Number One Tip for Wedding Bouquets That You Probably Don’t Know

Mar 26

If you’re holding a bouquet on your wedding day, it may very well be the first time you’re holding a bouquet of flowers for an extended period of time! Maybe you’ve received flowers for Valentine’s Day or you’ve even put together some grocery store flowers, but there is one really big tip that you may not be aware of, and it’s this:

Keep. Your. Bouquet. In. Water!

That’s right. Anytime you’re not actively holding your bouquet for photos or during the ceremony, it should go right back into the vase of water it was delivered in.

Peonies, foxglove, sweet pea, clematis, and chamomile in a summer wedding bouquet with silk ribbon — Forever Photography

Why?

By the time these flowers are in your hands on your wedding day, they were cut in a field anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks ago, possibly shipped across an ocean in a plane, received by your florist, processed (that means trimming excess leaves off, conditioning them for use), and designed prior to your wedding day. (Side note: this is why local flowers are the best! They were probably cut a lot closer to your wedding day and haven’t been traveling excess distances to get to you, making them a lot healthier!)

Echinacea, phlox, zinnias, and summer wildflowers in a bridal bouquet

These poor flowers are TIRED! A good florist will have been keeping them cool, trimming the ends daily to ensure they keep drinking water, and making sure they’re in optimal condition on your wedding day. Often, this means timing out different farm deliveries to ensure all the different varieties of flowers are at peak bloom by the time they’re in your bouquet.

Summer bride holding a wildflower bouquet — Forever Photography

One of the worst variables for flowers is heat, and human hands are hot. You know how when you hold something for a while, your hands sometimes get warm or sweaty? That body heat can cause your flowers to wilt faster!

Summer wildflower bridal bouquet with silk ribbon

If you’re having an outdoor wedding in the summer, this is even more true; body heat combined with environmental heat is a recipe for a wilted wedding bouquet! There’s nothing sadder than designing a gorgeous bouquet for an August bride and then seeing it later in the day, completely wilted from the 90 degree heat.

So what can you do? Well, hopefully your florist delivered your bouquet in a vase with water! If they didn’t, any glass of water will do. Designate a bridesmaid or a friend to grab your blooms anytime they’re laying on a table somewhere and put them back into water. This way, your flowers will look stunning all night AND as an extra bonus-if you’re having your bouquet preserved or dried, it will look even better in its forever form.