Wedding Blog
Since we’re not doing the bouquet/garter toss, I needed something to do with my bouquet after the wedding. I’ve looked into bouquet preservation, and I found Heller & Reid Preservation. Rated in Good Housekeeping magazine, Heller & Reid Preservation uses a five step system of vacuuming and freeze-drying your wedding flowers.
The preserved bouquets can be set in shadow boxes of different styles. Like this, the pyramid style:
You could also do a tabletop dome, as seen here:
If a shadow box or dome seems a little too “Mausoleum” to you, there is the lantern version as well.
You can even put your bouquet into a jewelry box!
To preserve your bouquet, it costs from the $350.00 to $550.00 range, which is so much more than I would be willing to spend. To be honest, the idea of preserving a bouquet is a smidge creepy to me, I don’t know why. Actually, I do. I saw a movie when I was little, it was the “Hugga Bunch Movie” in which a little girl went to some strange land to keep her grandma young and huggable and there was this magic tree (owned by a witch) under glass that bore youth-preserving fruit. I still have nightmares to this day… Sure, I have various roses Mr. Kiwi has given me over the years, but to keep a whole bouquet seems a little odd.
This is why, after considering the many options for the after-wedding bouquet, I’ve decided that I’m going to bring it to my grandma’s grave the next day, as she never really had a “bouquet”, and I know she loved flowers. That choice makes me happy, and gives me a chance to “talk” to Grandma the first day of being a wife.
What are you going to do with your bouquet?
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A charity 10K is passing our post-wedding brunch. I’m thinking about breaking the bouquet apart and handing flowers to the people waaay at the back of the pack (where I’d be) who look like they need one.
Um, I threw mine away because it was getting ugly (dead flowers really depress me) and we had a plane to catch. Guess I should have thrown the real boquet. (I confess, flowers were my abolutely lowest priority so I am not the right person to ask.)
It’s good to know someone else is planning on doing this too. I hate the whole bouquet/garter toss thing but didn’t know what else to do with the bouquet. I took care of my grandmother for years before she died from Alzheimer’s disease and once she had to go to a nursing home I brought her flowers on Saturdays. It was the only thing she still enjoyed. It only seemed appropriate to “give” my bouquet to her.
I am going to dry it out and then sprinkle the rose pedals in our garden once we came back from our honeymoon.
I’m having a smaller toss bouquet made in addition to mine and I’m with you - $500 to keep a bouquet is just too ridiculous!! It’s too bad because I would love to have it as a piece in my house. It would also be something tangible to show my children, because I’m pretty sure I’m selling my dress after the wedding.
I’ve been debating how to honor my uncle who passed several years ago due to cancer. Maybe I should give my aunt my bouquet and make an announcement at the reception? But then, what would she do with it? I would love to visit his grave after the wedding, but we have to leave hella early the next morning to drive to our honeymoon cruise site.
*Sigh* maybe I shouldn’t have a toss bouquet and just get it over with…
Aww that’s so sweet! I hadn’t thought of that before, but now I think I might place mine at my grandparents’ grave too!
Whew. I’m glad your post ended the way it did, Miss Kiwi, because those preservation things creep me out, too…
Wow - I really didn’t think the grave thing was so common but I’m thinking of doing that too.. Like you Miss Kiwi my grandmother meant so much to me and I am so upset that she won’t be there. I am having my wedding in NV (where I have family and she passed) and I was thinking of visiting her grave the day after and giving her my bouqet…
The cemetery idea is really beautiful and touching. Thanks for the idea!
p.s. That movie sounds seriously creepy. I just looked it up on IMDb–would you believe it won an Emmy??
Such a thoughtful idea!
I agree that the idea of preserving the flowers is a bit creepy. It would also be one more thing to clutter my home. But that’s my opinion.
IT WON AN EMMY????
I have years of mental scarring from that hideous movie, and it won an EMMY??
What a wonderful idea!
I put mine in a vase and enjoyed it while it lived. Then I tossed it. - What in the world would I do with flowers under glass? Dust it? Uh, no.
I’m having mine made as two bouquets tied together at the stem and held together with the wrap. I really don’t want to do the bouquet toss so I’m honoring my grandmother and FI’s grandmother at the reception by presenting each of them with a half.
aww miss kiwi - you made me tear up! that’s so sweet.
i’m just going to leave mine in a vase and let the flowers dry, no preservation, just simple drying out.
Hi Miss Kiwi, I found another site that was mentioned in Jo Gartin’s wedding planning book…http://www.pressedflower.com.
You have to click on the “Wedding” tab to see what they do with bouquets. It is actually dried, then pressed flat and framed like a picture. But I think I might like the “3-D” ones that you show better.
very sweet idea indeed, miss kiwi. i’m going to my dad’s grave the next day and leaving him my bouquet. mrs. ladybug wrote about this and did the same. it was so touching! i cried buckets after reading it.
That is a wonderful idea! Very sweet and touching.
I never would have thought of leaving my bouquet at my father’s grave until reading this. It’s so perfect- thank you all! (I too, think those shadowboxes are trƒ©s creepy+overpriced!)
I hung mine upside down in my closet until it dried all the way, then it’s been sitting on a shelf ever since. I have plans to put it in a shadow box someday, with an extra invitation and wedding photo, but I’ve been lazy and figured they’re not going anywhere for a while. That $350 to preserve it was a little too steep for me too!
You should check out http://www.DesignsFinds.com, where you can have your bouquet made into a candle. I bought candles from them for both of my sisters after their weddings and they are gorgeous!! The candles are hollow inside, so they last forever, you just burn an oil lamp or tealight inside.
Check into: http://www.flowersintopaintings.com
The best preservation idea I’ve ever seen!
All my flowers are silk(or at least fake) 
I’ll display them in a vase or something until they get dusty or i get tired of looking at them. Then i’ll stick ‘em in a box somewhere for my daughter to laugh at when she gets engaged. its a sort of family tradition, you all should see my mother’s flowers from 26 years ago!
that’s a beautiful gesture… :*)
Sorry, I meant DesignFinds.NET for the candles! And I love that flowers into paintings website, too!
[...] went onto this website on a lark. I had noticed a response to the weddingbee post (thanks to Miss Kiwi and artsyvixen!) about flower preservation alternatives with this link for [...]
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Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
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