Wedding Flower Preservation
Preserving your wedding flowers is a great way to preserve the memories of your very special day. You may be tempted to simply hang your bouquet on your wedding night and wait for it to dry. You probably even did this with the first flower he ever gave you! This is certainly an effective method for wedding flower preservation but there are many other different ways as well that you may want to consider, that may be easier or make the flowers last longer.
Air Drying
You certainly don’t need to be a florist or a chemist to preserve your wedding flowers by air-drying them. This is the most basic method of preserving flowers and can be done by removing all the leaves and wrapping the stems of the bouquet with twine. Choose a spot that is dry and dark to hang the flowers and leave them until they are completely dry. The best thing about this type of wedding preservation is that it will cost you nothing and anyone can do it. However, the flowers will darken considerably and if you had white flowers at your wedding, they will turn brown when they dry. The flowers also shrivel considerably and don’t hold their shape. The flowers will also not last forever.
Silica Gel
Using silica gel for wedding preservation also won’t last forever but your flowers will last a little longer than if you had air-dried them. Preserving your bouquets with silica gel can also be done yourself at home by purchasing the gel from a garden center or a florist. You will need about 3 pounds of gel for every 12 flowers. First, place the gel in the bottom of an airtight container so that it covers the entire bottom. Trim the stems of the flowers and remove any leaves and place the flowers into the gel. Use the gel to cover any part of the flowers that are not covered with gel and place the lid on the container. Taping the lid is also a good idea to make sure that it’s very airtight. After 10 days check to see if the flowers are dry. If they feel like paper, they are and if not, replace the lid and leave them for a few more days. Drying with silica gel will leave your flowers much more natural-looking than air-drying and they will also keep their color better. However, flowers are just as frail as they are when air-dried.
Pressing
Pressing flowers works best if you are pressing flat flowers such as daisies, peonies, and pansies. Pressing full blooms such as roses is difficult because you first must press each petal individually and then shape it to look like the original flower. To press your flowers, place them between two pieces of blotting paper. Place the paper onto a flat surface and cover with something solid (such as plywood or a book.) Place weights on top of this evenly across so the flowers are evenly pressed and dry at the same time. The flowers will not always keep their exact color but they don’t darken quite as much and the flowers will last forever! This can also be done by anyone.
Freeze-Dried Flowers
If you want your wedding flowers to look as close as possible to how they looked on your wedding day, you’ll want to hire a company to freeze-dry them but be warned that this method will cost you. Freeze-drying involves placing the flowers at extreme temperatures and then over a two-week period a vacuum is used to remove all the moisture from the blooms as the flowers are slowly warmed to room temperature. When the process is finished, the flowers will be treated to help them maintain their look and if you take care of them, they can also last forever!
