How to preserve a wedding bouquet...

by Alice Savery March 6, 2022

How do I preserve my wedding bouquet?

... this seems to be a question that many florists are asked, and that many people google. There are lots of different ways to preserve the beautiful blooms that you have at your wedding. One of these is this way - by having them painted by me!

I like to preserve wedding bouquets through illustration. Creating a bespoke piece of artwork for your wall.

I loved these beautiful blooms that were made for Gabriella by Sarah at Myrtle & Smith flowers in Twickenham, London. You can see another image of the bouquet over on Sarah's website here.

Gabriella's bouquet was full of British blooms including Poppies and forget me nots.

Here is a picture by Sarah of the bouquet -

Gabriella's wedding bouquet by Sarah at Myrtle and Smith Flowers

Gabriella said that she had hoped to dry her bouquet which is a lovely way of preserving your wedding flowers, but unfortunately the drying attempt didn't go well.

However, she was able to keep the flowers looking like they did above, via another means - I drew them!

I work directly from the photographs provided and work initially in ink to draw the composition of the bouquet. It's really useful to know what species were included, just in case any part of the photograph is unclear.

Next, I work in watercolour paint to add the colour to the artwork. Although the black ink is waterproof (and lightfast) I wait between drawing that part and painting to ensure the ink doesn't bleed.

I love to work in this joyful, loose style to capture the life and movement in the blooms.

For more information or to commission your own illustration of wedding flowers - bouquets, button holes or any other posy, do take a look here.