Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Preserving Wedding Memories: The Art of Floral Bouquet Preservation with The Rambling Florist
Every bride knows the heartbreak of watching her wedding bouquet wither away after the big day. But what if those meaningful blooms could become a permanent keepsake of your celebration?
Wedding planner and wedding content creator Kathy Piech-Lukas of Your Dream Day Weddings and Events welcomes Sebra from The Rambling Florist to explore the fascinating world of bouquet preservation. With passion and expertise, Zebra breaks down the artistic process that transforms wedding flowers and wedding bouquets into lasting works of art. She details her two primary preservation methods—pressing flowers between glass and creating dimensional arrangements in shadow boxes—and explains the distinct beauty each approach offers.
Timing emerges as crucial for successful preservation, with Sebra recommending couples book services 6-8 weeks before their wedding and get flowers to her within three days after. She walks listeners through her entire process, from initial booking to collaborative design to finished artwork, typically completed within 4-6 weeks. Sebra shares stories of her most memorable projects, including a stunning fall bouquet of dahlias and a striking blue-and-orange arrangement complemented by the couple's wedding invitation.
The conversation expands to creative possibilities—incorporating boutonnières, wedding photos, invitations, and even flower girl crowns into preservation pieces. With prices ranging from $375-$550, these keepsakes allow couples to transform fleeting wedding elements into daily reminders of their special day. As Kathy poignantly notes, while most wedding elements disappear, preserved flowers join photographs as tangible memories you can treasure forever.
Ready to transform your wedding flowers into lasting art? Find Sebra at www.theramblingflorist.com and ensure your bouquet lives on as beautifully as your wedding memories. Subscribe now for more expert wedding planning insights!
To listen to more episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
Hi, this is Kathy Piech Lukas with Your Dream Day. Today, we are going to be talking about bouquet and flower preservation, and I have a special guest, Sebra, from The Rambling Florist. Hi, Sebra, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm good Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Good, tell us a little bit about your business and how you came to be.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. At The Rambling Florist, like you said, we focus on wedding bouquet preservation and flower preservation in general for any special occasion focusing on weddings, obviously, specifically. And a little bit how we came about was I've been in the florist industry in and out for a couple of years now. It's a job I really love doing. So I knew that I wanted to be back in the floral industry in some capacity and that really started out with a pipe dream of, like, growing my own flowers and being like a flower farmer florist. But I live in a two bedroom apartment right now and so I don't have any space for that at the moment. So that's like a dream, maybe in the future.
Speaker 2:But I was just scrolling on Instagram one day and I saw that a really lovely in the future. But, um, we're just scrolling on Instagram one day and I saw that a really lovely woman in Utah. Actually she was doing bouquet preservation and I was like, ah, it like clicked, you know, like this is something I could do in my home. Um, I have all of the experience, um, as, like an artist and a designer in my field. Um, so I was like this is just what I think I want to do it's, you know, in part of the wedding industry, but also in the florist industry, and I'm connected to you know, flowers in that regard. So that's kind of a short and sweet way of how it all started.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. So you were really inspired by what others were doing online and you're like I can do that too and bring your artistic talents to it.
Speaker 2:That's amazing Thanks.
Speaker 1:So what are the different types of bouquet preservation that are available?
Speaker 2:bouquet preservation and basically I'm taking your flowers, I'm dismantling them and putting them into like a traditional press, which you know it takes quite a long time.
Speaker 2:It takes about, you know, three to four weeks, depending on mother nature and how she's feeling, depending on the weather, basically, and how long things dry, and those, you know, become very flat in the press, right.
Speaker 2:So once they come back out of the press, I'll reassemble them, excuse me, and put them in between, basically two sheets of glass, what we call like a float frame, and so that's a typical pressed flower arrangement. And then the second one is just a traditional drying process, and so I can either take your bouquet and dry it upside down, or I can also use a method with silica sand, and that's basically. I'll take the heads of the flowers and I'll put them in basically a drying agent that will, you know, suck out all the moisture, and for the drying process I'll do those in shadow boxes, so those have a little bit of depth in them, and I'll reassemble them kind of based on, like, the style that you like. So a lot of my brides do like a traditional bouquet style which, like, looks like you're looking on top of the bridal bouquet. So those are the two different kinds of styles I have at the moment.
Speaker 1:Now do you have, like what happens if you get a bride's bouquet and let's say there's a flower that's being temperamental and it doesn't preserve correctly what, what do you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah, as you know, flowers are temperamental and they typically only last a day after the wedding unless you preserve them. But yeah, those flowers, unfortunately I have to usually compost. So I'll take what I can use out of the bouquet and do my best with what's what I've got, basically. So I always recommend to my brides one to three days at most they need to get me their bouquet, otherwise we don't know what's going to come out of the press, basically.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. I know whenever I do wedding planning are you planning to preserve your bouquet? Is on my list of questions that I'm asking them six to eight weeks before the wedding and it's for that exact reason. The sooner that you can get your bouquet to the person preserving it, the better it's going to turn out, as the flowers are still alive.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. The fresher the better.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly. So, price-wise, what does a service like this cost?
Speaker 2:Sure, so I have a range of prices I would like. The minimum um that I do for like the drying process is about 375 and I go up to about 550 and that's like my largest frame for pressed florals, um, and the largest frame is about 6 by 20 um and the price range is there only because like pressing takes a lot more of my time and you know abilities versus like the drawing is a little bit like hands off, so it's not as complicated.
Speaker 1:Basically, Gotcha, Gotcha, Um. So what does a couple do if they decide, yes, we want to preserve our bouquet? Um, what? What are the next steps? How does this work? How does this whole process work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so, um. I asked all my couples if they're ready to preserve, to look at my availability on my website. I do book out, usually almost a year in advance, or have availability to do that. I recommend six weeks to about eight weeks, like you said, before your wedding date. If sooner, the greater, the better. So if you have your event date available, um, on my site, we go ahead and purchase your frame. It's really easy. Check out, Um. I'll get your, of course, your frame purchase. I'll email you with confirmation.
Speaker 2:Then you like enjoy your special day, your big wedding day, Um, and then after that make sure you get me your flowers between one to three days. I also recommend to a lot of my brides and couples that, um, you have a lot going on. So we like give this task to like somebody you trust, like you know a bridesmaid or your, you know your mom or whoever's there, to like drop it off or ship it to me. Basically, um is probably best, and then I'll pretty much take over the rest of the hard work there. Um, pressing and drying again like takes about three to four weeks. I will do a design, I'll send you a mock-up and you'll agree to it or we'll work on it together and collaborate, and then after that I'll glue it and I'll get it back to you. So you have your nice piece of artwork, your wedding keepsake.
Speaker 1:That's a great turnaround time. Yeah, four to six weeks, cause, no cause. I mean there's there's a lot of different types of floral preservation and you know some of them. I mean I've heard people taking as much as nine months to a year to get their pieces back.
Speaker 2:Gosh, yeah, I, when in the busy wedding season, that timeframe does stretch a little bit. So the drying is about three to four weeks and it probably takes me about like on a like a really quick turnaround, like six weeks max. But if I'm booked up um which does happen especially during the summer and the fall um, it will take me probably like max three, three months, three to four months. So there is a little bit of a, you know, range of timing for sure, yeah, no, that's still a fantastic turnaround time.
Speaker 1:What are what would you say is the most, some of the most memorable bouquets that you've ever done? Oh gosh, that's a great question.
Speaker 2:I did this one bouquet that was a fall wedding last year and we did the silica drying method, and so I really love this bouquet because it was a bunch of dahlias and dahlias are really hot right now Um, and they just came out like really stunning, like the colors were just amazing. Um, she had gold in her bouquet, which was like really charming, um, and whatnot, and so we put it in the shadow box and it just I don't know, I use it all over my social medias Cause I'm just in love with that bouquet. The colors just were like social medias, because I'm just in love with that bouquet. The colors just were like they blew my mind basically. So, um, that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:I also have a soft spot for fall, so that, um, and then another bridal bouquet that I did recently we included, um, their wedding invite into the frame and I thought that was really special and like a unique touch that they added into it. But her flower colors, or wedding colors, were blue and orange and those just like you know the complimentary colors just like really stood out. It was really stunning. And she had white anemones in it and that's like a not so common flower and they just like really popped, so I really love that one as well. That was a pressed flower arrangement, so that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Well you bring up. Another point is with the bouquet preservation. They can also put accessories from the wedding day in their box, Like I've seen grooms put their boutonniere in the box before, like you had said, the invitation or the program. What are some other things that you've seen put into? Uh, the bouquet preservation?
Speaker 2:box. Yeah, absolutely. Um, a lot of my brides love to include like their favorite photo that that came out of the wedding day and that's always always special. Um, I've had, I've done, quite a few flower crowns. Um, people, I'll usually dry them and I'll also um put in the little boutonniere as well. I think that one's really special. It's like a complimentary frame that you can include with the larger bouquet preservation. I've had a few clients who have like charms on their bridal bouquet, so that's always really sweet to add in, like those little nice touches that are just like so sentimental to the couple and besides that you can also include like your, like other frames outside of it. So I've had brides preserve as like a thank you gift for their bridesmaids, like their own bouquet with like a photo of them together or, you know, your mother's flowers or grandma's flowers. So anything that really is like a sentimental, like moment from the wedding that you can keep afterwards is really great and I know people really love them and to give them out as gifts.
Speaker 1:No, I love that idea. I mean, I'm just thinking of the halo that would have been on a flower girl. I mean what? A beautiful gift to give them after the wedding that they can hang in their home. And then, you know, 10, 20 years down the road they can be like wait a minute, I was an aunt. You know whoever's wedding, that's the halo from it. What a great idea. Very sweet, yeah, absolutely wonderful. Um, what are some other things that you've been seeing as far as trends go in flower preservation?
Speaker 2:oh yes, um, there's like a triptych trend that's going around, so it's like three different frames where you'll, um, preserve the bridal bouquet and probably like some smaller bouquets, like bridesmaids bouquets, along with it. So it's like this big, beautiful, like statement piece that you can have done. Obviously, this year, like gold and reds are really popular, so I'm expecting that to be like a big trend as well. What else A lot of trends in the space are like having like vinyl, like your name and your wedding date kind of put onto the front of the shadow box or your flip frame is just kind of a cute. You know little additions like all the you know your new name and your wedding date is kind of like moments that you get to keep and make everything unique. Um, so, yeah, I think those are like. I'll talk in my head. Those were like the three that were like very trendy that I keep seeing popping up, so very cool, very cool, so um how do people find you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Um, I have my website, the ramblingflorist. com. You can find me there. I have. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, I guess. Linkedin. You can find me on LinkedIn. I don't think that's a very common place. I also have a listing on the Knot. You can find me there on this podcast. All my handles are @the rambling florist.
Speaker 1:Oh, fantastic. Well, I'm so excited. Thank you so much for sharing all these different like trends, with bouquet preservation and how you know, couples can preserve their flowers Because at the end of the day, at the end of a wedding, you have a dirty dress, dying flowers, you might have some leftover food, maybe some leftover cake, but at the end of the day, you're going to have your photos and that's it. You know. So, 20 years down the road, wouldn't it be great to have, you know, your bouquet preserved, intact, hanging on your wall so that you can relive those memories every single day? Absolutely, yeah, well, wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us today. Day Absolutely, yeah, well, wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so that you can be up to date on the latest and greatest going on in the wedding industry and, as we talk with wedding professionals, learning more about, from our perspective, what you can do to help with planning your upcoming wedding. This is Kathy Piech Lukas with Your Dream Day. Happy planning!
