People have been drying and preserving flowers since ancient Egyptian times and there are various methods to preserve all or part of the bouquet.

DRYING: Either hang flowers upside down in a cool place for about a month or place them in a box filled with silica gel crystals and leave until all the moisture has been absorbed by the silica. You can also press flowers individually by laying them between sheets of absorbent paper and weighting them down. After about two months you can use the pressed flowers to make a picture or collage. There are professional companies which will press and frame flowers or preserve whole posies for you.

FREEZE-DRYING:  This sounds a new idea but Andean Indians have been practising a form of freeze-drying for centuries. Flowers should really be pre-treated and rehydrated before they are freeze-dried. Bouquets are photographed and then taken apart so each flower can be individually treated to keep its colour and shape.

After freeze-drying, the flowers should then be treated again. All these steps are necessary to ensure a perfectly preserved posy. The flowers will then retain their natural colour and shape and last longer. There are very few experts and you should contact them at least two
months before a wedding to make arrangements.