08/21/2026
Have Your Bouquet & Make It Too
Long before CHOP + STEM existed, I learned that sometimes the best parts of a wedding aren’t simply what you create — they’re who you create them with.
When I got married, I was living in Key West, working two jobs and going to college while planning a 300-person wedding back home in Detroit.
I came home ten days before the wedding with a very long DIY list and the wildly optimistic belief that we’d have plenty of time.
We did not.
Thankfully, I come from a family of people who show up.
While I was hundreds of miles away planning this huge wedding, my mom was the person back home helping turn so many of my ideas into reality.
She planned and organized. She made things and picked things up. She coordinated details I couldn’t handle from Key West and opened my parents’ home for our rehearsal dinner and again for our Sunday brunch.
Looking back after years of working weddings myself, I understand how much she was carrying in a way I probably couldn’t fully appreciate as the bride.
And she wasn’t doing it alone. Grandma made 400 blue heart-shaped sugar cookies. My brother welded décor. Our neighbor made one of the best wedding cakes I’ve ever eaten. My husband-to-be, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends built, hauled, cooked, decorated and jumped in wherever they were needed.
And then there was Grandpa.
I’d carefully organized three uncles and four cousins to move our ceremony chairs.
Grandpa apparently looked at my plan and thought:
“Nah, I have 300 perfectly good volunteers right here.”
While we were taking wedding photos, I looked over to discover our entire wedding carrying and stacking their own chairs.
Mortifying then.
One of our favorite stories now.
One of my jobs in Key West happened to be at a flower shop, and after our rehearsal dinner, some of my closest friends and cousins gathered around in my parents’ backyard and started making the bridesmaids’ bouquets with me.
There was no perfectly styled workshop.
Just flowers, people I loved, and a wedding we were trying to finish.
We were still wrapping stems while getting our hair done the next morning.
Then I got to marry my husband at the conservatory on Belle Isle.
And our wedding was wonderful.
Of course, we knew all the little things that hadn’t gone exactly according to plan. The keg wasn’t properly iced. The bar selection wasn’t quite what we’d expected. We knew about every unfinished detail and last-minute scramble.
But our guests didn’t see our checklist.
They saw the details made by people who loved us. They saw family and friends pitching in. They saw a celebration that felt personal, joyful and completely ours.
And those are the things people still talk about.
The weekend ended the same way it had unfolded all along — with our people showing up.
The next morning, about 50 of our immediate family, wedding party and out-of-town guests came back to my parents’ backyard for brunch.
About an hour before everyone arrived, my mom, aunts and cousins simply got up and started moving. Food came out. Tables came together. Everyone found something to do, and somehow they created the most beautiful little brunch.
After the huge 300-person celebration the day before, we were back in my parents’ backyard around a table with 50 of the people closest to us.
And it was perfect.
I’ve had the big wedding and the intimate gathering.
I’ve hired the professional florist and I’ve made flowers surrounded by my friends and family.
I’ve experienced what professionals can create for you — and what the people you love can create with you.
And I loved both.
That’s a big part of why we’ve offered DIY flowers through CHOP + STEM for years.
Have Your Bouquet & Make It Too.
You don’t have to choose between hiring a florist and doing everything yourself.
We offer DIY flower buckets starting at $200, with approximately 30–50 conditioned, ready-to-use stems. Depending on the season and what you’re looking for, flowers may come from our farm, other local farms and greenhouses, and our trusted wholesalers.
DIY flower orders have a $600 minimum.
Want to make your own flowers but aren’t quite sure what to do with them?
We also offer private floral classes that come to you when you purchase our buckets.
Bridesmaid Bouquet Class — $350
Two hours for up to 5 participants
Additional participants: $65 each
Centerpiece Class — $400
Two hours for up to 8 participants
Additional participants: $65 each
We can also help with bridal bouquets, boutonnières, flower quantities, planning and all those questions that inevitably come up when you’re doing your own flowers.
And you absolutely do not have to DIY the whole wedding.
Let us make your bridal bouquet. Let us handle the big installation. Let us take care of the pieces that need a professional — and make the rest with your people.
You can even turn your private floral class into an afternoon together with charcuterie and a VARDO Mimosa Bar setup.
Big wedding. Small wedding. Full DIY. Full service. Or somewhere right in the middle.
You don’t have to do all of it to have some of it.
We’ll bring the flowers and the know-how.
You bring your people.
Not planning a wedding but still want to play with flowers?
We also host bouquet-making classes at our local general store and cidery throughout the year.
Grab a few friends, come learn something new, and leave with a bouquet you made yourself.
Keep an eye on our page for upcoming class dates, or reach out if you’re interested in putting together a private group.
CHOP + STEM
Have Your Bouquet & Make It Too.
Professionally designed. Personally made.
Interested in DIY flowers for your wedding? Send us your wedding date, location, and a few inspiration photos or your Pinterest board and we’ll start there.
