Marriage is a huge leap in life as it ends the dating process and marks the beginning of life, together with your life’s love. The amount of planning that goes into a wedding ceremony is often exhausting and builds into the day’s anticipation and anxiety.
In particular, the flowers are a great accessory to your occasion, and you don’t want to gamble on that. The good news is you don’t have to wear yourself out looking for the best flower options you can have for your wedding.
You can trust that task into the hands of a Calgary wedding florist who’ll walk you through the different options you have in mind and ensure that you get the best deal in terms of quality and style within your budget.
And as that epic day comes to a halt, and folds away lots of tangible memories. Your wedding flowers are among the few items that you can preserve for years always to remind you of that special day.
Here are the methods you can use to preserve your wedding flowers
Drying by air
This is an old-fashioned way of drying flowers and does not require any expertise. Begin by trimming off excess leaves on the flower stems.
Then group them into two three or four stems and then tie together. Proceed to hang them upside down meters above the ground in a dry and warm place.
Although this method fades away most of the colors in your petals, a little color retention is achieved when the flowers are left to dry in dark places away from sunlight.
Pressing Them to Dry
Pressing flowers within the pages of a book to the point they’re dry is also an ancient flower preservation practice.
To begin the process, choose a book with absorbent pages and place parchment papers on both sides to avoid discoloration of the pages before carefully laying down your flowers.
Finish off the process by heaping a pile of books on top to help press the book’s pages down and lockout air that might interrupt the process.
Use of Silica Gel
Silica is a powder-like substance that works best in preserving flowers by absorbing the water out of it. It’s also known to preserve the flowers’ full color, shape, and vibrance in their dry state.
What’s more, it’s cheap, and the preservation process too is simple, and can you do it at home with less hustle.
Get an airtight container and spread a generous layer of the powder. If necessary, prune your flowers before carefully layering another heap of the silicon powder on top of the flowers until they are fully covered. Seal the container and let it stand for seven days.
The result is brightly dry petals that are more like the live flower.
Use of Resin
Resin is a clear thick liquid that dries into a beautiful crystal clear glass-like shape when exposed to the air.
This method of preservation gives flowers a permanent finish that is extremely beautiful when correctly done.
Flowers preserved using this method must have gone through one of the preservation methods we’ve discussed here and are therefore moisture-free.
For this form of preservation, you may want to consider a professional to handle the process as it requires great precision, and you cannot undo it once done.
Nonetheless, if you wish to go it alone, pour the resin a third full into a mold and carefully and strategically place your flowers one after the other into the thick liquid.
You can add a ribbon or glitters for the appearance.
Finish off with another layer of resin enough to cover the flowers.
Please leave it to dry for twenty-four hours before you can remove the mold.
The result is your flowers permanently and beautifully and solidly sandwiched in a 3-D transparent shape.
Use of Glycerin
Glycerin also works well to preserve flowers. However, it works best for leaves of flowers and only a small group of petals.
The process involves dipping the stems of flowers or the entire leaf in a glycerin solution and water in the ratio of two parts of water to one part of glycerin.
The absorption process can be slow and takes up to three weeks, depending on the flower type.
What you have is a soft, moisture-free flower that looks good months later.
Waxing
Paraffin wax also does well in preserving flowers.
However, the method is not ideal if you are looking for a long-term preservation method as it will keep them looking good only up to six months.
To do this, melt your wax over a pot of boiling water until it melts out evenly. Allow cooling just enough before you dip the flowers one after the other. Then let it stand straight and allow it to dry.
How to Display Your Preserved Flowers
The forms of preservation we have discussed will extend your flowers’ life, but you must have an idea of how you would want your preserved flowers to be displayed for you.
Resin, which gives you a three dimensional transparent molded piece is a great way to display your wedding flowers.
Alternatively, you can settle for a frame onto which your preserved flowers can be mounted and sealed away.
Tips to help you get the best flower preservation results
The preservation process must begin immediately or within seven days after the occasion. Again, the different forms of preservation work well for certain groups of flowers as opposed to others.
A Calgary wedding florist may come in handy again to help with advising on the right form of preservation, depending on the flower type.
