How to Preserve a Wedding Bouquet

Your wedding bouquet can be kept for decades to come. The preservation method you choose will depend on the type of flowers in the bouquet and the look you want for your preserved bouquet. Here are a few steps to help you preserve a bouquet.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Yellow Pages
• Wedding Flower Bouquets
• Wedding Programs
• Small Coolers
• Plastic
• Ice
• Internet Access
• Wedding Invitations
• Sand

1. Preserve the bouquet yourself or let a professional do it for you. Make this decision well in advance of the wedding date as all methods of preservation require that the treatment begin no later than one to four days after the wedding.

2. Keep in mind that some home methods of flower preservation can take days or weeks to complete. Will you have the time to monitor the process yourself? Will you be able to begin the preservation process immediately after the wedding?

3. Choose to have your bouquet professionally freeze-dried if you want the resulting bouquet to look as realistic as possible. The elements of the bouquet are taken apart, freeze-dried if possible, and then put back into the original arrangement. This method will take three to four weeks to complete.

4. Choose to have your bouquet professionally pressed. The bouquet is taken apart, the flowers are pressed, and then they are rearranged and framed. Even though the flowers will be flattened, the original silhouette of the bouquet can be achieved. This method takes 8 to 10 weeks.

5. Make bouquet preservation arrangements in advance of the wedding date. The preservationist will give you instructions on how to care for and transport your bouquet.

6. Expect to pay $100 and up to have your bouquet professionally preserved. The price will depend on the size of the bouquet and any additional services, such as special frames or glass enclosures. If there is no professional in your area, you will also have to pay to have the bouquet shipped overnight.

7. Use drying agents such as sand, silica gel or borax to preserve your own bouquet at home. The process involves covering each flower completely with the chosen substance to draw out moisture. See "Preserve Flowers With Sand," under Related eHows, for instructions.

8. Press the flowers from your bouquet at home. See "Press Flowers," under Related eHows, for information and instructions. Frame your own pressed arrangement.

9. Create your own dried flower bouquet. This is perhaps the simplest preservation method to accomplish at home. Take the bouquet apart and hang the individual flowers to dry. Reassemble the bouquet. Take care with the resulting brittle petals and stems.

Tips & Warnings

• Look for professionals in bouquet preservation on the Internet or in the yellow pages. Your florist will also be able to make a recommendation.

• Ask your florist which method of preservation will work best with your chosen flowers. Some flower types cannot be successfully freeze-dried.

• Look for preservation price packages. Some companies will preserve corsages and boutonnieres free when you have the bride's bouquet preserved.

• Keep flowers in a cooler until they are ready to be transported or preserved at home. Put ice in the cooler, cover it with plastic and then set the bouquet on top. Keep the bouquet from being submerged in water. If your flowers are arranged in floral foam, keep the foam saturated.

• Keep in mind that no method of preservation can keep the look of fresh flowers. Freeze-drying and pressing will alter the flower colors the least of all preservation methods.

• Have your wedding invitation, wedding program or an elegantly written copy of your wedding vows framed along with a pressed arrangement.

• See "Dry Flowers," under Related eHows, for instructions on air-drying your bouquet. Consider making potpourri from flowers that do not stay intact.