Saving the Rotting Bouquet

Couples will ask us frequently when do you need our flowers after our wedding in order to preserve them. In short as soon as possible. As the sooner we get them the better the results whether it be pressing or 3D preservation as fresh flowers yield better results. And as the flowers become older there is less we can do with them and I often suggest pressing for older bouquets as flowers need to have good structure to go through the 3D preservation process.

A mum messaged me explaining her daughter had gotten married nearly 2 weeks ago and her flowers had meant a lot to her. And she really wanted to do something with her daughter’s bouquet to surprise her for Christmas. I said if she dropped off the bouquet and we could see what we could do with it. So we said to bring it up and we can advise what can be done. So the mum embarked on a 2 and a half hour round trip to deliver her daughter’s cherished wedding day Bouquet.

When the bouquet arrived it was evident it was past just old and wilted. It was actually rotting. However these flowers obviously meant a lot to this mum and the daughter given the lengths that had been taken to get it to me. So we took what we could – petals, some Veronica, lisianthus buds, some eucalyptus leaves and placed them in the preservation agent. The first thing to breakdown on flowers is the pigments so I already knew what I could save would need heavy color correction. So after consult with the mum and showing her what I was able to save we opted for 4 Christmas tree decorations, a coaster set and 3 small resin frames with heavy color correction.

So while at first glance we could have said the bouquet was beyond saving and yes in some respects it was. It wasn’t beyond saving certain aspects; to create a fairly significant number of keepsakes. So that the bride can forever remember those memories tied to her flowers and her special day.