6 Ways to Preserve Your Wedding Flowers

Press the Flowers

To press the flowers in your wedding bouquet, select as many flowers as you’d like, or even the entire bouquet as pictured here, and spread them out on clean wax paper so they will lift easily after pressing. Morrow suggests arranging them in a way you are happy with during this step—once they’re dried and pressed, you won’t be able to manipulate them.

Then, lay the wax paper with the flowers inside the pages of a heavy book, like a phone book or a textbook. Add another piece of wax paper on top to keep the flowers free of ink and shut the book. Then, weigh it down with something heavy, like a vase or more books. You can also simply place heavy objects on top of the wax paper-flower sandwich if you don’t have a heavy book. Leave it to dry for seven to ten days. Once the wedding flowers are flat and dry, you can arrange and frame them however you like.

You can also choose to have a professional press and frame your bouquet for you. “You only have one shot at preserving flowers,” says Sarah Ferrell of Pressed Floral. “Find someone whose style you love, and don’t be afraid to ask them for customizations. You are the one keeping it forever.”