How to Press Your Wedding Bouquet So It Lasts for Years
The morning after a wedding, the bouquet is usually sitting on the kitchen counter, still lovely but already on the clock. Those flowers were chosen with so much care, and within a few days they will start to droop and brown. The good news is that you can keep a real piece of them, flat and bright, for years. You just have to start sooner than most people think.
Pressing a wedding bouquet is not hard. It mostly comes down to acting quickly and being a little firm about which blooms go in. Here is how to save the flowers that matter while they still look their best.
Start the day after, not the week after
A bouquet looks fine for a while, which is exactly the trap. By the time the petals are visibly tired, the colour has already begun to go. The flowers that press best are the ones caught while they are still firm and fresh, so the day after the wedding is the sweet spot. If you are away on honeymoon, ask someone to keep the bouquet in water somewhere cool and out of the sun, or to press a few of the key blooms for you. A flower pressed on day two will always beat the same flower pressed on day six.
Choose what to save, and take the big ones apart
A full bridal bouquet will not go into a press whole, and it should not. Pick out the flowers that mean the most and that will actually press well. Smaller, flatter blooms like ranunculus, cosmos, daisies, and single sweet peas do beautifully as they are. The showpiece flowers, roses and peonies, are thick and hold a lot of moisture, so press them petal by petal or split them in half rather than whole. Save a few leaves and a sprig of greenery too. They fill out a finished frame and they press without any fuss.
Do this first: before you take a single stem out, photograph the whole bouquet from above. When you lay your pressed flowers out later, that picture helps you rebuild the shape and remember where everything sat.
A whole bouquet needs room
This is where a small press runs out of space fast. A wedding bouquet has a lot of flowers, and the one rule that matters most is that nothing should touch. Petals that overlap dry into each other and come out creased. Give each bloom its own space, lay a sheet of blotting paper between the flowers and the boards, and keep each layer roughly the same thickness so everything dries at the same pace.
Tighten it evenly, corner by corner, then comes the hard part: leave it closed for two to four weeks. For more on keeping precious flowers free of mould, our precious blooms guide goes deeper.
The one for a bouquet
Lilabelle, Extra Large Flower Press
Room to lay a whole bouquet out properly with nothing touching, even pressure corner to corner, and the blotting paper already in the box.
$59.99
From the Berstuk pressing club
Get 10% off your first order, plus the pressing tips we only share with members
Paper timings, colour rescues, and the mistakes that cost people a whole batch. One email a week at most, and you can leave whenever you like.
From bouquet to something you see every day
When you open the press, you will have a small collection of flat, bright flowers ready to become something real. A simple float frame on the bedroom wall is the classic choice, and you can use that overhead photo to arrange them close to how they looked on the day. Some people frame just three or four stems. Others keep a single rose pressed flat in a small frame on the shelf. Either way, it is the same flowers from the same morning, kept long after the cake is gone.
The same flowers, pressed flat and framed for the wall.
If you are only saving a few stems
Not everyone wants to press the whole bouquet. Plenty of people keep three or four flowers, the ones that actually mean something, and that is a perfectly good way to do it.
For that, you do not need the extra large press. You need something that holds a few blooms flat and looks good enough to leave out on a shelf rather than hide in a cupboard.
New
Flora, Square Flower Press
Square plates, so nothing sits off the edge and every layer presses evenly. Right for a handful of keepsake stems, and good enough looking to leave out.
$34.99
Frequently asked questions
How soon after the wedding should I press the bouquet?
The day after is ideal. By day five or six the colour has already started to go, and pressing cannot bring it back.
Can I press the whole bouquet at once?
Not as a bouquet. Take it apart, choose the blooms that matter, and lay them out so nothing touches. Roses and peonies press petal by petal.
What if I am away on honeymoon?
Ask someone to keep it in water somewhere cool and dark, or to press the key blooms for you. Cool and out of sunlight buys you a few days, not a few weeks.
How long does it take?
Two to four weeks. Change the blotting paper after the first 24 hours, then every few days. That single habit is what keeps the colour.
What if my flowers go mouldy?
Almost always too much moisture with nowhere to go. Our precious blooms guide covers how to avoid it, and it is worth reading before you press anything irreplaceable.
A wedding bouquet only looks its best for a few days, but pressed well it stays on the wall for decades. If yours is sitting in a vase right now, that is your sign to save a few of the best blooms today.
Questions? We're always happy to help at info@berstukstore.com