The wedding is over - of course you want to keep the bouquet as a beautiful memory for eternity. Luckily, there are 6 uncomplicated ways you can preserve your bridal bouquet.
Preserving a bridal bouquet: an overview of the variants
There are basically several ways you can preserve flowers. You can, among other things:
- Dry the flowers by pressing and display them in a glass frame
- Hang the entire bridal bouquet upside down and let it dry
- Use silica gel to preserve the bridal bouquet.
- Make it durable with epoxy resin.
- Preserve the flowers with wax.
- Coat the flowers with wax paint.
Press and dry flowers individually
To dry the bouquet by pressing, remove the decorations and carefully take the bridal bouquet apart. Choose flowers, greenery and grasses that look fresh and have not yet lost their color. You can find wax paper in craft shops; it is ideal for drying flowers by pressing. This is how you will get the flower color. Lay the flowers flat between two sheets of wax paper and place several heavy books on top. Allow the flowers to dry for about a week. Then you can arrange them in a glass frame.
To preserve the bridal bouquet: hang it upside down
The next method is also pretty simple and is done in a very straightforward manner. Simply hang the bridal bouquet upside down in a dry, dark basement or attic room and let it dry there for about 60 days. The sooner you take the flowers out of the cellar, the higher the chance that their color will fade later.
Dry with silica gel
Silica gel offers several advantages: the flowers dry faster, retain their color and you can use both individual flowers and whole onesBridal bouquetsmake it durable. Simply fill an airtight container halfway with the silica powder, then place the bouquet and cover the plants completely with silica gel. Put the lid on, seal the container airtight andDry plants for 5 to 7 dayslet.
Preserve bridal bouquet with epoxy resin
You can use epoxy resin to make the beautiful bridal bouquet last forever. Craft shops sell silicone molds and special casting resin that hardens fairly quickly. A beautiful art object with a smooth surface is then created. Dried flowers in epoxy resin are a real eye-catcher and can be staged effectively.
For this purpose, simply buy a transparent casting resin and mix it at home in a plastic container. Along with the casting resin, you should also get a hardener and a large silicone mold. First you need to fill the mold halfway with epoxy resin and then put the flowers in it. Fill the mold with additional epoxy resin so that the flowers are completely covered. Then let it harden - follow the manufacturer's instructions on the packaging. Then carefully remove the detail from the mold.
You will quickly notice that the flowers have retained their attractive colors and do not look like “normal” dried flowers, but rather like freshly picked flowers. However, so that you can enjoy the beautiful decoration for a long time, hang the epoxy resin detail in a sunny place. When exposed to direct sunlight, the colors may fade and the resin may yellow.
Preserve flowers with wax and coat them with wax paint
Alternatively, you can also preserve flowers individually with wax. To do this, simply take the bridal bouquet apart and remove the decorations. Buy candle wax, melt it in a water bath and dip the flowers and grasses individually into the wax. Then place the flowers in empty vases and let them dry.
By the way, you can find flower dipping wax in flower shops. This can also be easily dyed and is used to preserve fresh flowers. Alternatively, you can first preserve the flowers with wax and then paint them with wax dye.
Which method is the best?
Each of the above methods has advantages and disadvantages. Pressing flowers takes quite a long time and the dried flowers fade in strong sunlight. If you leave the bridal bouquet hanging upside down, the flowers may rot if the humidity in the room is higher than 70%.
The silica gel method guarantees quick results and is a cost-effective alternative. However, you have to dip the flowers individually into the gel, which takes significantly more time.
Epoxy resin is a slightly expensive option, but the end result is fascinating and will last a long time. Similarly, preserving with wax can be successful as long as you have a little patience and dip the flowers individually into the melted candle wax.
If you want to preserve a bridal bouquet, you have several options. If it's quick and uncomplicated, then silica gel is an option. If you can wait a little longer, you can hang the bouquet upside down or dry it by pressing it. Epoxy resin and wax are other creative methods that have gained popularity recently.
