Your wedding flowers are often one of the most personal parts of your wedding day. They have been carefully chosen to match your style, colours and overall vision, and after the wedding, many couples do not want to simply throw them away.
Flower preservation allows you to transform your wedding bouquet into a lasting keepsake, but one of the questions we are often asked is what actually happens to the flowers once they leave your hands.
Preserving wedding flowers is a detailed process that takes time, patience and careful handling. Fresh flowers cannot simply be placed straight into resin or a frame. Before they can become a finished keepsake, they need to go through several stages to ensure they are properly preserved.
Here is a closer look at what happens to your wedding flowers during the flower preservation process.
Step 1: Your flowers arrive with us
The first stage is receiving your wedding flowers.
Some customers bring their flowers directly to us, while others carefully package their bouquet and send it to us by post from elsewhere in the UK.
When your flowers arrive, their condition is assessed. Every bouquet is different, and the condition of the flowers can vary depending on several factors.
These can include how long the flowers have been cut, how they have been stored after the wedding, the journey to us and how delicate the individual flowers are.
This is why we always recommend sending or delivering your flowers as soon as possible after your wedding where you can.
However, we understand that not everyone has planned flower preservation in advance. Sometimes customers only decide they would like to preserve their bouquet after the wedding has already taken place.
In these cases, it is always worth getting in touch with photographs of the flowers so we can advise whether preservation may still be possible.
Step 2: Preparing the flowers for preservation
Once your flowers have arrived, they need to be prepared for the preservation process.
A wedding bouquet can contain many different flowers, foliage and decorative elements. Not every part of the bouquet will necessarily be suitable for preservation in exactly the same way.
The flowers are carefully separated and prepared before the drying process begins.
This stage is important because flowers are natural materials and each one can react differently.
Some flowers are more delicate, while others hold their shape particularly well. Some may dry with very little visible change, while others can darken, shrink or alter in appearance.
The aim is always to preserve as much of the natural beauty and character of the flowers as possible.
Step 3: Drying your wedding flowers
Before flowers can be preserved in resin, the moisture needs to be removed.
Fresh flowers naturally contain a large amount of water. If they were placed directly into resin without being properly dried, this could cause problems with the finished piece.
The drying process is therefore one of the most important stages of wedding flower preservation.
The flowers are carefully dried over time to remove their moisture while helping them retain their shape.
This cannot be rushed. Different flowers can take different amounts of time to dry, and larger or thicker flowers may require additional time.
Patience during this stage is essential because properly dried flowers are needed before they can move on to the next part of the preservation process.
Do flowers look exactly the same after drying?
One of the most important things to understand about preserving real flowers is that they may not look exactly the same after the drying process.
Flower preservation captures the flowers themselves rather than creating artificial copies of them.
Because they are natural, every flower reacts differently.
Some flowers may retain much of their original colour and shape, while others may become darker, lighter or slightly different in appearance.
Changes in colour can also occur naturally as flowers dry.
This is completely normal and is part of the preservation process.
The final result is a preserved version of your real wedding flowers, with all the individual characteristics that make your bouquet unique.
Step 4: Selecting flowers for your keepsakes
Once your flowers have completed the drying process, they can be assessed and selected for your chosen keepsakes.
The type and amount of flowers you have will influence what can be created.
For example, a larger display piece may allow a selection of the main flowers from your bouquet to be arranged together, while smaller keepsakes may use individual flowers, smaller blooms or petals.
Some customers choose several different pieces from the same bouquet.
This can be a lovely way to create a main display piece for yourself while also using some of the remaining flowers to create smaller keepsakes for family members or loved ones.
Every bouquet and every order is different, so the arrangement is planned around the flowers available and the pieces you have chosen.
Step 5: Arranging the flowers
Flower arrangement is one of the stages where the preserved flowers begin to come together as a keepsake.
Rather than simply placing flowers into a mould, they need to be carefully positioned.
The layout can make a huge difference to the finished piece.
Flowers may need to be arranged to ensure they can be seen clearly, complement one another and create a balanced final design.
The size and shape of the keepsake will also influence how the flowers can be arranged.
This means that preserving a bouquet is not always about recreating the exact arrangement it had on the wedding day. Instead, the flowers are carefully used to create a new display that allows them to be enjoyed in their preserved form.
Step 6: Preserving flowers in resin
For resin flower preservation, the properly dried flowers are carefully incorporated into the chosen piece.
Resin allows the flowers to be enclosed within a solid, clear material, creating a three-dimensional keepsake that can be displayed and enjoyed.
Depending on the size and style of the piece, the resin process may involve multiple stages.
Each layer needs time to cure before the next stage can take place.
This is another reason why resin flower preservation cannot be completed overnight.
Creating a larger or more detailed piece can require considerable time, from preparing the flowers through to completing the final stages.
Step 7: Finishing the keepsake
Once the preservation process has been completed, the finished piece goes through its final stages.
Depending on the style of keepsake, this may involve additional finishing work to ensure it is ready to be safely packaged and sent home.
The aim is to create a finished piece that you can display in your home and enjoy as a reminder of your wedding day.
After spending time carefully drying and preserving your flowers, this is the stage where your bouquet is transformed from something temporary into a long-lasting keepsake.
How long does the wedding flower preservation process take?
Wedding flower preservation is not a quick process.
The flowers need sufficient time to dry, and resin pieces require curing time between stages.
The exact timescale can also depend on the flowers themselves, the type of keepsake you have chosen and the number of orders currently being worked on.
At Nogard Creations, flower preservation can take up to 12 months from receiving your flowers to completing your finished keepsake.
While this may feel like a long time, your flowers go through a detailed process before becoming their final piece.
We believe that preserving something as sentimental as your wedding bouquet should not be rushed.
Can you preserve flowers if you did not book in advance?
Yes.
We understand that many people do not know they want to preserve their wedding flowers until after their wedding.
You may have only recently discovered that flower preservation is possible, changed your mind after the wedding or decided that your bouquet is too special to simply throw away.
At Nogard Creations, we do not require you to have pre-booked your flower preservation before your wedding.
If you still have your flowers, get in touch with us as soon as possible and send photographs showing their current condition.
We can then advise you on whether preservation may still be possible and discuss the options available.
Turning temporary flowers into a lasting keepsake
Wedding flowers are only designed to last for a short time.
Even with the best care, fresh flowers will eventually begin to wilt and fade.
Flower preservation gives you the opportunity to hold on to a physical part of your wedding day.
From the moment your flowers arrive with us, they begin a journey from a fresh wedding bouquet to a carefully preserved keepsake.
The drying, preparation, arranging and preservation stages all take time, but the end result is something created from the real flowers that were part of your wedding day.
Whether you choose a larger resin display, a framed piece or smaller keepsakes made using individual flowers or petals, your preserved flowers can become a lasting reminder of a day filled with memories.
If you are considering preserving your wedding flowers, you do not always need to have planned it months in advance.
If you still have your bouquet, get in touch with Nogard Creations as soon as possible to discuss whether your flowers may be suitable for preservation.
We accept wedding flowers delivered to us in person and flowers carefully sent to us by post from anywhere in the UK.
Your wedding day may only last one day, but your flowers can become something you can continue to enjoy for years to come.