swags. It also gives that full affect.
Remember the boho style is very forgiving and you can go really any direction, even colors. The boho style is a free-spirited look that mixes different cultures and artistic expression into one eclectic style with the emphasis of using nature and organic elements. As long as you keep that in mind, you will have the look you are going for.
Tools & Supplies Used
Scissors
Needle nose plyers
Cutters
Carpenter knife
Floral tape (will use later)
Tape measure
Chicken wire*
Dry floral foam*
**I was in a time crunch and created my own floral foam with a cage. This is the one I originally planned to use:👉
Floral Foam Cage DIY
Since the floral swag design used dried grasses and faux flowers, you do not need to soak the foam in water. If you were to use live greenery and flowers, be sure to soak your foam in water. The chicken wire works similar to the cage by helping hold the stems in place and provide additional support since the swags are quite large.
TIP: For live flowers and greenery, start creating the swags at a maximum of 2 days before the big day. Your flowers will need a few days to open fully, and making the swags closer to your wedding ensures fresh looking flowers. They won’t be droopy and will look perfect for pictures!
To create your own floral cages:
Step 1: You will only need two items to build your own floral cages: a FloraCraft floral foam block with dimensions: 2.6”x3.4”x7.8” and chicken wire ribbon (I found both at our local Hobby Lobby store in the floral section or Amazon has the same thing)
NOTE: This part is slightly messy while you work with the foam; little foam particle will shave off. I would recommend working outside or in a garage.
Step 2: Wrap one section around the length of the foam leaving about 3-4” out on each end. Make sure to leave one end flush with what you will use as the “bottom”. This will be how you hang/attach the swags.
Step 3: Use the cutters to snip the wire, and then use the needle nose plyers to bend back the wire you cut.
Step 4: Then you will wrap two pieces of wire around the width of the foam. Start by using the needle nose plyers to bend the raw wired edge and attach it to the back wire ribbon. Wrap the wire around the width and use the cutters to cut the wire where you can wrap the wire completely around. Then use the needle nose plyers to bend the edge and attach the wire ribbon to the other side of the first ribbon you attached. Repeat the process for the second wire.
Step 5: Bend the 3-4” wired ribbon you left out on each end to flatten the wire together. Now you can start building the swags! :)
Planning Layout and Size
First, loose-lay a few large pieces that will be the background for the swags. This included the dried palm leaves and white bamboo leaves branch. It is important to not stick any pieces in just yet. You do not want a bunch of holes in your foam before you get the look you’re going for. Some of your grasses will end up falling out and you do not want that…
This is also the moment you will want to lay out a tape measure to see what size you want your swags. Because our archway was going to be fairly large, I wanted the swags to be the best proportion compared to the height and width of the wooden mountain arch. I ended up building them 44” long x 24” wide.
Once you are happy with the size and beginning look, trim your stems down and stick them in where you were planning. Make sure the heavier grasses are at least 3/4 the way into the foam for structure. Also, remember to start in the back of your foam block and move your way forward with each section of grasses you put in the floral foam.
As I moved around each side, I tried to mirror what I did on the other side. I mirrored diagonally across. Start with the larger grasses as well. For instance, I spaced out large 40” pampas grass all the way around the swag. To add dimension, I made sure they stuck out a bit further than the palm leaves.
This is also where you will want to add some color or greenery. Therefore, I put a few eucalyptus further towards the middle to plan out where I wanted green to peak through. Then I added the large daisy flowers in the front to plan out how much depth I wanted in the swags. The daisies are going to be the focal point. You can make them with the same pattern throughout instead of adding a center focal point. Here is an example:
SourcePinterest
Start sticking different textures throughout. Here I used a mixture of bunny tail and skinny pampas grass plumes. I also started mixing in white died pampas and bunny tail to compliment the white.
Pro Tip: Try to work in bunches of 3 kinds of the same stems, grasses or flowers. Groups of three or odd numbers are pleasing to the eye.
If you want to create even more depth or roundness, consider keeping the smaller & textured grasses a little bit further away from the floral foam cage and cutting the stems longer as you go outward. Think of creating a sphere shape.
When you’re done, it is time to take your finished swag outside to fluff up. This is my favorite part!
I find it takes 3-4 hours before the pampas grass fluffs up fully in the sun.
Mountain Archway
At first we had thought the arch was going to be stacked one in front of the other (one arch smaller than the other) since they were built as two separate pieces. But then we got the idea to stagger the two arches to look like a mountain range. Something different, unexpected and emphasized the fact we were in the mountains for this wedding.
Then to ground the area for the ceremony and compliment the warm tones from the dried grasses in the swags, we added a rug in front. I love how the rug pulled the red and browns from some of the pampas grasses in the swags and in the wood grain. The rug also came in handy as something dry for the bride, groom and officiant to stand on since it had been raining for days leading up to the big day! You cannot tell in the pictures, but the ground was definitely wet under your shoes.
Final Look
It was so much fun to step outside of my regular interior design projects, and help my sister decorate for her special day!
Be sure to watch my video showing all the behind the scenes and how the pictures of the beautiful fall mountain wedding turned out here. You can download the free PDF detailing the archway project and instructions for the swags here.
Links:
If you want to read more into my life as an interior designer working in Montana, click to read more. All of your support is amazing, and I am so thankful you are here! :)I really hope this has helped you with your projects or future ideas. Please follow along for a deeper look into wedding decor how-to’s and what I’ve learned to be successful planning out your big day. Send me projects you are currently working on in the comments below!
Happy Styling! :)
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