Preserve your wedding flowers and create beautiful mementos with these flower preservation techniques.
Last updated February 5, 2024
There are a few things that stand out in your wedding day memories—the first look, the food, the “I dos,” and, of course, the bouquet. Wedding flowers are a favorite tradition that’s remained relatively untouched as a natural choice for romantic decor and beautiful centerpieces. Whether you choose an elaborate floral arrangement or local wildflowers for your special day, there’s something sentimental about your wedding bouquet. And, as such, you’ll want to know how to preserve flowers—and, more specifically, how to preserve your wedding bouquet.
Why? Your bridal bouquet incorporates so much of your wedding into one beautiful arrangement. Perhaps you chose bold California Poppies as the attention piece in your bouquet—the perfect spring bloom for your April wedding in Southern California. Of course, they were yellow with lots of greenery and matched your color palette for an outdoor wedding in the sunshine. They’re a perfect reminder of your big day—so why wouldn’t you want to preserve that memory?
The reality is, if you choose natural flowers (instead of artificial flowers) for your ceremony, they won’t live forever. That doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can keep them longer and incorporate them into your life as a beautiful wedding keepsake. Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about wedding bouquet preservation so you can preserve your flowers (including eight DIY wedding bouquet preservation methods!)—as well as creative ideas to display your bouquet as home decor.
2. Hang your bouquet to air-dry.
3. Dry your flowers with sand.
4. Preserve your blooms with silica gel.
7. Save your flowers with epoxy resin.
8. Protect your flowers with glycerin.
Pressed flowers may be the easiest and most recognizable way to dry your flowers. You use weight to press your flowers flat and give it some time to press all of the moisture out. This is a great choice if you’d like to frame your flowers, but if you want your flowers to keep their shape, you’ll want to try another method.
Drying time: 3–4 weeks
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Instructions:
Air drying your bouquet is another simple and traditional way to save your flowers. This process also takes a few weeks to complete, but your flowers will preserve more of their shape with this method than with pressing. Your flowers will lose some color and aren’t the easiest to craft with, but they look great in a vase or hanging on the wall.
Drying time: 2+ weeks
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If you want to naturally dry your flowers and maintain as much of their color and shape as possible, sand drying may be your best bet. The sand supports the form of the flower and leaves your blooms looking fresh and vibrant.
Drying time: 2 weeks
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Silica gel will produce dried flowers similar to the air-drying method, but in only two to six days and with a little more color preservation for your flower bouquet. The process is easy, but does require more supplies and therefore can get a little costly compared to air-drying. Here’s a tutorial to help you get started:
Drying time: 1 week
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Instructions:
Microwaving your flowers is definitely the quickest way to dry your flowers, but it has its limits. For one, every microwave is different, so you may have to do a few test runs before you use your wedding flowers. It’s also a form of pressing, so you won’t be able to keep the bloom’s shape, and if you don’t have a large enough microwave-safe press, you’ll be limited in the size of bloom you can press.
Drying time: 1+ minutes
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Dipping your flowers in wax won’t preserve them forever, but it can extend their use by about six months. The real benefit of dipping your flowers in wax is that you don’t have to trim them too short, and they will maintain their color and shape better than the drying methods.
Process time: 5 minutes
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Epoxy resin is a great way to make lasting art with your flowers, but they do need to be dried first. The beauty of resin is that you can make just about anything—from a new tabletop to a wedding guestbook cover, there’s almost no limit.
Process time: 3 days
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Instructions:
Glycerin preserves flowers well because it actually replaces the water in the flower, keeping the flower supple and bold. Glycerin is the best method to keep the flower looking and feeling fresh, but it can darken the leaves and stem of your florals.
Process time: 2+ weeks
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Instructions:
If you want your flower arrangement to look as close as possible to their original appearance—and you’re willing to invest some time and money to get there—you might want to consider freeze drying your flowers.
With the freeze-drying process, you use a machine (called a freeze-dryer) to actually freeze-dry wedding flowers when they’re at peak bloom. This preserves them and keeps them looking as close as possible to how they looked on your wedding day—making them a favorite for couples that want to keep their bouquet looking as amazing as it did when they walked down the aisle.
For the most part, freeze-drying is not a DIY flower preservation process (not only can it be a challenging process, but buying your own freeze-dryer is an investment!). As such, if you decide to go with this method, you’ll need to find and hire a professional florist to freeze-dry your bridal bouquet—so make sure to work that cost into your wedding flower budget. (Also, make sure that, after your wedding, you put your flowers in water; this will keep them looking fresh until you can get them to the florist.)
After you’ve explored floral preservation options and dried or preserved your flowers, the real fun is deciding how to use them. Dried flowers can be beautiful on their own, but are also great for creating art for your home. The options are only limited by your imagination, but here are 14 ideas to get you started.
After all of your planning, including hours of addressing invites and brainstorming ceremony ideas, you’ll want to celebrate every moment of your big day forever. Preserving your wedding flowers is an easy and beautiful way to display a wedding keepsake in your home, and a daily reminder of the beginning of the rest of your life in love.
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