Wedding Centerpiece - Topiary - How to make your own!
Making your own wedding centerpieces is both economical and rewarding. It doesn't take much to make one, and if you can use a glue gun and cut wire stems you're all set. The materials are simple and are relatively inexpensive as compared to purchasing one already made. I suggest using silk flowers as it is more difficult to make from fresh and keep alive. Furthermore, using silk means you can make them weeks ahead of time and just cover with a plastic bag to keep the dust off.
The topiary I have made here uses white roses with a tinge of pink on the edges. You can use almost any type of silk flower. The larger the flower the less you will have to use, but flowers that stand upright look the most real. Hyrdrangea's is another good silk to use, but roses for this illustration seem to provide the best example.
MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED FOR YOUR ROSE TOPIARY:
- Wire Cutters
- Scissors
- Ribbon (your choise of color and width)
- A dowel rod(s)
- Base - (I used a regular plastic green flower pot because it looks real) I purchased them for a $1.00 at a local dollar store. White would be good too!
- Glue gun, glue sticks
- Tulle
- Sick Roses (I used the smaller size)
- Ivy vine (silk or real)
- Foam - for silk flowers
- White or Green Foam ball. - Your choice of size. The smaller the ball the less flowers you will need and the smaller the pot can be.
DIRECTIONS 
1. Cut the dowel rod in 1/2. I used a 36" rod, and when cut in 1/2 it was 18" long, which was a good height. Tool tall and they tend to tip easily.
2. Take the square flower foam and push it into pot. If it is too large, cut it with a serated knife so that 
it is slightly bigger than the pot, then force it in. This will make sure it stays in place.
3. With one of the dowel rods, find the center of the foam ball and push the dowel rod in about half way, and then 
remove.
4. Take the rose stems and cut the stem leaving about 3/4-1" of the stem at the bottom beyond the flower. You will use this to push into the foam.
(Start heating your glue gun)
5. Begin by pushing the flowers into the styrofoam ball where you made the hole. Leaving room around the hole as this will not show. Continue placing flowers until the entire foam ball is completely covered.
HINT: If there are leaves on the stems of the roses, push them up the stem towards the rose so that the leaves are at the base of the flower. This gives you filler when pushing them into the ball. I used a white styrofoam ball and it doesn't show through due to leaves.
6. Once the ball is completed set aside.
7. Remove the dowel rod from the pot and wrap with ribbon... Place a smal bit of hot glue about 3" from one end and 
press a piece of ribbon end on it. This will hold the ribbon. Begin to twirl the rod and the ribbon will wrap without getting tangled. continue until you are about 2-3" from the bottom, but the ribbon and place a small bit of glue to hold the end of ribbon.
8. Take the dowel rod and put some glue at the bottom of the rod where there is no ribbon, and press into the foam in 
the pot. Be careful and make sure it is straight. Wait for the glue to set.
9. Next, place some glue on the top of the dowel rod about 1" around, and then take the flower ball, with the hole showing in the stryrofoam and put on the top of the dowel rod. Let the glue set.
10. Take a piece of ivy vine, approximately 12". Put a bit of glue on one end and at the top underneath the ball, press the ivy to the dowel rod. Wait a few moments for glue to set and then wrap the ivy around the rod down to the base.
11. Cut a long piece of tulle (it can be from a roll 6-8" wide and gently put it into the flower pot.) This covers up the foam.
12. Next decorate the pot with whatever ribbon you have or with tulle. For this example I used tulle again and made a bow.
For more wedding centerpiece ideas