How To Display a Dried Wedding Bouquet

There’s a bridal bouquet preservation idea for everyone, from simple air-drying to more complex wax-dipping, resin casting, and professional freeze-drying.

Choose the best suitable method depending on your bouquet size and state, home interior, and crafting skills.

After your flowers are dried, you can display them in a vase, hang them, frame them, make a wreath, or preserve them in a bottle.

Arrange It in a Vase

The most obvious way to display a dried wedding bouquet is to arrange it in a vase to admire year-round. You can place the vase on your dinner table, fireplace, bookshelf, or in the bedroom.

Of course, dry flowers don’t need water. To keep them in place, start by inserting some floral foam at the base of the vase. Then, stick the stems into the foam, starting with the focal flowers.

Continue to arrange the bouquet by adding secondary flowers around the center and foliage on the outside. Close any gaps with filler flowers.

You may need to remove excess foliage from the stems if the flowers don’t fit in your chosen vase. Be careful not to damage the fragile petals.

Because there’s no need for water, you can get creative and replace a regular vase with a straw hat, large jar, picnic basket, or anything else that fits your home interior and bouquet design.

Make a Wreath

Consider making a boho-style DIY dried flower wreath if you don’t mind transforming your bouquet into something else.

You can hang the wreath on your door, above the fireplace, on the wall, or place it as a centerpiece on the table.

An average bouquet is insufficient for a wreath, so you may need to use a base wreath from straw, faux evergreen branches, wood, or another material that suits your wedding bouquet design.

You’ll need a wire, floral tape, wire pliers, and scissors for this wedding bouquet preservation idea. Cut the flower stems and trim them from foliage, leaving each stem about two inches.

You may tape smaller filler flowers together for a fuller look. Next, wrap one end of the wire around the stems and attach the other end to your base wreath. Cut the excess wire with pliers.

Alternatively, you can use the same method to make a dry flower crown. Take a thick wire and make a circle of a suitable circumference.

Then, attach dry flowers to the base using paddle wire. It’s an excellent accessory for a romantic summer date or your anniversary.

Press The Flowers

A wedding bouquet takes much place and may crumble over time. Instead of displaying an entire bouquet in a vase, you may press the flowers and make a chic collage or glue them into your wedding album.

This bridal bouquet preservation idea is best suitable for flowers with a flat bud, such as gerbera daisies, orchids, and asters. If the flower is globe-shaped, like a peony, you may cut it in half.

Ensure your wedding bouquet is already dry but not crumbling. Furthermore, the flowers should be free of blemishes and tears.

The easiest way to press a wedding bouquet is by using a heavy book and absorbent paper. First, remove the foliage and cut the stem, leaving about an inch or two.

Then, open the book and place some parchment paper on the pages to prevent damaging the book. Place the flowers on the paper, close the book, and put some weight on top of it. Check your flowers in three to four weeks.

When your flowers are done, use a hot glue gun to attach your flowers to paper. You may paint a vase and stems with foliage on a large canvas, and stick the dry pressed flowers onto the stems, then frame your artwork.

This way, your wedding bouquet will look almost as if it was real but will last for much longer because it isn’t exposed to hot air and humidity.

Hang It

The easiest way to display a dry wedding bouquet is to hang it. You don’t need a vase, floral foam, or free space on your bookshelf – all you need is twine and a hook on the wall.

Start by stripping any excess foliage from the stems and cutting them to the desired length. Wedding bouquets can be tall, but you’d likely want to make it shorter if you plan to hang yours in the doorway.

Then, use twine to tie the stems together to prevent your flowers from falling. Make a loop and hang the bouquet on a hook in a well-ventilated area away from direct sunlight to avoid over-drying.

A hanging dry wedding bouquet will perfectly suit a rustic interior, giving it a homey touch. It’s an excellent décor for your dining room, bedroom, hallway, or summer house.

Preserve It in Resin

If you’re a crafty person, consider preserving your wedding bouquet in resin. It will protect the flowers from hot air, humidity, and other environmental factors.

This one-of-a-kind wedding keepsake idea is a stylish interior element for modern homes.

You can either preserve the entire bouquet in a resin sphere or cube or make multiple smaller keepsakes, such as a paper press, coasters, or jewelry. You’ll need a respirator with filters, nitrile gloves, goggles, casting resin, silicone mold for shaping, and flowers.

The flowers must be completely dry before you cast them in resin to prevent molding. When the blooms are ready, mix the resin with a hardener according to the manufacturer’s instructions and pour the mixture into a silicone mold.

Place the flowers in the resin. Dry flowers tend to float, so you may need to make two resin layers – one that only covers the bottom of the flowers to secure them in place and the second one to fill the silicone mold.

Wait for about two days for the resin to cure. You may sand the down edges of your mold if needed.

Dip It in Wax

Preserving wedding flowers in wax is easy and helps to maintain their original look, unlike air drying, which makes the flowers look dull. This method is best for wedding bouquets that are still relatively fresh.

You’ll need a decent amount of wax and a large pot for melting it for this project. Start by melting the wax.

Note that paraffin wax is highly flammable, so never leave it on the stove without supervision. The wax temperature should be about 140 degrees Fahrenheit. If it’s lower, the wax won’t coat the flowers properly.

However, if the wax is so hot you can’t stick your finger in it, the flowers will scorch. When the wax is ready, dip the flowers one by one into the pot, holding them by the stem.

Repeat if needed – a second layer will only help to preserve the flowers better. After dipping, hold the flower upside down for about two minutes to let it harden.

Lastly, dip the stems to prevent rotting. When all the flowers are ready, arrange them back in a bouquet and display them in a vase.

Preserve It in a Bottle

Whether you’ve air-dried your wedding flowers or dipped them in wax, you can cut the stems and fill a glass bottle or jar with the buds for a boho-inspired interior décor.

Naturally, the bottle or jar top should be large enough to fit the blooms. If some of the flowers don’t fit, you can use separate petals instead.

You may use one large bottle or jar or multiple small mason jars for a chic kitchen shelf display. Spritz the flowers with strong-hold spray to prevent them from crumbling.

Make sure the spray coat is thin and even. Tie a bow from twine or lace ribbon around the bottle or jar as a finishing touch.

How to Make Dried Flowers Last Longer

The tips for maintaining dried flowers longer are simple – keep them away from direct sunlight, heat vents and regularly clean them with a feather duster.

Although air-drying, pressing, and wax dipping are all valid wedding bouquet preservation methods, they require some experience to be done correctly.

The preservation can go wrong due to numerous factors, from incorrect temperature to increased humidity.

Professional wedding bouquet preservation is an excellent way to ensure your flowers will remain in the best possible condition for decades. Professionals typically use the freeze-drying method, which takes up to eight weeks.

The bouquet is disassembled, and each flower passes through the freeze-drying machine, where a vacuum pump removes moisture. This method allows preserving the vibrant colors and original shape of your flowers.

After each flower passes the freeze-drying phase, the florist recreates the original wedding bouquet design.

Lastly, the floral arrangement is placed into a vacuum-sealed shadowbox frame or clear box that you can display in your home.

The average cost of wedding bouquet preservation is about $200, although memories are priceless.