My Brooch Bouquet

I feel like this post has been anticpated from friends and family for quite some time. Well, here it is! Here is where you find out all the details and the story behind this sparkly, colorful, and very heavy bouquet.

I was not expecting my bouquet to be such a "big hit." I thought it was going to fall into the sea of wedding details that often get overlooked. However, it ended up landing a spot in our top three wedding comments by guests. And after putting so much time and thought into it, I have to say it was really appreciated that people noticed it. 

Brooch bouquets first came to my knowledge when I got a Pinterest (Fall, 2011). And it officially went on the list of things I wanted in my wedding. Which at the time only consisted of borrowing my sisters' veil and jewelry, and buying some kind of lace dress. 

I remember showing brooch bouquets to my mom, and she agreed. I had to have this in my wedding some day. That summer we started purchasing brooches and building a collection. Which I thought was very silly and borderline embarrassing since I wash't even engaged yet (little did I know, that it was only a 3 months away). I am so glad we started collecting early. Brooches might be easy to come by, but pretty brooches under $10? Not so much. We bought most of them at thrift stores, little vintage shops, antique malls, and garage sales (of course). 

One thing that made our shopping easier, was that we weren't too picky. We weren't looking for certain colors or only flowers - we were flexible. As long as it was generally pretty and colorful - and cheap - we were in. And bonus points if it was a flower. Also, our searching didn't stop at brooches. My bouquet included many charms as well as large clip on earrings.

I was very fortunate to already have a small collection of jewelry from my grandmother. This is one of the reasons that really attracted me to making my own bouquet.  I knew I would be able to infuse it with family tokens that were very special to me. 

The picture above was taken about 6 months before our wedding. And, as you can see, I still had quite a ways to go. It was at this point I also started to assemble the brooch "stems". Just the beginning steps of attaching the brooches on wire (I plan on doing a full blog post on this at another time). I only had a few days to work on it being on winter break from school.

Over the next few months, we continued to collect and eventually I was done with school and could commit more time to shopping and assembling. It was at this time that Kim (my mother-in-law) visited and saw some of my assembled brooches, and she brought me all of her grandmother's jewelry (See below). And a few other items from Tom's side of the family. I was SO excited. Not only did she let me use these for my bouquet, but she gave them to me to keep. It was very special, and I can't really put into words how much that meant to me.

This bouquet started off as a simple wedding craft, and then evolved into this great representation of two families coming together. Seriously, the coolest thing ever.

After I had attached "stems" to all my brooches and various jewelry pieces, I photographed all the ones that had special meaning to me. You'll see that I included just about anything. It made it so much fun. And I don't know what I would have done with most of it anyway. Now they are showcased! The bouquet ended up being about 60% purchased and 40% family owned (a much larger percentage than I began with. This was very exciting).

All of these belonged to my grandmother, WooWoo. I especially love the gold, beaded clip on earrings.

These, also, belonged to WooWoo. And yes, they are real rabbit's feet. They are supposed to bring you good luck! (so far, so good, lol). Sorry if they creep you out, but I think they are awesome!

All of the above belong to Tom's Great Grandmother Tilly. My favorites are the polka-dot navy flowers.

One of my bridesmaids is a sorority sister, and we attached our pins to the bouquet. Very cool and special. I still need to give hers back to her. (Sorry Colleen. I hope you'll still be my friend...haha. but seriously hit me over the head or something.) 

Top Left: My girl scout pin and cheerleading letter pin. Top Right: I have a tattoo of an oil lamp of my foot (representing psalm 119:105). We saw this in the store, and thought it would be a must. Bottom Left: My old monogram ring. I wouldn't need it anymore! Bottom Right: An 'H' to represent my maiden name.

The wishbone we bought at a store, but I thought it was too cool not to include in this post. The other frames all showcase items of my mothers. We got to spend a few hours going through her hope chest looking for items to include. The hope chest doesn't get opened that often, so it was special to get to look through all the memories she has saved. It was one of my favorite mother daughter moments. and I absolutely adore the green bow. 

The above items were from Tom's family. The butterfly is from his grandmother, Nana.

After all the brooches had their stems, I assembled the bouquet itself. Not as easy as it sounds. There was a lot of trial and error, but eventually it worked out. If all my work had been consecutive, it would have taken my about a week to attach all the wire stems and assemble the bouquet.  I tried my best to keep the special ones on the top "layer" of the brooches. Below are pictures taken from different angles to give you a view of all the brooches. 

I was really happy with how it turned out. It is definitely a piece that is very dear to me and holds a lot of memories. I hope to give it to my daughter someday when I have a family of my own.

Below are photographs from our wedding day that showcase the bouquet. The first photo below shows these picture charms I included to hang below the mass of brooches. From left to right they are: baby Caitlin (me), my three siblings, and Tom & his sister. My mom had the charms of our family, and Kim happen to have one of her kids as well (Oh the 90s). It was perfect.

I also gave extra brooches to my florist to put on all the bridesmaid's bouquets. (Hi colleen. This photo is of you.)

The bouquet stayed at the head table all night. So many guests were commenting on it,  so it was a good place they could look at it and pick it up and such.

 Where is my brooch bouquet living today? It has a special place in my living room where I see it everyday. 

Well, I think that is about it. Thanks for checking in.

Laterbug, Caiterbug.