Don’t you love flowers? We all do! Whether you go for real or faux flowers or make your DIY, a wedding bouquet is a colorful addition to your big day. They make such beautiful items to snap romantic pictures with.
But the big question is, what do you do with your wedding bouquet after the ceremony?
Wedding bouquets cost money, so there’s no reason why you should let them go to waste.
So we’ve compiled a list of 12 amazing things you could do with your wedding flowers after your big day.
So, come along!
1. Donate your flower bouquet
If you don’t want your wedding bouquet to take up space in your home, it’s an excellent idea to donate them. While at it, you want to ensure you stay close to home so that it would be an act of community development.
So reach out to any local hospital, orphanage, shelter, or nursing home around you and ask if they accept flower donations. They could sell to generate funds or use the items to beautify the place. Of course, nothing brightens up a room more than a colorful bouquet. You would indeed put smiles on some faces.
If you can’t go through the hassle, you could look for a company to receive the flowers and donate them on your behalf.
2. Preserve the flowers
If there’s anything that will stand out in your wedding pictures for years to come, it’s your wedding flowers. So, not all couples would want to throw away something so integral.
If you’re keen on keeping your wedding bouquets, the first step is to preserve them.
There are many ways to preserve wedding flowers, such as by:
- Air-drying
- Encasing the flowers in resin
- Immersing in silica gel in an airtight container for a week
Whatever method you use, you aim to keep your flowers fresh and exactly as they were on your wedding day.
The simplest way to preserve wedding flowers is to air-dry them. Tie the flowers and hang them upside down from a hook in a dry room till the stems shrink and the petals dry up. This will help retain the color and shape for as long as possible so you can place the flowers in a vase (without water!) in your living room.
You can also have a professional preserve your bouquet for you.
3. Frame it
One of the best things you could do with your wedding bouquet is to frame it. This is an excellent way to keep a piece of your big day with you for decades, and it works whether you use faux or real flowers.
An easy way to make a picture frame with your bouquet is to take an old frame, remove the back, spread the blooms inside, and then place the back on again. You could even put one of your wedding pictures before spreading the flowers over it.
4. Use it for home decor
Your wedding bouquet can work as an incredible decor for your home. Break down the bunch into smaller bouquet sizes and place them at different corners of your home. Don’t forget to use one as a beautiful centerpiece for your dining table.
This is an interesting way to repurpose those gorgeous blooms while ensuring they remain a part of your life as a couple. Or else, give the smaller bouquets to your loved ones as a token of your appreciation for their support during the event planning.
5. Press your wedding bouquet
This old technique can help you preserve your wedding bouquet and use it as a decorative piece at the same time. One easy method is to take a heavy or coffee table book and press each stem between the pages. Check it occasionally to see if the blooms have flattened and dried up.
Once permanently flattened and dry, you can leave them there or use them in a frame as a unique piece of art.
This method works for live flowers.
6. Have the flowers photographed
Many bouquet companies photograph flowers to form an exclusive collection of art that may inspire their creations. The collection will last for decades, and it may mean something to you if your wedding bouquet is a part of it.
Read More: Wedding Photography to Inspire your Beautiful Destination Wedding
7. Make a bouquet station
If taking your wedding flowers home seems like a hassle, you can create a bouquet station during the party so guests can take some blooms home as souvenirs.
You can create the station by designating an area with butcher paper and monogrammed tape near the exit. Guests can stop by when leaving to collect one or two colorful blooms.
8. Gift it to the wedding staff
Your wedding DJ, bartender, wait staff, or photographer would most likely not turn down an opportunity to take home your wedding’s centerpiece. They’ll feel honored.
Giving your bouquet out to any of your wedding staff is an excellent way to show appreciation. You’ll also avoid taking the flowers home and worrying about what to do with them.
9. Make ornaments
You can turn your wedding bouquet into ornaments, and it’s a pretty exciting activity for you and your new spouse. This method will work for both real and faux flowers.
One way to go is to buy hollow glass ornament bulbs and fill them with your wedding flowers. You could also mix them with other items like pearls and glitter.
Then, go ahead and hang the bulb from the ceiling. Perhaps beautiful memories of your wedding day will wash through you whenever you look up there.
10. Make DIY potpourri with your wedding bouquet
Smell plays a great role in memory. And the idea of converting your wedding flowers into a sweet-smelling fragrance in your home is superb!
Creating a potpourri from wedding flowers isn’t easy, so you might want to look up some guides online. In the end, you might find it a worthy adventure.
11. Make beautiful custom candles
A brilliant way to keep your wedding bouquet from going to waste is by using it to make custom candles. You’ll dry the petals and dip them in solidifying wax.
You’ll never actually use the candles, so the colorful petals will be displayed for as long as possible. You can also have it professionally done for a more refined look.
12. Share with your deceased loved ones
It is a wonderful idea to take your wedding flowers to the burial site of your deceased loved ones. They couldn’t celebrate with you at the ceremony, but you could take it to them. If you’re comfortable with it, it can be a great way to remember those who meant so much to you.
Next steps
Regardless of how much you spent on your wedding flowers, whether $60 or $1,600, there’s no reason to let them go to waste.
From donating and gifting the beautiful blooms to using them for home decor, there are many things to do with your bouquet after your wedding. Now that you have several options, choose what appeals most to you.
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