How to Preserve and Process the flowers for your Floral Decorations

Christine Koh: For brides out there who are going to get your own flowers from the wholesalers in order to save your money, here are some tips that I have found from 'Do It Yourself Weddings':

'One of the most important things to consider when working with your wedding centerpiece flowers (or any wedding flowers including your bouquet) is how long the flowers will last in water. Some cut flowers start to droop faster than others so it is good to test your flowers before your wedding if you plan to do it yourself. You don’t want to create your wedding centerpieces too far in advance, and knowing just how long they’ll last is key to timing. '

Christine Koh: In this case, you may want to visit the local florist first to purchase your flowers in low qty. The reason is simple, wholsalers do not sell flowers in bundle/bulk so if you don't need that many, it will be recommended for you to save $$$ and try out the prototype first

'When you purchase wedding centerpiece flowers, don’t be tempted to buy the ones that are at their height of bloom. If they look beautiful now they won’t in two days. Buy flowers that are not completely opened yet or that still have buds on the stems. This way, the flowers will be blooming at their peak within the next 1-3 days, which is when you’ll need them to be. This is especially true with roses. '

Christine Koh: Very true indeed. I actually boughta bundle of flowers which is semi open and voila - it actually bloom so fast that about 4 hours later, the flowers were quite much more bloomed and open than what I visualise=(

At home, store your flowers in the coldest room possible. Ideally, store them in a closed off room that has a window air conditioner that you can leave on.

Christine Koh: Guess this is common sense.

'To prepare your flowers for arranging, cut off all the leaves that will be sunk under water when they are put in your vases. Cut off at least an inch from the bottoms of the stems too, this will help them take up water. Wearing gloves and using a scissors is a must here, especially if you are dealing with roses—trust me, you’ll thank me later. You don’t want cut up hands right before your wedding. '

Christine Koh: Yep cant tell you how glad I'm with my dish washing pinkie gloves! I ended up with a job of processing the roses to remove their thorns, ugly leaves and made them the right length before passing it to Hong to tie them up.

'Having several buckets of clean, lukewarm water available to set your wedding flower stems in while you work with them is ideal.

Some flowers do best if they are cut a certain way before placing in their arrangement. Roses and other plants with tough, woody stems do well if you smash the bottoms of their stems.
Flowers that are prone to going limp (such as tulips) do well if you push a wire or pin through the head of the flower and down into the stem. This helps it keep its form.


In your arrangement containers, add three drops of bleach to the water. This stops the water from getting that murky rotten smell. This is not necessary if you are doing your wedding centerpiece flowers the night before, I personally don’t like to use bleach because I’d rather smell the flowers and not the bleach. Bleach is helpful to preserve freshness for more than two days. Another alternative to bleach I to use vodka! This way there is no bleach smell, but you won’t get murky water either.'

Christine Koh: Vodka sounds expensive so a little bit of bleach still sounds btter. You might want to try masking the smell with scented candles or a little perfume spray. Let me know it works.

'If you don’t have plant food for cut flowers, adding a teaspoon of clear soda (Sprite, 7up) works wonders for your flowers and the preservatives help keep the flowers fresh. You can also use a pinch of table sugar. Crushed aspirin also works to extend the life of your cut flowers. '

Christine Koh: I suggest aspirin will be better because you don't really want all the ants to start crawling in to join in the wedding feast so as to show off how 'SWEET' your wedding is. If not make sure your venue is free from ants.MOst importantly, Sprite zand 7 up are my fav soft drinks and I aren't gonna share that with plants.

'On your wedding day, have someone top off the water in the vases if it is low. If you are having an outdoor wedding, don’t leave your arrangements out in the heat, the hot sun will practically melt your wedding centerpiece flowers if left too long.'

Christine Koh: I bought those water spray which I spray on the flowers occasionally in order to keep the flower petals hydrate. Pls don't overdo it and dip everything in water unless you wan your flowers to die faster.