How to Keep Your Flowers Looking Fresh During Summer Weddings
Summer weddings are wonderful for a number of reasons: outdoor ceremonies, long and warm evenings, and so many varieties of flowers are in season. Because the weather can be so warm in the summer, it's important to consider how to keep your flowers looking as fresh as possible. Flowers that have been out in the scorching heat all day won't last as long as those kept indoors in a cooler place, but we wanted to give you some tips to get the most out of your wedding flowers on your special day.
1. Ask Your Florist For Hardy Flowers
Some flowers have a shorter vase life and unfortunately not much can be done to extend their lives. Popular wedding blooms such as peonies, poppies, dahlias, stock and some types of garden roses have very short life spans.
We suggest choosing a bouquet or centerpiece with a variety of short and long lasting flowers so you can enjoy your blooms after the big day.
Some blossoms that are known to last longer are standard or hybrid roses, spray roses, craspedia, gomphrena, celosia, yarrow, globe thistle, limonium and statice. These flowers are hardy and will also dry nicely for bouquet preservation!
Other designs - such as arches - require that some of your blooms are out of water, for this we suggest choosing flowers that do well out of water for longer periods of time. Also, check with your florist about how they are creating your designs. For arches, our team uses water tubes or larger water cones for flowers to drink from.
2. Keep You Flowers in the Shade
Keep your flowers in a cool place as much as possible. Unless you have a bouquet full of orchids, most flowers prefer cooler room temperatures of between 15-20 degrees Celsius. Keep flowers away from heat vents, fireplaces, direct sunlight and other heat sources unless you are wanting to speed up the aging process in order to get the flowers at their most open bloom stage.
We recommend keeping them in an air conditioned room or a cool basement rather than storing them in a fridge. Home and commercial non-floral fridges can get too cold and freeze the flowers.
Tip: Zinnias will do not like the cold and will turn brown if put in refrigeration.
3. Recut Bouquet Stems + Place in Water
If flowers have been out of water for extended periods, such as the bridal and bridesmaid's bouquets recut the stems and place them in a vase of warm water. The flowers will be dehydrated from being out of water as air has blocked the stems prohibiting the uptake of water to the flower. No water can re-enter the stems to hydrate the flowers unless they are recut. Warm water has less oxygen than cold water and will prevent air blockage which is why placing flower stems in warm water after cutting will hydrate them more effectively.
4. Add Water to Your Arrangements Throughout the Day
If your bouquet or arrangement is not in a clear vase where you can see the water level, place a finger in the container to check for water levels and add more water as needed. The more flowers you have in an arrangement the quicker they will drink up the water.
5. Mist Your Flowers
Flowers not only take up water through their stems but also through their petals. Lightly misting your bouquet or arrangement daily will help to preserve its vase life. Hydrangeas and tropical flowers particularly like moisture however we've found that other flowers such as stock and certain varieties of garden roses don't do well when lots of water touches their petals and misting should be avoided or done very lightly.
6. Throw Away Wilting Flowers
Some flower varieties fade sooner than others. Flowers such as freesia, ornithogalum (Star of Bethlehem) and lilies have multiple blooms on their stems and may continue blooming after other flowers have withered. When other flowers in your arrangements start to wilt they will give off ethylene gas which will cause other flowers to die prematurely. Take out the blooms that are still looking fresh, recut their stems with a sharp floral knife or clippers at an angle and place them in a clean vase with fresh water.
7. Choose A Reputable Florist
Purchase your wedding and event flowers from a reputable, professional florist. Professional florists are trained to properly care and handle fresh flowers as well as source high quality blooms which contribute to their lasting as long as possible.
If you'd like to learn more about what flowers to use for your wedding, check out our blog on Wedding Flower Availability and Seasonality for more tips!
Ready to book your dream florist? Read our blog on How to Prepare for Your Wedding Flower Consultation!
If you're looking for a wedding florist, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We're excited to bring your once in a lifetime floral vision to life.
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