Preserving a wedding bouquet, honestly

We preserve somewhere between fifteen and twenty bouquets a month, and the single strongest predictor of the result is not our technique. It is how quickly the flowers reached a press.

The seventy-two hour window

From the moment a stem is cut, it begins losing structure. For the first three days the cell walls still hold their pigment well enough to dry true. After about five days, whites start going ivory and reds start going brown — and no process reverses that.

What survives beautifully

• Roses — reliably excellent, though very dark reds darken further
• Ranunculus, anemones, larkspur, delphinium
• Eucalyptus and most foliage
• Baby's breath, statice, everything in the 'filler' family
• Orchids — surprisingly good

What is genuinely difficult

• Lilies — high water content, they collapse
• Tulips — same problem, plus they keep growing after cutting
• Hydrangea — dries well but goes papery and translucent
• Anything already browning at the edge on arrival

White flowers, specifically

Pure white is the hardest colour to keep. Even perfectly dried, white petals go faintly ivory — it is the nature of the cellulose. We tell every client this before booking, because a bride expecting bridal-white and receiving cream is a disappointment we can prevent with one honest sentence.

Why we seal before pouring

A dried petal is full of microscopic air pockets, and that trapped air is what makes it read as opaque and white. Resin wicks into those pockets, changes the refractive index, and the petal goes translucent brown in about twenty minutes.

Two light coats of acrylic fixative, ten minutes apart, seals the surface without stiffening the petal. This step is not optional and it cannot be added later.

Set expectations before you pour, not after

We photograph every bouquet on arrival and send the client a layout image before the final pour. Nothing goes into resin until they've said yes to the arrangement. It adds four days to the process and it has never once been the wrong call.