No one wants to say goodbye to their wedding bouquet, especially when you’ve spent time and energy carefully customizing your specific blooms and colors to create a gorgeous floral showstopper to accompany you down the aisle. Thinking about the mesmerizing process flowers go through from seed to stem, to your local florist, and eventually to your hands on your special day, it’s no wonder you want to hold onto them. But flowers are as fleeting as they are beautiful and they fade after their dazzling short lives.

I am thrilled to offer a new ending to this story: I reclaim your wedding flowers and weave them into an artful preservation piece in your home to be admired as a symbol of who you are as a couple. Preserving your bouquet, or any important flowers for that matter, is a remarkable way to hold onto this keepsake for many years to come.

There is a lot to be said about which flowers press and preserve well, and which don’t. There are many factors to this process including the color and shape of the flowers and the time frame in which they are used. For example, white flowers tend to brown during the pressing process and larger flowers such as Protea, simply will not press well. Larger flowers and textured accents tend to shine when dried and crafted into a wreath.

I love working with clients that have a complex color palette! I feel having a wide variety of color gives your finished art project an extra pizzazz while also leaving more room to be creative in the process. Sometimes the color change of flowers after they press can be fun! I’ve even experienced some amazing yellow roses that faded to a slight purple color once pressed! Many flowers do retain their color beautifully during the preservation process and sometimes can become even brighter. The most important thing to understand is that your flowers may not look exactly the same as they did on your wedding day, but it’s all part of the process to craft a unique design unlike any other piece.

Some of the ideal flowers to preserve include:

• Rose
• Anemone
• Ranunculus
• Feverfew
• Lilac
• Nigella
• Astilbe
• Dusty Miller
• Peony
• Pansy
• Poppy

This is just to name a few! I can work with nearly any flower and will certainly let you know all the options before we begin the process. And don’t forget greenery! Eucalyptus and sage press extremely well while evergreens and succulents do not. While beautiful, flowers like zinnias and ball dahlias, along with berries and pods, are generally too think to be pressed. Sometimes these thicker, fleshy flowers can still be preserved by an intricate process of pulling the petals off and recreating the flower shape on paper. It can sometimes be up to the center of the flower if it will press well or not, as flowers that lay flat work best. Flat lay flowers generally keep their form and shape well and only lose a little bit of depth. Depending on the amount of florals and greenery you have, I can do both an art piece and a wreath. Either way, I assure you, your flowers will be gorgeously preserved so you can display the memory of your blooms for years to come.

The fascination with collecting and preserving flowers dates back for centuries. The art of preserving florals is believed to date back to ancient civilizations. In 16th century Japan, the art form known as Oshibana originated which is largely accepted as one of the first forms of floral preservation. Oshibana is the art of using pressed flowers and other botanical materials to create an entire picture from these natural elements. It was created as one of their disciplines to promote patience, harmony with nature, and powers of concentration.

As trade with Japan increased in the mid 1800s, citizens of western countries became fascinated with the use of pressed flowers as an art form. By the late 1800s, flower pressing had become a favorite pastime in England and the United States.

The easiest way to ensure the best longevity and creative outcome for your wedding flowers is to hire me as the floral designer for your wedding. I can plan throughout the entire process with the final art and preservation in mind from the beginning and advise you on which florals can easily be preserved. However, I understand that this is not always possible so I’m happy to create your preservation art with a bouquet created by another studio. If you do decide to go this route, I recommend asking your florist not to spray your flowers with any preservatives such as Crowning Glory because it accelerates the browning of the petals and promotes mold during the process. Preservative products are harmful to flowers in the long run.

The flowers you use for your wedding day often endure a lot of wear and tear by the time they reach me for preservation. Proper handling and care for your flowers after your event is very important to keep them looking their best as long as possible! Flowers should be stored in fresh clean, cold water in a cool, dry area away from direct sun. Be very careful not to freeze flowers in a household refrigerator and keep them away from ripening fruits that release ethylene gas.

Each project takes a minimum of 4 months from start to finish to allow time for the flowers to cure and to work through the creative design process. I create each art piece using the flowers from your bouquet that look the best, have retained their color, and have interesting textures and shapes. In a sense, I let the flowers tell me what to do. I find that my most sought-after preservation designs are from the fresh bouquets that I create myself for your wedding. All of my artwork is mounted to glass or worked into dried wreaths, depending on the blooms.

If your event took place outside of Colorado, I will send you a shipping kit with everything you need to get your flowers safely to me within 24-48 hours after your wedding. I’ve also created a video with Shipping Instructions.

If you’re within range of Denver, I am happy to arrange a courier service to pick up your bouquet and deliver it to my studio for a fee. You can also feel free to schedule a time to drop off your bouquet at my private Fort Collins studio.

A 50% non-refundable retainer is required to guarantee your spot on my botanical collage calendar.

When your flowers arrive, I will unpack and inspect them, update you on the quality and begin to deconstruct the design into individual blossoms, petals, and leaves. These bits are strategically placed in the flower press between sheets of vellum paper or hung from my drying rack. Once pressed or dried, I arrange them to create a one-of-a-kind design, either a framed art piece for the wall or a dried wreath (or both!) and return them to you.

Click here to find out more about our floral preservation process!