Hi friends! Many brides want to preserve their wedding bouquet as a way to commemorate that walk down the aisle. Thankfully, there are plenty of methods these days to suit your budget and style. Below are a few – some are DIY and some require the help of a professional. Remember, if you do want to preserve your bouquet, you’ll need to do this within a day or two of the wedding.

• Freeze-drying. Flowers are flash frozen at -20° F, then reheated to room temperature over four weeks. At the end, you get a lifelike, three-dimensional shape that’s kept under glass.

• Silica gel. Each individual flower head is covered with silica gel in an airtight container. The gel absorbs the moisture from the blooms in a few days.

• Air-drying. Separate the bouquet into small bunches and hang them upside down in a dark, dry place (a closet works well). This will take about one to four weeks.

• Pressing. Place individual blooms from your bouquet and place them between the pages of a heavy book – or use a flower press. Once pressed, you can arrange the flowers into a display and frame them under glass or house them in a shadow box.

• Microwave drying. Take a few blossoms at a time, wrap them in paper towel and heat them on high for one to three minutes. The timing and results vary so experiment a bit first before going all out (and keep a close eye on that microwave!). Once microwaved, allow the flowers to cool for a half hour. If the need more trying, repeat the process.

If you want to keep costs down, consider preserving a few of your favorite blossoms from your bouquet rather than the entire bouquet.

xox,

Mindy

 

Header image by Meg Smith