Care of your bouquet
If you did not throw your bouquet at the chief bridesmaid’s head then you may want to keep your bouquet a little longer:
To keep flowers fresh for as long as possible, snip approx. 1cm off the ends of the stems and put your bouquet in a vase of water using the following recipe:
1 litre of warm (not hot) water, add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon sugar and ¼ teaspoon of bleach
Change the water and re-snip the ends every 2-3 days or as soon as the water looks cloudy. Your bouquet should last a week to 10 days.
You may wish to preserve your bouquet which can be done in several ways, but always do this first, not once the blooms have faded:
Drying: this can be done at home by hanging your bouquet upside down in a warm, dry place, out of direct sunlight, for 2-3 weeks.
Pressing: cut individual blooms from your bouquet and press between sheets of acid free paper between the pages of a large book with a weight on top. Lay the blooms so they do not touch and press for 3-4 weeks or until the blooms are completely dry.
Others: There are several companies to be found online that can freeze dry flowers and then do numerous amazing things from fully preserved bouquets in frames to using flowers in paperweights and other mementos. Freeze drying should retain the full colour of your flowers.