After the wedding, in addition to the wedding dress, most brides also keep the bridal bouquet. This should remind you of the most beautiful day in your life when you look at it, but unfortunately the beautiful flowers and freshness is lost after a few days in the vase. Since the bridal bouquet has a high value for the bride, the bouquet should remain as a beautiful souvenir or even decorative element even after months and years.
With the right preservation method, the bouquet can be preserved for a long time and still bring joy.
But beware: not every flower has the same shelf life. This should be taken into consideration when choosing your flowers if you want to keep your bouquet. The following flowers are definitely suitable for drying and can be used without hesitation: Blue neckwort, edelweiss, alpine thistle, lavender, roses, baby’s breath, sunflowers, hydrangea, statice, delphinium, thistles.
We have compiled for you the best methods of preservation, so that the splendor of flowers will remain for years to come.
1st method: Drying the bridal bouquet
The conventional and easiest preservation method is simply drying the bouquet. As described above, this method should be used only when the flowers have not yet wilted. This way you will get a better result than if they start drying after 1 week after your wedding.
This method is especially suitable for bridal bouquets made of rose petals. To do this, take the bouquet out of the water, dry the stems and hang it by a thread with the flowers facing down.
Store your bouquet in a dry, cool and dark place for about 1- 2 months, so the colors will be preserved in the best possible way and you will get a better final result.
To prevent the dried plants from becoming brittle, you should simply spray your bouquet with clear varnish or hairspray – and voila your bridal bouquet is ready to dry.
You can place the bouquet in a display case so that it does not become a dust catcher. If your bouquet does get dusty, you can dust it with a hairdryer.
2nd method: Pressing the flowers of the bridal bouquet
Another way to make the bridal bouquet last long, but a bit annoying, is to press the flowers of the bridal bouquet.
In this method, you arrange the flowers and stems on several layers of newspaper. On top of that, you place another piece of newspaper. Then press this pile together with heavy books. Change the newsprint every day so that the paper removes the moisture from the flowers.
Instead of newspaper, you can also use normal blotting paper. When arranging the flowers, make sure that you work with rubber gloves or tweezers, because the skin grease will damage the color intensity of the flowers.
3rd method: Dry powder
With this method you can preserve your bouquet with the help of dry powder or dry salt. The drying powder or salt can be found in any drugstore.
But don’t worry: by means of the powder only the moisture is removed from the flowers, i.e. the flowers do not contain any chemical substances.
The procedure is very simple: place your bouquet on a layer of newspaper with the powder and carefully turn it around its longitudinal axis. Then place the bouquet in a vase and sprinkle it again with the powder from above. The exposure times of the powder vary. Just follow the instructions on the packaging of the dry powder or dry salt.
4. method: preservation with gel or wax.
All the methods described so far have the disadvantage that the flowers lose their color and fade. If you are looking for a method that prevents this, we recommend waxing your bridal bouquet. This way the colors of the flowers are preserved and can be stored very well.
To wax the flowers, the bouquet is dipped in about 60° hot craft wax. While doing this, slowly turn the style of the flowers until the bouquet is completely covered with the wax. To dry, you can carefully hang the bouquet. For a pretty crystal effect, brush small grains of salt onto the tips of the flowers.
Instead of transparent wax, you can also use other colors and achieve even more beautiful effects. If you are unsure, you can also ask a professional for advice. This way you can be sure that nothing is done wrong.
If you want to use the gel variant, you should first fill the flowers with silica gel and place them in a dry and warm place for a few days. After that you should drain the gel.
This method is a bit more demanding than the other methods, so you should have your bouquet prepared by a florist. This way, your blooms will last for a long time.
5th method: have a replica made from silk flowers / artificial flowers
Another option is to have your bridal bouquet replicated using silk or artificial flowers. The advantage is that it is very close to the original, as the colors will shine just like the fresh original. Also, here you do not have to watch out that it crumbles or breaks, because it is virtually indestructible. Just ask your local florist if they can make you a replica of your bouquet. If this is not possible, we can make it for you. We have already recreated numerous bridal bouquets and thus again created a joyful glow in the eyes of the brides.