DIY Easter Lily Backdrop
Veronica from My Hands Made It is back with us again, now sharing with us one last project she made for her wedding. She is also the brains and crafty hands behind Coco Irene, a fabulous accessories shop with the cutest belts and statement necklaces.
I’m pretty sure the first time I saw the Easter Lily altar from Martha Stewart my heart stopped beating for a second. I had been searching for a ceremony backdrop with a 1930s look and that altar was so sculptural and had such a great deco feel to it – I HAD TO HAVE IT. Unfortunately a couple hundred fresh Easter Lilies are not within our budget nor are they even available in late June for our wedding. So I went with artificial lilies, and although they are definitely not as fragrant, they still look seriously awesome.
The cheapest flowers I could find were bought by the bush, which meant a lot of time spent stripping the flowers and leaves from their plastic stems and then removing the stamens. The flowers then had holes running through the centers – perfect for stringing onto wire.
To make our 7 ft tall x 4 ft wide altar, I used:
- Approximately 450 artificial lilies
- Two 3 ft long wooden dowel rods
- Bendable wire
- 4 ft long leaf garland
- Masking tape
The process is actually super simple. Make an “O” at the end of a length of wire and drop your first lily on, bell side down. Then crimp and twist the wire so that the bottom of the next lily will just graze the top of the first. Add another lily and so on until you’ve reached your desired length. Wrap the top of your wire around a dowel rod and begin on the next wire. I also added leaves from the lily bushes for a little extra color. Keep working with the dowel rods separately and vary the length of wire. When both dowel rods are filled, tape them together to achieve the width of your altar. The flowers will then overlap, creating great depth. The leaf garland is great for camouflaging the dowel rods – simply attach with wire.
Pretty romantic stuff, right? I can’t wait to see the sun shining through this gorgeous curtain of flowers as I walk down the aisle.
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this is incredible! it’s like an indoor weeping willow. wonderful backdrop.
artificial lillies? wow they look so real…gorgeous
WOW- This is so beautiful! What a fabulous idea!
One talented lady! Loving it all.
SERIOUSLY cool.
This is absolutely gorgeous – kudos on a job well done. I’d love to see pictures of your backdrop in use! The fake flowers look good too – I can’t tell the difference, and I’m sure no one at the ceremony will be able to either!
Beautiful!
Stunning. I love the curtain of flowers. It is defiantly worth the time put into it.
This is so gorgeous, and it looks totally real! Great job:)
Oh my gosh that altar is beautiful! I love it!
Totally in love with this idea! I was looking everywhere for ideas for an altarpiece. I might want to do a variation of using orchids. Thanks!!
oh this is perfect!! i was looking for some decor ideas for a flowers wedding redo post and that’s perfect, i love that flower wall!! wow, and from real flowers it would just smell amazing!!
Absolutely beautiful! I did something similar for my wedding, but with orchid petals. I too remember the hardest part being pulling off all of those petals from their bunches..that and keeping our 5 month old puppy away from the project!
You can see it here:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=44370899&l=ca983954b1&id=8809385
Not nearly as full and beautiful as yours! Great work and happy planning!
Where did you purchase the Lillies !?
Oh hey, and if you don’t feel like doing the work yourself, you can always just purchase one from BHLDN for $1,800 and pretend they didn’t steal the idea from anyone (:
http://www. bhldn. com/the-shop_decor_decorating/forever-flower-ceremony-backdrop