How to Preserve Wedding Flowers

Among all the wedding finery, the flowers are the most precious to many brides. Although they are naturally very temporary, steps can be taken to preserve your wedding flowers so that you will have them for years to come.

Here’s some advice for preserving your wedding flowers.

Choose the Right Blooms

Not all flowers are equally good for preservation. If you want to preserve your bouquet after the wedding, talk to your florist about it when choosing your flowers. Your florist will help you choose flowers that are sturdy enough for the process, and can either get you the supplies, tell you where to get them, or refer you to a service, depending on what preservation method you plan to use.

Treat the Flowers Right

Your flowers will preserve better if they are treated well before preservation. Make sure the bouquet has water before, during, and after the wedding.

Don’t ever freeze your flowers, even if you’re considering freeze drying them. Freezing them the wrong way will damage the blooms. If you can’t mail flowers to a preservation service right away, store them in a refrigerator that isn’t too cold—it shouldn’t freeze vegetables.

If you want to preserve your bridal bouquet, have a separate bouquet for throwing—it can be hard on the bouquet, especially if you’ve got a lot of eligible ladies fighting over it.

Choose the Right Preservation Method

There are many approaches you can use to dry your flowers. Air drying is the easiest. Simply hang a bouquet upside-down and let it dry. This works well in a dry climate like Colorado. You can also air-dry them in a vase. Just put them in a vase with water at the bottom, then leave them alone. The water evaporates and then the flowers will dry.

You can also dry flowers in silica gel—which you’re probably familiar with from the little sachet you find in shoes, saying “desiccant—do not eat!” Put your flowers in an airtight container with an adequate quantity of silica gel—you can even bury the flowers in it. Drying with silica gel helps preserve the color

If you’re looking for an old-timey look, try pressing the flowers. Separate flowers from the bouquet. Put wax paper on a page in a heavy, old book. Arrange flowers as flat as possible, and far enough apart that they won’t touch when squished. Put more wax paper over the flowers. Then close the book. You can add extra weight. But leave for about two weeks.

The way to preserve your bouquet if you want to have it look the most natural, is with freeze drying. Freeze-drying services will preserve the shape and color of your bouquet.

Are you looking to plan a wedding that you will love to remember? We can help. Please contact us for a tour of Stonebrook Manor, a gorgeous Denver wedding venue.