I love a good wreath. Bless Curtis for indulging my wreath collection. Oyster shell, cotton, corn husk, Christmas, Easter – the opportunities are endless. My only HOA citation when we lived in our condo was for having our boxwood wreath up for too long. It was barely mid-January so it felt a little harsh, but I hate getting in trouble and took it down. For our wedding I’d planned to have floral wreaths on the doors of our church. but the need for last minute budget cuts prompted us to do without. When we cancelled our wreaths, the florist thought we meant to cancel ALL wreaths, including the ones for our three flower girls to wear. The wedding day went on of course, but the truth is, I never actually got over it – big problems, I know – and so I scheme for as many occasions as possible to include a fresh floral wreath. With all the time, materials and fresh flowers they can require, it’s no wonder it’s a pricier item from a florist! But if you’re feeling crafty, I found a more manageable option using my new favorite flower hack, Dollar Hydrangeas.
For those who have never heard of Dollar Hydrangea, get ready for your mind to be blown! Fifty hydrangeas, for 50$ – delivered to your door! They come in a box, the stems individually wrapped in baggies with water, and in great shape. My plan was to test run this wreath option for Catherine’s baptism and any future occasions that may call for a wreath. But aside from wreath making, I will be ordering these again to fill my house with flowers. Find some friends to split an order with you!
To start, pick out your hydrangea color. I chose white, but there’s green and they even have blue hydrangeas that would be great for the 4th of July coming up! Then, gather your supplies. I did not have time to go to Michael’s or any floral design store so I ordered my oasis wreath form from Amazon after measuring to confirm the size I wanted for our front door. I chose a 15″. Make sure you get the floral foam for “wet” designs. The first time I tried my hand at using oasis I pulled a real rookie move and got the dry foam for silk flowers.
Supplies: Dollar Hydrangeas, Oasis Wreath Form, Flower Sheers, Buckets, Wreath Hanger.
Next, these are the steps I took:
1. Soak the oasis. I soaked mine for about 24 hours.
2. Prepare your hydrangeas. I didn’t know how many I’d need, but I ended up using 25 hydrangeas. How much you use will be depending on your wreath size, hydrangea size, and overall approach. If I were doing this again I’d just start with 20 and add from there if necessary. Take them out of their wrappers, strip the leaves, and put then in a bucket. The buckets I use for flowers I got for free at Trader Joe’s.
3. I decided to assemble the wreath on our kitchen counter next to the sink. Since the oasis is very wet, I did so on top of a trash bag to collect puddling water.
4. I started inserting hydrangeas on the top surface or “face” of the wreath to get a feel for how it would go. This was not a measure twice cut once situation, I cut the hydrangeas and then would have to cut them again until it nestled “just right” into the oasis. I kept at it until I’d filled the “face” of the wreath.
5. I repeated my strategy around the sides.
6. Then realized the interior of the wreath needed some love so I filled that in as well.
7. When you move your wreath to the door it will likely be dripping wet so use caution. I moved it using the trash bag to minimize dripping.
8. We used a wreath holder for this, but usual go to look for wreaths is ribbon. To achieve this we’ve used a 3M hook on the interior of the door to rig the ribbon and slide it through the top of the door, but this wreath was so heavy because the oasis is loaded down with water, that only a hanger would work.
Some notes:
- This was a test run to see how they arrived, how long the wreath would take to create (around 45 min for me), and if it would look good.
- The hydrangeas arrived on a Wednesday and I put them in buckets in our bathtub. I was honestly so busy and feeling non-committal about the wreath idea because life was a little cray, that I procrastinated and left them in there until I finally got motivated to try this on Saturday. Sad but true story! They lasted for that long, still looking great!
- On the day I assembled the wreath, since it was a test run, I did it as I’d be doing it for the baptism – making it the day before, soaking the wreath in water overnight, and putting it on the door in the morning before church. It held up great and looked awesome. It literally lasted two days in the Florida humidity. It looked great from the front but it was the back view from inside our house that decided it for me. The water may continue to drip lightly.
- The only reason I decided not to use it is because our door is glass and I was bugged by the view of the back of the wreath. If I had a solid door I’d go for it 100%. I still may do it anyways on another occasion because I love fresh floral wreaths so much.
