Your wedding day may be over, but your bouquet doesn’t have to be.
After months of choosing your flowers, deciding on colours and styles and finally carrying your bouquet down the aisle, it can feel strange to think about what happens to it once the wedding is finished.
Fresh flowers are naturally temporary, but there are several things you can do with your wedding bouquet afterwards.
You could display it while it dries, photograph it, share individual flowers with family members or have some of it professionally preserved into a keepsake.
If you’re wondering what to do with your wedding bouquet after the wedding, here are some options to consider.
1. Have your wedding flowers professionally preserved
One of the most meaningful ways to keep your wedding bouquet is to have some of the flowers preserved.
Wedding flower preservation can turn flowers from your wedding day into a lasting keepsake that you can display or use around your home.
Depending on the flowers and the design you choose, your bouquet can be incorporated into resin pieces or framed displays.
At Nogard Creations, we create a wide range of bespoke flower preservation pieces, including:
- Resin hearts
- Coasters
- Hanging hearts
- Display blocks
- Spheres
- Ring dishes
- Jewellery dishes
- Tealight holders
- Bookmarks
- Keyrings
- Photo frames
- Bespoke framed displays
You don’t necessarily have to preserve your entire bouquet either.
Some couples choose a small selection of flowers, while others want to incorporate as much of their bouquet as possible.
2. Preserve your flowers in resin
Resin flower preservation is a popular option because it allows your flowers to become part of something you can display or use.
Instead of simply keeping your bouquet in a box, individual flowers and petals can be arranged within a resin piece.
This could be a decorative display or something practical such as a coaster or jewellery dish.
Resin preservation also gives you lots of options when it comes to the shape and size of your finished piece.
You can choose something subtle that sits on a shelf or bedside table, or a larger piece designed to become a feature in your home.
3. Have your bouquet framed
Another option is to have your wedding flowers professionally dried and incorporated into a framed display.
A framed piece can showcase your flowers in a way that allows you to see them every day.
This can be particularly lovely if you have flowers, foliage or other small details from your wedding that you’d like to keep together.
Framing can also work alongside other elements from your wedding, depending on the design you choose.
4. Keep a small part of your bouquet
You don’t have to preserve everything.
If you don’t want a large display, you could choose a few particularly meaningful flowers or petals and have those turned into a smaller keepsake.
This can be a good option if you want something more discreet or if you’d like to have several smaller pieces made.
For example, one bouquet could potentially provide flowers or petals for keepsakes for you and members of your family.
That means your wedding flowers don’t have to become just one item.
5. Make keepsakes for family members
Your wedding bouquet may be meaningful to more than just you and your partner.
Parents, grandparents, bridesmaids and other close family members may also appreciate having a small part of your flowers to keep.
Smaller preservation pieces can make thoughtful gifts, allowing different people to have a physical reminder of your wedding day.
A keyring, bookmark, hanging heart or small resin piece can be an especially lovely way of sharing your flowers.
6. Keep your bouquet at home
Of course, you can also simply keep your bouquet.
Some couples choose to dry their bouquet themselves and display it somewhere in their home.
This can be a lovely option, but it’s worth remembering that dried flowers remain delicate.
Over time, petals can become brittle and flowers can collect dust or be affected by light, heat and humidity.
Professional flower preservation offers another option if you want to turn some of your flowers into a more durable keepsake.
When should I send my wedding flowers for preservation?
Ideally, your flowers should reach your chosen preservation specialist as soon as reasonably possible after your wedding.
However, don’t panic if you haven’t arranged your preservation before the wedding.
At Nogard Creations, you don’t have to pre-book your flower preservation.
We accept last-minute preservation requests, so you can decide after your wedding that you would like to preserve your flowers.
We also accept flowers by post from across the UK.
This means you don’t have to live locally to have your wedding flowers preserved by us.
What if my flowers are already starting to wilt?
Don’t automatically assume that it’s too late.
Flowers naturally begin changing once they are removed from water, and different flowers can deteriorate at different rates.
If your bouquet has started to wilt, the best thing you can do is handle it carefully and arrange to send it for preservation as soon as possible.
The condition of the flowers will affect what can be created, but slightly wilted flowers aren’t automatically unusable.
Do I have to decide what I want before sending my flowers?
No.
This is something many couples worry about.
You may know that you want your wedding flowers preserved but have no idea whether you want a heart, coaster, frame or another type of keepsake.
That’s okay.
You don’t necessarily have to decide on the exact finished piece before your flowers arrive.
At Nogard Creations, flowers go through the drying process before they are used in their final preservation design.
Once you know what flowers have dried well and what you have available, you can make a more informed decision about your finished keepsakes.
How long does wedding flower preservation take?
Flower preservation isn’t an instant process.
Your flowers need to be carefully prepared and dried before they can be incorporated into their final design.
At Nogard Creations, flowers are typically removed from the drying process after around 5–6 months, although the overall preservation journey can take up to 12 months.
This means it’s important to think of flower preservation as a long-term process rather than something that will be finished a few weeks after your wedding.
The result, however, is something designed to last far longer than the original fresh bouquet.
What if I forgot to book wedding flower preservation?
This is one of the most important things to know:
You haven’t necessarily missed your chance.
Not every couple knows about flower preservation before their wedding.
You may have only discovered it afterwards, perhaps when you’re looking at your bouquet and wondering how you could keep it.
At Nogard Creations, there is no requirement to pre-book.
If your wedding has already happened, you can still enquire about preserving your flowers.
The sooner you can arrange it, the more options you may have, but don’t throw your flowers away simply because you didn’t organise preservation in advance.
What happens to the rest of my bouquet?
You don’t necessarily need to preserve every flower.
Depending on the design you choose, some flowers may not be required or may not be suitable for the particular piece you have selected.
This is another reason why you don’t have to decide that your entire bouquet needs to become one huge preservation piece.
A selection of flowers can be used to create something that feels personal to you, while any remaining flowers can be kept, displayed or photographed separately.
Turning your wedding flowers into something you’ll keep
Your wedding bouquet was created for one day, but the memories attached to it don’t have to disappear when the flowers eventually do.
Whether you choose to dry your bouquet, frame it, preserve a few flowers in resin or create several smaller keepsakes, there are plenty of ways to give your wedding flowers a life beyond your wedding day.
At Nogard Creations, we specialise in turning meaningful wedding flowers into bespoke resin and framed keepsakes for clients across the UK.
So if you’re standing at home after your wedding wondering “What do I do with my bouquet now?”, you have options.
And if you forgot to arrange flower preservation before your wedding, don’t assume you’ve missed your opportunity.
Explore our flower preservation collection to see the different keepsakes available and find a way to keep a part of your wedding day for years to come.