Want your wedding to be trendy? Colorful? Green? Succulents are a great addition to any wedding no matter your theme or budget. What can you create with succulents? Whatever you want! Almost everything can be done ahead of time! Who doesn't like the idea of taking stress off the week of the wedding? They come in any color, shape, and size. If you have a little patience and 7-8 months before your wedding you can propagate all of your own succulents for your wedding. If you don't have the time or patience you can buy your succulents in bulk and start creating. We'll go over where to begin and a few projects to get you going!
How to begin
To start your succulent process, choose your colors. Succulents can be every color, yes, but keep in mind they don't always stay the same color. The more vibrant the succulents color the more stressed out it is. What does it mean to stress a succulent? Simply, lots of sunlight and little water. Don't forget to water them but wait until the soil is bone dry to water. Don't forget to use good soil! If the roots sit in water too long they will rot, killing your plant. 50/50 mix of succulent soil and Perlite (right next to succulent soil in the store) creates great drainage. You'll need a lot of sunlight or a plant light to help you out. If you're housing your succulents for a few months with not enough sunlight they will start to stretch.
To keep your succulents compact and vibrant you'll need plant lights. The cheapest way is to get some fluorescent shop lights with daylight (6500K) light bulbs. The 6500K is the important part. You can find this set up at almost any hardware store. With light bulbs, try to get the lights about 7 inches above the plants and have them on for 8-11 hours a day. When you first introduce your succulents to plant lights from the sunshine you need to ease them into it. Do half sun half plant lights for awhile with the lights higher up then work your way to the 7 inches. You don't want your succulents to burn.
Centerpieces
Make every table the same or totally different, the choice is up to you! Your succulent color should be chosen already, so the next step is the base/pot you want your centerpieces to be. Flower pots are a good starting place. You can do terrarium style. If you're blessed with the gift of thrifting you can find some amazing makeshift pots. You can find bowls either plastic, ceramic, or glass. Keep your budget in mind for what works for you.
Depending on the size of container you've chosen start with 3-5 succulents to create a triangle or star shape. Once you have those planted you can then you can start adding other ones around it, attempting to fill in some of the major gaps. Play around with your arrangement. You can add smaller plants to fill spaces. There are no wrong answers. Small gaps between the plants are okay! If you're doing this a month ahead of time the succulents will shift a bit and fill gaps.
Once you have your succulents where you think you'll want them you can begin to cover the soil with the medium of your choice, if you want to. For a more glam look your can use glass rocks. White or black rocks add a sleek finish to your arrangement. Want more of a whimsical look? Use moss to cover the soil. You can also add little figurines, candle holders, or lights to finish off your arrangement.
Take your centerpieces to the next level by layering your pots on top of wood slices, mirrors, doilies, or whatever matches your style! Water like you normally would. If you're container doesn't have drainage holes be careful not to over water.
Bouquets
Now that you've made your centerpieces the bouquets are next! You can do all succulents or add pretty flowers! You'll need wire cutters, floral wire (size depends on how big of succulents you're using), floral tape, sharp scissors, and whatever you want to wrap the "stems" in. To prepare the succulents you'll have to cut them. You want to have about 2 inches of bare stem to work with. You may have to remove some leaves from the stem to have it bare. You'll then cut some wire ~10 inches. Stick it directly through the stem under the last leaf. When the wire is about halfway through bend it down and twist creating a stem. For thicker stems you'll need to do another wire, underneath the first wire, making an "X" through the stem. Do this with all the succulents you intend on using.
The arrangement process is about the same as the centerpieces. Start with 3-5 main succulents you want to stand out then fill in around. You can either hold the stems or have them in a glass as you arrange them. Once you have them arranged the way you want you can floral tape the stems to keep them in place. You can then cover it in a lace, rope, or fabric of your choice.
Boutonnieres
You'll need the same supplies from the bouquets, but in addition you may need a tacky glue. Prepare your succulents in the same way as bouquets, but make your stem about 4 inches long. If the stem ends up being too long you can always trim it. For boutonnieres you may only need one succulent. You can fill in with smaller succulents or other materials that you would like to incorporate. They should be about the size of your palm. You can floral tape and add your outer material just like the bouquets. If you need to glue your succulents onto anything they will stay alive. It will not harm the plants. Be careful of hot glue. You can use it, but if you burn a spot of the succulent it'll stay alive. It will be damaged in that area.
Aftercare
All of your succulent projects can be done ahead of time! Anything that's been glued will eventually shoot out roots. To keep them alive spritz with water every week or 2 to encourage the root growth. After the wedding you can disassemble your projects and plant them! Succulents are a great renewable way to decorate your wedding. You can give some away to guests as parting gifts and keep some for yourself. Your succulents will grow as your marriage does!
Happy wedding planting!
xoxo
Helpful Links :)
Bulk Succulents:
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/
Plant lighting:
Written by Kelsey Stearns for Nichole Diehm Photography
0 Comments