Something old made new: Preserving your wedding bouquet
Keeping your wedding bouquet, along with other tokens from your wedding day, is a common practice amongst sentimental brides. Not only do the mementos serve as beautiful reminders of a great day, but they can also double as gifts for close family members and dear friends–think preserved flower remnants for your mom and mother-in-law.
Local artist Kristen Serio of @arte_de_kristen was on a mission to create unique and special gifts for her own friends and family getting married when she realized how often brides kept their bouquets. This sparked the idea to use the bouquets to make something that people could display and even use as a conversation piece in their home.
“I personally prefer gifts that are more practical and can be used,” explains Serio. “Around the time I was brainstorming the perfect wedding gifts, I met many women who kept their bouquets from their weddings years ago, but the flowers were covered in dust in the attic, unable to be shown off and celebrated. I knew I needed to change that.”
Using fresh bouquets, Serio now creates a plethora of beautiful pieces, such as jewelry, coasters, serving trays, pressed artwork and even tables. According to her, newlyweds typically prefer the serving trays since they can be both decorative and useful.
Serio’s strategy for keeping the flowers looking beautiful starts with picking them up as soon as she can after the wedding, in order to prevent wilting and browning. Next, she quickly presses the flowers and waits until they are completely dried before creating the composition. After creating the layout and making sure the customer is satisfied, she uses resin to seal and preserve the flowers forever.
“I believe brides choose these creative options because it is a unique reminder of their special day, as well as useful in their daily life, or in the daily lives of their loved ones,” explains Serio.
Did you preserve your wedding flowers? Let us know what you did with your bouquet in the comments below.
