Wedding Bouquet Preservation

You've put all this effort into finding mementos for everyone else, but what about you? Of course you'll want to save a piece of your own wedding as a token. It's become increasingly popular for women to keep their wedding bouquets. It can be done, ladies! Nevertheless, in order to keep it, you need to preserve it-and you don't need silk flowers to do it!

If you haven't decided which wedding flowers to use for your bouquet yet-let us make a suggestion: Red Roses. If you decide to use white, they will look ivory after you preserve them. And by preserving them, we mean dry -freezing them. Fortunately, many floral businesses dry-freeze their bouquets in advance. You can request to have this done. The actual process is called: substantiation. During this process, the water is removed from the petals and turn from a solid state to a gas. Then a post-treatment solution is applied to the bouquet to keep moisture from entering the petals.

Most florists will tell you that roses are the best wedding flowers for preservation. Tulips and any other waxy flowers are probably some of the worst, as the waxy substance slows down the removal of moisture. Carnations too, can be preserved. But unlike roses, which undergo substantiation, Carnations are usually silica dried.

If you silica dried your floral arrangements, you're probably wondering what you can do with them now. Silica drying is a temporary solution. Well, many brides take their silica dried flowers and dip them into hot paraffin. This will gift them a very glossy protective coating that will keep moisture at bay.

Nevertheless , green and foliage can be kept with a glycerin solution. Ivy for instance, will do best if you immerse the entire foliage into the solution. Note: many women swear by this method-place a few drops of green food coloring into the solution, as it's been said to keep the leaves from turning brown.

It's important to take several precautions after you've preserved your flowers. For instance: don't place the foliage or flowers into direct sunlight, as the natural colors will fade and dissipate. In addition, placing them in a vase or shadow-box will keep the dust from collecting on them.

It's always a good idea to practice on other wedding flowers and plants before the big day. This way you're no longer experimenting, you'll want exactly how to get the job done. Whichever method you try on your wedding bouquet, you'll be satisfied with fresh-looking long after your wedding day has come.

Jen Carter is owner of My Wedding Blog, a wedding planner all about weddings. The following article can be found in our wedding flowers category