What to Expect From Your Preserved Bridal Piece

From the onset of our journey into preserving flowers, we’ve had many inquiries about what to expect when purchasing preserved floral artwork. Therefore, we have put together some information that hopefully helps explain the process. From start to finish, the floral preservation process takes up to 6 months. It’s a tedious process, however, preserving your florals requires a lot of care and attention to detail. It is truly an investment in order to achieve a beautiful piece you will treasure for many years. Many of our brides agree that receiving their piece in the mail months after their wedding date is like reliving their wedding day all over again! Below we will go through some of our most common questions so you'll know what to expect from your piece before you book!

Will my flowers look exactly like my fresh bouquet?

Color changes can and will occur for many different reasons and will likely continue throughout the different stages of your bouquets' newfound life. This has a lot to do with the chemicals your florals may have been sprayed with to keep them looking fresh throughout your wedding day. We ask that you overnight your bouquet to us because the fresher your flowers are at the time of preservation will affect the end result. Please be sure to follow your shipping instructions and take good care of your florals before shipping them to us. (We send these instructions after you book and about a week before your wedding).

The purpose of our Flower Beautification Process™ is not only to restore the shape and colors of your preserved bouquet but also to help your preserved piece retain its color as long as possible. Although we do our best to obtain the most accurate match, this is not something we can guarantee.

It’s important to remember that we are working with nature which can be very unpredictable. The red roses in your bouquet will darken during preservation. Some will turn burgundy, dark purple, or even black which is why we use our Beautification Process™; however, it is still possible for your preserved piece to see changes in color as it ages.

As previously mentioned, not all flowers will keep their natural color. Below are a few examples of color changes that may occur during the preservation process:

Red Flowers - Burgundy

Burgundy Flowers - Deep Purple

White Flowers - Ivory, Brown

Scabiosa - deep purple, sometimes even black (Scabiosa aren't always color-enhanced)

Red Ranunculus - deep purple, it’s rare that we are able to match the original color

Stock - Doesn't press well, flowers don't typically resemble their fresh form White + Maroon Scabiosa White Peonies Red Roses

Burgundy Ranunculus + White Laceleaf (Anthurium) White Stock

Dahlias

In general, flowers that are thick and flowers that retain a lot of moisture are very difficult to preserve. The outcome is almost always a mystery. An example of these include lilies, calla lilies, and most tropical flowers.

White and Purple Calla Lilies

Orchids are tricky but white orchids are even trickier as they typically suffer a lot of browning and tend to preserve very thin (see-through thin!). It’s important for us to receive a few extra flowers so we can preserve more just in case.

Flowers aren't the only types of plants we can preserve. We often receive bouquets containing succulents and have even worked with cactus and pinecones as well! Although these require a different preservation process that takes a little more work, it is certainly possible! However, it is important to have extras of these because just like thick flowers, the results are an absolute mystery. We are still experimenting and learning to find the best preservation methods for each. When it comes to a floral block, we recommend planting your succulent from your florals and we can provide an artificial succulent to use in your piece.

What does the Flower Beautification Process consist of?

Our proprietary Flower Beautification Process™ combines several techniques that permanently restore flowers to their fresh natural shapes and colors. Over 200 steps and up to 13 hours are put into this process alone, depending on the project!

Artists will make an effort to recreate your bouquet as close as possible to your uploaded photos, but note that an exact replica is not possible. Some flowers' colors can be restored better than others and a perfect match should not be expected. Our team will base your pressed pieces and floral blocks on photos uploaded by you. We advise to not upload photos that are highly edited as the colors of the flowers in real life will be different than the photos.

All-white bouquets

In general, white flowers tend to preserve ivory and typically will turn beige or brown during the preservation process. During the designing process, an all-white bouquet can blend together making it difficult for each flower to stand out. A common and easy solution for those brides who opt for an all-white traditional bouquet is adding greenery to their piece (even if the original bouquet didn’t have any). We also recommend adding different types of white flowers so that there is dimension among the flowers. The combination of greenery and textures makes the flowers less likely to blend together.

If your bouquet is 100% white, we can work with you by adding a few leaves to the piece!

Recreating your bridal bouquet

We absolutely love assisting brides with recreations! Your recreation piece will take you back to your special day! To ensure that your bouquet recreation resembles your fresh bouquet, we ask that you provide us with clear photos taken in natural light and a list of all flowers included. We ask for a list because we don’t want to miss any flowers in your recreation. We also ask that the photos you send us to be taken in natural light so we are able to see your bouquets' true colors. The final images your photographer provides you with have been edited and may have filters or color variations. We ask that you please submit close-up shots of your flowers in natural lighting so that we can match the color of your fresh flowers as close as possible.

Please note that due to the worldwide flower shortage, we are not able to supply flowers for recreations at this time. If you would like a recreation, you must provide your own flowers. Customers often have their florist recreate their bouquets.

Do flowers in resin look different than on a pressed piece?

Our resin products are different from our pressed pieces in the way that they are dried and preserved. These flowers also go through our Beautification Process™! Just like pressed, we select only your best flowers to be used in your pieces. As always, we recommend following our shipping instructions carefully to assure that your flowers get to us in the best shape possible! This is crucial to the way they will look in your finished product. Damaged flowers that have bruises will slightly become translucent when encased in resin.

Must-haves are made with smaller elements of your bouquet and are not color-restored.

Handmade process and designing your piece

Every piece we create is 100% handmade. From preserving your flowers to designing and the Beautification Process™, the entire process is done by hand (many hands!). For this reason, your piece may differ from the work you see in photos on Instagram and on our website, but rest assured your piece will be beautifully unique. Slight imperfections are normal and to be expected with handmade products, especially when working with nature.

It’s important to keep in mind that every bouquet is different, therefore, each piece will also be different. We receive bouquets in many different styles, color variations, and bouquets containing many different varieties of flowers. We encourage our brides to go through our gallery and Instagram account for design inspiration. We’ll design with your ideas and preferences in mind but because your bouquet is unique, know that your preserved piece will also be unique and will not look exactly like the piece you liked on Instagram.

Framing, sealing, and aging

We are just as excited for you to receive your piece as you are! We love sharing as much of our work on Instagram as we can once the designing process is complete. You might even recognize your bridal bouquet in our Instagram feed or stories! If you see a sneak peek of your bouquet, remember that it is not quite done yet. Your piece still needs to be cleaned up, sealed, framed, and quality checked before it is ready to be shipped to you. We will give you a heads up and send tracking information once it is on its way!

As your preserved piece ages, you’ll notice color may change and you may also notice pollen or even small bits of loose flowers on the glass of a framed piece. This is normal and to be expected. Although we strive to use the latest techniques, state-of-the-art materials, and strategies to ensure the color and overall quality of your piece is the best possible, flower aging is natural, colors may fade or change to a degree over time. While our casting resins have UV inhibitors that will delay the change in color, however, keep in mind that all epoxy will eventually amber to some degree.

To protect your piece, treat it with a lot of love! Keep it away from direct sunlight, extreme hot/cold temperatures, and humid areas. And always be very gentle when handling.

We hope this helps you better understand what to expect when booking our services. The processes and methods we used have been refined for several years, yet we are constantly experimenting to learn new ways in which we can improve our techniques to better serve our brides!

We are so excited to work with you and your florals to preserve your beautiful wedding day! Please know that we pour our hearts into every piece we create and hope that you love your pieces as much as we do! 🤍⁠

P.S. Still have a few questions? Visit our FAQ section or reach out to us at info@dbandrea.com!

originally published: 6/9/2020

Editor: Alyssa