Did you catch today's Tropical-Inspired Bridal Shower? You may have noticed the gorgeous, colorful balloon arch at the shower - and now we are sharing how to make your own! Not only do we love balloons here are GWS, but we're huge fans of Afloral - our silk flower partner for this project ( and SO many others)! For this piece, we were inspired by our friend Brittany who created this stunner of a balloon arch (and she has a great DIY for those looking for a larger balloon arch using chicken wire!), but we wanted to share our own twist on this fun idea using silk flowers. We love this since with this DIY you can set this up a day or two in advance and it will still look great!!

This DIY is perfect for literally anything - weddings, engagement parties, showers, birthday parties...and we love how colorful and fun of a statement piece this can make with a few balloons + pretty silk flowers. Don't be deceived, this DIY looks intricate but will surprise you with how easy it is! Here's how we did it...

What You'll Need:
* Silk flowers from AFloral. We picked hanging bamboo, ginger, orchids, birds of paradise, white anthurium, monstera leafs, frangipani, split leaf philodendrum, hibiscus + orange needle protea from this curated page on Afloral.com
* Balloons (we used an assortment of sizes from Party City)
* Balloon Pump (or air compresser)
* Balloon Decorating Strip
* Glue Dots

Step 1: Start by adhering your balloon decorating strip on the surface you want to hang it on. Its important to know which shape you'd like your arch to be first - it could be hanging to the side like ours, or have multiple swoops in it. We found at the bridal shower, adhering with a staple gun helped secure the strip with the weight of the balloons.

Step 2: We chose to blow up the balloons overnight to save time. We also recommend using air, and not helium unless you want your arch to swing upwards and not hang down like ours. The air lasts for a few days which is great if you need more time to prep. After they are blown up, start attaching the balloons to your strip. The strip has holes where you can pull the balloons through (see photo on the right). Begin with your biggest balloons, onto your medium balloons and then your smallest balloons.

Step 3: At this point you should have a full arch. The smallest balloons are attached with glue dots (your new best friend for this DIY!) and placed in any gaps or spots that need more color of one balloon.

Step 4: Lastly, begin filling in your arch with flowers. We suggest buying flowers that are light and not heavy. Long vine greens are perfect because they can be attached to the balloon strip as well by pulling them through the holes in the strip. We started with the greens first, and then filled in with flowers (these can be attached using glue dots as well). For any heavy flowers, attach with string on the strip for extra support. Play around until you have an arch that you love!

So pretty, right?

Such a fun and colorful piece for parties (we'd like to keep this in our house foreverrr!)

If you make your own Floral Balloon Arch with AFloral using these steps or supplies, we'd love to see how it turns out, so please share on Instagram along with the hashtag #GreenWeddingShoesDIY. We'll regram our faves!

*This post is sponsored by Afloral.com. All content, ideas, and words are by Green Wedding Shoes. Thanks for supporting our sponsors!