raquette pew decoration
Oasis raquettes make a stunning pew decoration with a suggest retail price of over $450! But you can make one of these decorations yourself for much less. Change the colors of the flowers if you have a different palette planned. You can even get away cheaper if you decide to use carnations or daisy poms instead of roses.
To create a similar look, you'll need the following products, flowers and greenery:
- 25 Dark Gold Roses
- 25 Bright Yellow Roses
- 20 Peach Spray Roses
- 25 Dark Yellow Roses
- 30 Blades of Lily Grass
- 10 stems Salal Tips
- 3 Dieffenbachia Leaves
- 2 Heavy Pew Clips
- 2 Zip Ties
- 1 27" Raquette
- Crystal Clear Flower Food
- 1 Florist Knife
- Floralock Stem Adhesive
- Finishing Touch or Crowning Glory flower sealant
These elongated bricks of Oasis Foam are a lot of fun to decorate with and easier than you think to design. I call these "soak and poke" because it's really that easy! Never cut your stems with anything but a sharp knife. Scissors can crush the stems of the roses, pinching the end and making it unable to draw water up to the flower heads.
First soak the foam in a long tub (use a wallpaper water tray if you can't find a sink long enough). The water should be treated with Crystal Clear Flower Food. (Really . . truly . . . these professional florist products that I recommend are fairly inexpensive and they do extend the life of your flowers. If you don't have a florist walk in cooler - it's even more important that you use these products to keep your flowers fresh longer. Flowers straight from the farm can last 5 - 7 days (or even longer) if you treat them the way a professional florist treats their flowers)
I know this sounds like overkill, but use two pew clips, strapped to the back of the foam (the water tray part) with zip ties. Wet foam and all these flowers are very heavy and you want to be sure the design stays in place on the pew.
Take a look at the finished picture and you'll see the pattern of the roses. Starting with the dark gold roses, begin inserting at the top and then angling outward and downward as the picture below shows.
Can you now see the above pattern in the overall design?
Following those first roses, use bright yellow roses, following the dark gold ones and create the same curve.
Come up from the bottom, using the dark yellow roses on the left side of the gold roses.
Fill in on the bottom left, light orange spray roses cut short and clustered together (where the grass is shown coming out.)
Do a similar cluster of orange/peach spray roses where the grasses come out at the top of the design.
Fill in around the sides with the green salal leaves, following all around the design, framing in with these bright green leaves.
Cut the ends of your blades of grass and insert in between the peach spray roses. Cut the dieffenbachia leaves and insert around the peach spray roses, both top and bottom. Use extra roses to fill in holes here and there as needed to complete the look.
Once finished, make sure the stems stay in place by using Floralock Stem Adhesive. Shake the can (I really mean SHAKE IT HARD!) so the glue is arieted and spray in short bursts. This adhesive flows around the flower stems and locks them into place. Don't overdo, or you'll have glue dripping down out of the arrangement.
Mist well with either Finishing Touch or Crowning Glory. Add more water dribbled on the raquette as needed. Do not allow it to go dry! Flowers drink water up quickly and you want to keep it saturated thorough the wedding day.
