Brides: If you have a wedding coming up soon, we encourage you to preserve your wedding bouquet! Its a trend that’s really picking up speed, and we are all for it. On our side of things, it’s a lot of work to design and create your beautiful wedding bouquets, so why not preserve them?

We’ve rounded up our favorite ways to preserve your bouquet, some you can do yourself and some you could hire someone to do for you!

01. Hang the flowers to dry! One way to save your flowers for years to come is to hang your bouquet upside down to dry. We’d suggest taking the bouquet apart and then hanging the flowers/greens individually, so the flowers have the best, lushest form possible. Or keep the bouquet all together, if you like! Once they’re dried, put them in a vase somewhere, or make a wreath of the dried blooms! Better yet - save the ribbon, and use that to tie onto the wreath.

02. Press the flowers and display them! Glass frames are becoming popular and we are big fans of them. They're a great way to save flowers and your stationary suite from your wedding, you could save a few blooms or the whole bouquet itself! If you want to do it yourself, be sure to find a flat surface and put down a piece of wax paper. Spread out your flowers/greens, open up the petals whichever you like, and then place another piece of wax paper on top. Place a heavy, flat object on top and leave it to dry for about a week. Voila! Pressed flowers! Just be sure to do it right after the wedding - the longer you wait, the more the petals will wilt and the colors will dull.

03. Preserve the flowers in resin! This one you could do by yourself if you have some experience, but if it’s your first time using resin we’d recommend you send it out to get it done. If you look on Etsy there are countless possibilities - paper weight, coasters, jewelry holders, even a 3D shape that you could place on a shelf! This is one great way to preserve them, and it’s definitely increasing in popularity. There’s a whole market of people that do this who are incredibly talented, and we love the look of it!

04. Have an artist paint/embroider them! Perhaps you know a painter or someone who dabbles in embroidery, but you could also do this yourself! Send a picture of the final bouquet to the artist and have them create something beautiful for you to hang on your wall for years to come. Look on Etsy for all kinds of talented artists and let the creative juices start flowing.

05. Create a Shadow Box! This looks great with the dried flowers, so we recommend hanging them to dry and then doing this. In the shadow box you could also put in your stationary suite, some favorite photos of you and your spouse, your escort cards, etc! You could throw anything in there, and be able to see it for years to come.

06. Turn it into fine art to hang in your home! The Heirloom Bouquet is a team of photographers who have similar editing styles who will take your bouquet after your wedding (if they’re local, you can drop it off, otherwise you can mail it to them overnight) and will create a beautiful flatlay arrangement, photograph it, add in some stunning calligraphy for each flower type, and you can purchase it framed or as a print.

And if you’ve already had your wedding but forgot to preserve your bouquet - worry not! We have two great ideas for you to feel the floral vibes all over again.

01. Reach out to your florist and see if it would be possible to order your wedding bouquet again, perhaps on your anniversary! It can be a fun walk down memory lane to see a bouquet with the same flowers again, and then can be preserved with the tips above. Plus it’ll mean the world if you reach out to your florist and reconnect with them - we miss our now-married couples!

02. If you remember which flowers were in your bouquet, try planting them in a garden! My mom had pink and white lilies in her bouquet, and so she planted them in a garden out front so each spring when they come up she gets a reminder of her wedding. It’s such a sweet, simple way to remember that special day, and bring a bit of joy into your home!

Give us a second to wipe the drool off our faces, strolling down floral memory lane was gorgeous and we can’t wait for the wedding season to start up again!! If there’s one thing you got from those photos, I hope it’s that we at Essen love colorful, textured bouquets. We hope you do too, and we hope you find your favorite way to preserve your bouquet!

The photographers that beautifully captured our work:

5 Ways to Preserve Your Wedding Bouquet