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Last Updated on August 26, 2021 by cmoarz
A wedding bouquet is an important accessory in weddings. It has long been used as a prop to ward off misfortune and bring good luck. At the same time, it also adds color and personality to your outfit.
It’s admirable to want to save your wedding bouquet for sentimental reasons, but planning is required and there are multiple options available on how to preserve a wedding bouquet.
This article will teach you those methods, let’s get started!
Prepperation for preserving your wedding bouqet
First thing’s first, The prep needs to start long before the tossing of the bouquet. You don’t want to be tossing the real thing into a crowd below. Instead, find a cheaper replica bouquet made with silk flowers and filler to throw. The fake will be just as beautiful but you won’t have to worry about damaging the original, or losing it entirely to a greedy half-drunk wedding guest! It’s also one less thing to worry about.
Flowers are cut days before your wedding day. If you want to keep your bouquet looking fresh, consider having a few flowers replaced the morning of – or even better yet – the night before.
Many florists will do last-minute cuttings if requested for such purposes. They may even make a second batch if you want a backup.
However, do not count on this as flowers tend to flow in from all over the world and may be unable to accommodate such a request due to time restraints. It never hurts to ask!
Now that you have your flowers preped, It’s time to preserve your bouquet!
There are multiple ways you can do this. Here are the most common ones.
The old fasion drying method
If you want an easier way to preserve your wedding bouquet without special supplies or expertise, consider air-drying it. This option is the best way to keep its whole shape, although the flowers will diminish slightly in size and color over time. Here’s how to air-dry your wedding bouquet:
- Remove leaves, greenery, petals and anything that is brown or decaying.
- After that, tie a piece of twine, string or yarn around the stems and secure it with either rubber band if you have one.
- Hang the bouquet upside down in a dry, dark spot for 1-2 weeks where it won’t be disturbed. Be sure to keep the flowers away from areas with lots of activity or bright lights (such as kitchen pantries). Make sure kids and animals can’t get to them. Cat’s will destroy it!
- Wait at least two weeks before removing the flowers from your arrangement, although it can take up to a month or more for them to dry out completely.
Once everything is fully dry, You can put it into a plexiglass or glass display case to preserve it, show it off, and keep it safe.
Freeze Drying your bouquet to preserve it
Not everyone has access to a $2000 freeze dryer, So this method isn’t for everyone. Although you may be able to find a professional in your area or someone with a freeze dryer you can hire to do this for you.
While it’s the most expensive option on this list, it’s also the best for preserving the whole bouquet and its color and size.
In fact, Freeze drying is so effective, You won’t see much of any change at all, and you will preserve that moment in time almost perfectly.
Preserving your bouquet in a block of resin
If you don’t have a freeze dryer, another option is to preserve your bouquet in resin.
You can buy kits to do it yourself at home, but if you want the job done right I recommend finding a professional and paying for the job.
This method will keep the color and size of your flowers almost perfect.
Just buy a bucket of the epoxy mix (it’s only a few bucks for enough to fill the bucket),
Mix it as directed and pour it into your mold. Then place your bouquet inside, brace it so you don’t get any bubbles, and let it dry.
Once dried (It takes 24 hours to fully cure) You can keep your bouquet on display almost forever!
To make a mold, just hot glue some clear plastic squares into a big box. Be sure it’s nice and secure so the epoxy doesn’t leak out during the pour.
Pour carefully to avoid air bubbles.
Once dried and cured, you can take out your bouquet. It will be as hard as glass. Today’s epoxy has a pretty good shelf life too (I know from experience), so you don’t need to worry about it turning back into goo years down the road.
Once it’s cured, peel away the mold and give it a finished polish.
What to do with dried wedding bouquet?
You can also use a preserved bouquet to decorate other things. For instance, you could put it on display in an art piece or craft project.
The flowers will stay good forever and look lovely whatever you do with them.
Your dried wedding bouquet can make lovely crafts as well!
People have used dried flowers for jewelry, wreaths, wall hangings, flower arrangements, etc. And they’ll last decades and decades.
Many people keep their dried bouquets in decorative vases filled with sand! This is especially nice if you like beachy settings or the rustic look of nature.
And there you have it! Those are all the different ways to preserve your wedding bouquet.
Which one will you choose?!
For those of you who want a less expensive way to keep your flowers, You can sell or give them away as well, To family and friends for instance. Your preserved bouquet could be worth hundreds of dollars if done right.
These are just a few ideas out of many that I hope help brides going through this process for their weddings in the future.
I’ve even heard about some people injecting chemicals into the stems to make them last longer (gasp!) But I would not recommend this, since too much moisture actually causes bacteria growth which can ruin flowers over time anyway. That’s why these other methods are preferred.
This process takes time and patience, so be patient and follow your bouquet preservation tutorials carefully to have the best chance of success.
I’m sure there are many other great ways to preserve flowers that I haven’t discussed here, so feel free to share them in the comments!
And if you need help deciding what to do with that big pile of dried up wedding flowers,
Post it in the comments below!