Did you preserve your bouquet?

[Loves Vintage]

They are so beautiful. It seems such a shame to throw them away. It never really occurred to me before, but now mine is slowly wilting before me, and I won't be home until Sunday night.

Did you preserve yours? Did you have a professional do it?

Maybe I should just keep a few of my favorite stems and not the whole bouquet? I do tend to have a problem with letting things go.


(ETA: Oops, I meant to put a question mark, not a big meanie face next to my post.

)

 

[SarahLovesJS]

LV sorry I am not answering your question, but I just wanted to say I was so confused as to why a bouquet not being preserved caused a meanie face. Haha. I was like uh oh something's wrong! Well I will kind of answer. I kind of want to preserve mine if it turns out good because I also have issues with letting stuff go. I am REALLY sentimental. God I have too much stuff, too. But anyway, I really like the wax dipped ones done by the pros. Hopefully someone here will have done that or heard of it!

ETA: I think it's wax?

ETAA: http://www.porcelainroses.com/questions.htm This says some bad stuff about wax, so scratch that I suppose? I will do more research.

 

[aprilcait]

I hung mine upside down and dried mine, and pressed/dried hubby's boutonniere.

 

[appletini]

I''m not into keeping sentimental things (DH and I are very anti-clutter) so I used my real bouquet as my throw bouquet (which also saved a little $ since they charge you for the throw one too).

 

[sumbride]

Nah. I kept the crystals that the florist put in it, but I tossed the flowers out before we left for our honeymoon (a few days after the wedding). I "used to be" a sentimentalist about this sort of thing, but I''ve realized that I just don''t have the space for "things" so I''m keeping the memories and the pictures! Besides, I''ve seen some of the preserved in boxes bouquets in real life and it''s always sort of creeped me out.

 

[MustangGal]

I dried mine, then took the petals and leaves apart and put them in a vase that has a candle holder on the top with a lamp shade.

For my SIL I dried my BM bouquet, pulled apart the flowers, put them in a low open bowl and stuck a pillar candle in the middle. She has it on a side table in her entryway, it turned out really nice.

 

[Rachie]

I am hoping to do this with my bouquet. A girl on my local knot board did this with hers and it was really pretty and a nice alternative to drying the flowers.

 

[mimzy]

Date: 6/6/2008 10:44:35 AM
Author: sumbride
Besides, I''ve seen some of the preserved in boxes bouquets in real life and it''s always sort of creeped me out.

Ditto!! a little too Snow White if you ask me

i''ll probably flat dry some petals and use them in a picture from or something, but i don''t intend on keeping the whole thing

 

[oobiecoo]

I''m with Sumbride... I have realized that I just don''t have the space or need to keep (most of) these kinds of things. I can show my children pictures of the bouquet later on but we don''t the real thing.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Since my bouquet will probably have three types of flowers, I might save one of each, but I am not terribly sentimental and can''t imagine trying to keep the whole thing.

 

[ringster]

nope, i have so many mementos from the wedding, i didn''t want to have another thing to try and preserve, dust or pack away.

 

[Fancy605]

Not me. It was photographed extensively, and it looks prettier in the photos than it does dead. I certainly wouldn''t set it out on display anywhere. Bunches of dead, dried flowers creped me out just a little. I used to save rose petals from flowers DH (Then BF) gave me in a vase, and that looks prettier than just the flowers. It''s packed away though, and I hadn''t thought of it til this thread actually.

Rachie, what you''re wanting to do is pretty cool. I like the idea of using a few for art pieces.

MustangGal, what you did with yours sounds practical and pretty too.

 

[HollyS]

My florist told me the relative costs of preserving bouquets (she personally doesn''t do them, but had a list of vendors who did), and I decided to just let it dry naturally instead. It has been sitting in a vase (w/o water) since the wedding night, and it has dried without shedding a petal. My colors were ivory, pale green, etc., so it didn''t lose any vibrant color by drying.

 

[Rhea]

No, I didn''t. I hated watching them wilt, but they smelled so nice as they died. I''m not big on clutter and preserved flowers seem very cluttered to me.

 

[monarch64]

No. I gave my bouquet to one of my good friends who was a live-in nanny for a family with a little girl so the little girl could have it to play with the next day, and had my friend save a snippet of the ribbon for me so I could put it in my scrapbook.

You can always have your bouquet recreated based on pics for an anniversary ...I''ve heard of couples doing that, or you could press one favorite flower as a keepsake. Another idea (if your bouquet contained flowers that will grow in your geographical location) is to plant that type of flower at your new home. Be creative!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

My Mother had my bouquet preserved with my headpiece and my husband''s bout. It''s in a small hexagonal shaped glass box, which I have in my TV armoire in our living room.

Looking back, I''m so glad she thought to have it done. It turned out beautifully, and matches my entire blue and brown house perfectly!

 

[gwendolyn]

Date: 6/6/2008 1:15:06 PM
Author: Rachie
I am hoping to do this with my bouquet. A girl on my local knot board did this with hers and it was really pretty and a nice alternative to drying the flowers.

That is beautiful! I love that idea, thanks for sharing!

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Hmm. This thread just reminded me that my bouquet is still hanging upside down in my basement. I''m sure I''ll end up just throwing it away at some point.