Tag: flowers

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How to hold on to your wedding bouquet by preserving it

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You invest a significant amount of money, time and effort in choosing your bridal bouquet. So, don’t you think it is sad that the blooms that played a huge part in transforming you into a bride, can wilt and be lost forever, after the day?

Fortunately, there are ways in which you can prevent this, and in fact save your wedding bouquet as a keepsake for the years to come. Here are the different ways you can do this.

Silica-drying

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You can have this done by a professional, or try your hand at it yourself. The technique involves brushing powdered silica gel all over your bouquet (sparing no inch of it), and placing it in an airtight container. The gaps in the container should then be filled with silica gel. It is then left to dry for a week to ten days. Once dried, the color is fixed using a fixing spray, and the bouquet can then be displayed in a glass box or flower vase in your home.

Freeze-drying

This is an expensive method, and one that has to be done by a professional. It can take up to three months to complete. The flowers are treated with starch and then freezer dried in the original bouquet style itself. The benefits of this method are that the bouquet looks pretty similar to how it did originally, but it is perhaps the most expensive of all the other methods.

Preserve it after drying

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All you have to do is to hang the flowers upside down in a safe area till they are fully dry. Although the flowers will lose the original look, it will still be a memorable keepsake of your milestone event.

Press and frame

Here, you basically remove the flowers from the bouquet and either save all, or a few. You can flatten the blooms by placing them beneath a heavy book or something similar. If you are good with your hands, you can then arrange them in a frame. The alternative is to have them professionally pressed and framed. Either way, you can transform your wedding flowers into a work of art that can be displayed in your new home.

Apart from these traditional bouquet preservation options, I found many more fantastic ideas at Pinterest. Let us take a look at some of the most brilliant ones.

Create a Christmas ornament

This idea by Wedding Party is ideal for those of you who are short on space and time. Just grab a few flowers from your bouquet, dry them and pack them into a transparent bauble. Close it off with the cork of a wine bottle used at your wedding, and add your wedding date to the glass ornament. You now have an ornament which you can fondly bring out and display on your Christmas tree every year.

Use it in a paperweight

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The Flower Preservation Workshop company suggests having your wedding flowers converted into a beautiful paperweight. Take a look at how the end result looks, and I am certain you will fall in love with it. Brilliant!

Now, tell us which of these will you be using? If you haven’t thought about it yet, it may be a good idea to do so now. For more wedding tips, advice and fun ideas like these, keep visiting us at Best for Bride.

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Ideas for a pretty wedding cake decorations with flowers

Flowers have the power to transform any gloomy space into something cheery and welcoming. It is no wonder that these beautiful elements of nature have a prominent place in weddings, and are found everywhere from bouquets and centerpieces to bridal hairdos and wedding cakes.

Wedding cakes decorated with real flowers have an endearing charm. It is an easy way to match your wedding cake to the rest of your wedding theme. So, here we will look at all that you need to know about wedding cake flowers and how you can use them to make your delicious wedding dessert look fantastic.

How to choose the flowers

There are basically two ways in which you can use flowers for cake displays—crystallized or freshly picked. Master cake maker, Fiona Cairns, who is famous for decorating Prince William and Kate’s wedding cake, says that crystallized flowers can be used on cakes to create masterpieces. In this article on the Daily Mail, Cairns suggests using edible blooms such as rose, pansies and lavender and leaves like mint and sweet geranium for crystallized decorations. These can be crystallized with a sugar and egg white coating well ahead of the wedding day, and will not spoil.

When using fresh flowers, the decoration should be done just hours before serving, as they can wilt. Here are the list of factors you have to consider when choosing them.

  • It is important to ensure that the flowers used are not toxic and haven’t been sprayed with pesticide.
  • It isn’t necessary to decorate your cake with only edible flowers. You can also use non-edible flowers for decoration, but make sure that these are removed before serving.
  • If a flower is edible, you can serve it to your guests and leave it to them to decide whether they want to try it or not.
  • Choose flowers that do not wilt easily, especially if your wedding venue is warm.

Things to remember when using flowers as your cake decoration

The best person to guide you on which flowers are suitable for cake decorations, is your florist. Ask your wedding florist to thoroughly clean each and every flower which will be used on your cake.

If you want the beauty of the blooms on your wedding cake, but are worried about how hygienic it will be, choose a cake design with tiers that are separated and flowers placed between these tiers, so it doesn’t touch the cake.

There are various arrangements you can consider for your floral wedding cake. These include, but are not limited to the following:

An arrangement on the top tier alone, where a spell of colorful blooms will occupy the center. They can be placed on a divider that separates them from the frosting.

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Bright colorful flowers that richly deck the layers of the cake. This can be done with the same flowers or a multitude of varieties, depending on the theme.

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Small flower arrangements at different locations and also on the edges to add a pop of color.

For more spectacular cakes with floral accents in both fresh and candied versions, take a look at our cake gallery on Best for Bride.

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Winter Wedding Flowers

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When planning a wedding, choosing flowers in season is a well-known strategy for saving money. What if you are having a winter wedding? Are there flowers in the season even when the ground is covered in snow? What are the options for winter wedding flowers? Should couples use trendy alternatives to flowers in order to save money when planning a winter wedding?

Winter wedding flowers can be economical or break the bank. If you have your heart set on having flowers that are not in season during the winter, your floral budget can suffer. You may have to pay more or have fewer flowers to accommodate the extra cost associated with off-season flowers.

Some flowers are available year-round at very reasonable prices. Roses, carnations, Gerbera daisies, and some types of lilies are a few of the flowers that are generally available at any time of year. Remember, if your wedding is close to Valentine’s Day, the price of roses may be much higher than usual. Narcissus is an economical winter flower.

When choosing the types of flowers that you want for your winter wedding, you could ask florists what flowers would be easiest on your budget. If you want a particular flower to be the highlight of your wedding flowers, you can call local florists and ask for pricing for what you want on the date of your wedding. You may find a florist who has your favorite flower for a significantly lower price than the others.

Many types of filler flowers in a variety of colors are available throughout the year. Don’t be discouraged if there aren’t any economical choices for flowers that would show off the wedding colors. White flower-like white roses or white lilies could be used along with filler flowers and accents that match the wedding colors. Dried flowers and eucalyptus are other options for bouquets and wedding flowers.

Winter brides often get creative with alternatives to flowers. They may have fewer flowers and supplement the wedding flowers with handmade accents. Paper and burlap flowers are a popular DIY wedding decoration. One couple made burlap roses for their groomsmen’s boutonnieres. Modern bouquets can be crafted from fabric, feathers, colorful buttons, beads, strings of pearls, vintage brooches, or photocopies of pages from the couple’s favorite book. Even white, black, and gray leather has been used to make a rose bouquet.

Embrace the white, snowy look. While one option is to go bold with red roses and other red flowers that are in season, consider echoing the pristine winter with your flowers. Some gorgeous wedding bouquets and arrangements have been made with white peonies and dusty miller for a white winter look. The dusty miller provides a silvery-gray accent. Within the context of winter, they can look as if they are ferns dusted with snow.

For more information about planning an incredible wedding at any time of year, please take a look at the Best for Bride blog.

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Dress up your wedding bouquet with Gorgeous accessories

Floral bouquets have a refreshing beauty.  You can never go wrong with adding more excitement to your wedding bouquet with a few well-chosen accessories. These accessories can easily tie your bouquet to the theme of your wedding. While we have seen bouquets that are entirely made from non-floral elements in another post, we will now look at some accessories that can be used with your floral bouquet in this article. This will not only allow you to have a unique design, but also give you the option to save something special from the bouquet as a keepsake to remember your great day by.

Silk ribbon tie

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A bunch of flowers with long stems look naturally charming, but may seem a little incomplete. To add more finesse to the arrangement, all you have to do is trim off the excess length of the stems, and secure it with the most luxurious silk ribbon that matches your color palette. This is a very basic floral bouquet design, but one that is just right if your bouquet contains vibrant and lovely, large flowers which are attractive on their own, and do not require too many additional details. While securing the ends of the ribbon, it would be a good idea to use decorative pins in a row, to give it an attractive finishing.

Satin ribbon bow

For a compact round bouquet of flowers like roses, consider wrapping the stems with a double sided satin ribbon bow with a luxurious silky finish. You can tie the two ends into an elaborate bow, and add small details like button roses or little crystal brooches on the streamer.

Wedding brooch bouquets

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Brooches are very dainty, feminine accessories, that add an instant charm wherever they are used. Dress up your wedding bouquet with these fantastic accessories, and it will be a wonderful addition to your overall look. You can choose brooches that match your wedding jewelry, or colorful brooches that match the wedding palette, and they won’t go unnoticed.

Lace trims

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Image Credit: Aenon Nimus

Flowers and lace are always a perfect match. A floral bouquet with a small lace trim in the perfect bridal accessory for a vintage style wedding. You can choose the trim to match your wedding dress, if it is in lace. It can also be your something old, where you can pick your lace from your mother’s or even grandmother’s wedding dress. Not only will this have sentimental value, it will also be a choice that renders a unique touch to your bouquet.

Patterned cloth trim

If your wedding theme incorporates patterns like chevron, geometrical prints, polka dots or stripes, add the same details as the trim for your wedding bouquet. It will be a perfect addition to the décor, and the brighter the color, the more attractive it will be against your white wedding dress.

Which of these ideas do you like? Come visit us at Best for Bride, and we can help you realize your ideas for the best wedding bouquet you can possibly think of