flower preservation?

I did not preserve my bouquet and I regret it now. It was way more beautiful than I ever imagined and wished I had decided to do it. Just an FYI.

I didn't preserve because it turned out to be a hassle and there're only so many wedding items I want around the house. But I didn't regret it :-) I asked my H to give me an identical one for every anniversary.

Anyway, it turned out there weren't many people in the area who're doing it plus it was expensive.

I saw a picture on pinterest of one preserved in a shadow box.now I wish I would have done that..although I am not sure how much it costs..although I kept my BM bouquets, and dried them..I dedicated/gave my actual bouquet to my Grandma at the ceremony, but I think she threw it away a few weeks after.

Again, if it was uber expensive I may just not have opted to do it anyways though.

Looked up since I was curious..here is some more info.

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-customs/articles/how-to-preserve-your-bouquet.aspx?MsdVisit=1

Also however, I am glad I gave it to my grandma, that was awesome and I gave a speech when I gave it to her..she still brings it up each time I talk to her :-)

I researched it, and it seemed like a hassle with not having any dry frezing places within an hour of here and whatnot, so I just stuck mine in an encyclopedia and wedged it in tight with the rest of the volumes. Worked pretty good. I'm gonna get it framed.

I have a coworker that had her bouquet preserved in a shadow box, it wasn't super expensive and she is thrilled to have such a beautiful memory from the wedding, I definitely plan on doing it. I can't remember, I think she said between $200-$300

I was thinking that I might have a duplicate of my bouquet made so I can preserve it. I dried the original one and then placed it at MIL's grave when we got back from HM.

It was really, really beautiful. I never cared about flowers really, other than I knew I wanted yellow garden roses. But I would have been happy with a bunch of those tied up with twine. Our flowers came out so beautifully. I loved them more than I thought I would.

I know someone who has their dried bouquet in their house. It's in a pretty little dome next to their wedding photo.

Though it's nice I would not do it. I don't think the beauty of dried flowers is anywhere close to that of the real flowers. I would much rather have our photographers take a lot of photos, or just buy beautiful flowers every week (I wish!)

I have heard the best way to do it is to get them freeze dried.

So does it just look like dried flowers? I thought they treated it somehow to preserve the color......like with a wax or something.

No?

Shellie I told H if we come into lots of money I will order a duplicate of my bouquet every week for the rest of my life.

They do Kris. Some of them look fresh. There's logistics issues though if you don't live near to a freeze drying service, than you'll have to pay to have it shipped, and it needs to be shipped within a few days.

It might work out better to just freeze dry it before the wedding, and carry the freeze dried bouquet the day of your wedding.

I did it for a bouquet my step-dad had sent my Mom the day he died (it actually arrived the next day). I used these crystal things to help preserve the color, but I agree that dried flowers are not as beautiful as the real thing. Maybe they're different if they're freeze-dried. I do know that when I looked that up it was really expensive. I just googled it and one company STARTS at $190. Another was $800 on up!

I made my own bouquet, so it's sitting pretty in my new china hutch! I am glad I have it around. I guess it depends on how much you want to keep it and what you can afford.

I'm getting mine freezr dried and put in a shadow box -- I should be getting it back any time now. The lady doing it is in Seattle and I'm in TX, but it was just one trip to the post office and the lady gives you all the instructions on how to ship them. It's running ~$200, and def something you want to plan ahead -- they're supposed to arrive alive so they are preserved that way, not like they're dried. We will see...

This is a really interesting thread. I'm learning a lot. Thanks guys!

Oh and hey have you guys heard of Reenie Rose? She paints wedding bouquets. And she is very, very subtle. I'd link her website but I just can't find it anywhere.

It can be very expensive to preserve your bouquet but many brides have felt that it is worth it. Just don;t try to do it yourself because it usually doesn't work out well. Most florists, myself included, don't do it but there are companies out there that specialize in it. The trick is in the timing. You need to do it right away. If you need help finding someone feel free to message me and I'll give you some names.

I am going to be trying a few different things with my flowers. I had tie dye daisies I think I have a picture of one color but there were about 15 different ones. Simple, different and I wanted to press them and hang them framed as artwork in my bedroom. Also thinking of dipping them... good thing is this weekend I have about 200 flowers to work with because they were $4.99 per bunch and I was able to order a lot. This doesn't really show the color the best... http://www.wikihow.com/Press-Flowers-and-Leaves and http://www.homemadesimple.com/en-us/holidayandparty/pages/wax-dipped-flowers.aspx