7 Things to Avoid Before Sending Your Flowers for Preservation

Did you get a bouquet that’s too special to let wilt into oblivion? A bouquet from the wedding flowers, a milestone gift, or maybe just a stunning arrangement you can’t bear to toss. As professional preservationists, we understand the emotions attached to your flowers. This is why preserving them is a brilliant idea… unless you accidentally sabotage them before they even reach the preservation studio. 

Flower preservation is part art, part science, and entirely dependent on how you treat your blooms before they’re forever frozen in epoxy or pressed into art. Many well-meaning flower lovers unknowingly commit a few classic blunders, mistakes that turn vibrant petals into sad, discolored, or crumbly disappointments. (And no, sticking them in rice like a wet phone won’t help.)

From overhandling petals to forgetting the "golden hour" for preservation, this guide spills the secrets to keeping your flowers flawless before they’re immortalized. Because nothing’s worse than realizing too late that your dream keepsake could’ve been saved—if only you’d known better. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen with experts of pressed flower art in Lincoln Park. 

1. Waiting Too Long to Send Them

Besides sunlight and moisture, time is the silent killer of your blooms, where every minute counts. Those wedding roses or anniversary peonies might look good on day three, but hidden decay must have begun. Petals lose moisture, stems weaken, and colors fade long before visible wilting appears. These factors also vary from flower to flower. 

By the time you think, “I must get these preserved!” it’s often too late. Waiting for just a few more days means you’re risking mold, brittleness, or irreversible drooping. Hence, send them for preservation just 24-48 hours after receiving them.

2. Storing Them Incorrectly

Did you think your fridge was a safe place for those precious blooms? You should think again. Tossing them next to yesterday’s takeout is like sending a silk gown through a car wash: technically ‘wet,’ but definitely ruined. 

Flowers need gentle cold, not extreme. Humidity turns petals to mush, whereas dry air sucks the life out of them. And for the love of petals, keep those stems away from fruit. This is very important because those innocent bananas emit ethylene gas, which is a silent assassin that speeds up decay faster than you can imagine. 

3. Handling Incorrectly

Those delicate petals have survived weddings, proposals, and perhaps life’s big moments, only to meet their greatest threat, and it is your overenthusiastic hands. We understand that they are irresistible. But every time you reposition stems for that one Instagram post, you’re pushing them more to their destruction. 

Your fingers leave behind invisible oils that accelerate decay, while bent stems and bruised petals become permanent flaws in your preserved masterpiece. The truth is flowers are nature’s most temporary art. The moment you mishandle them, their expiration clock starts ticking faster. 

4. Drying the Flowers Yourself

You’ve seen those Pinterest tutorials so many times that now you want to try it yourself. Just to figure out how to dry flowers, you hang them upside down, pop them in silica gel, or maybe even microwave them. The harsh truth is amateur drying is where preservation dreams go to die. Those so-called simple hacks are a one-way ticket to crispy, discolored, or moldy blooms that no professional can salvage. 

DIY hacks are good only when you’re not trying it for the first time, especially with something as sensitive as flowers. When you’re aware that your bouquet is precious to you and your partner, it’s better to hand it over to professionals like The Olive Branch Studio. Ultimately, you’d better want to avoid that microwave story that caused a fire, wouldn’t you? 

5. Exposing Flowers to Direct Sunlight or Heat

You wouldn’t leave a fine wine in a hot car, a priceless painting in direct sunlight, or that inexpensive bouquet, would you? Sunlight and heat are the biggest enemies of your flowers. They are stealthy killers that bleach vibrant colors and desiccate petals before you even notice the damage.  

In fact, even the ambient heat from lamps or electronics can trigger premature aging and lock brittleness into your flowers before preservation even begins. But professionals who specialize in custom flower art from real blooms fight with climate-controlled drying. Before sending it to them, you must store it in a cool and dark place as well as away from any source of heat or light until it reaches the preservation studio. 

6. Not Trimming Stems or Changing Water Before Sending

When stems sit in days-old water, they’re essentially sipping through a clogged straw, slurping up bacteria instead of hydration. Additionally, those cloudy and slimy stems you ignore are actually cutting off your flower’s circulation and accelerating decay from the inside out. 

The solution? It’s simple yet critical. Give stems a fresh diagonal cut with sharp shears (never scissors—they crush delicate vascular systems) and replace the water with room-temperature H₂O 24 hours before preservation. Additionally, skip the flower food at this stage because additives can interfere with preservation chemistry. 

7. Spraying Perfume or Hairspray on Petals

Do you know that a single spray of Chanel or hairspray can ruin your bouquets? No, it would not preserve the scent because it’s essentially chemical warfare for petals. Flowers breathe through delicate cuticles. If you clog them with synthetic compounds, you’d create a sticky and stained science experiment. 

Additionally, perfume oil breaks down cell walls, whereas hairspray forms a plastic-like crust that traps decay underneath. It might turn the flower yellow at the edge like old parchment, meaning its natural vibrancy is forever altered. However, professionals use specialized techniques for custom flower art from real blooms that capture the fragrance.  

Conclusion

Your flowers carry irreplaceable meaning, whether it's the bouquet from your wedding day, an anniversary gift, or a special moment you want to remember forever. But without proper care before preservation, even the most beautiful blooms can become faded, brittle shadows of what they once were.

Now that you've got the cheat codes to avoid floral heartbreak. No more "oops" moments with sunlight, no more murder-by-fridge, and no more overhandling disasters. You're basically a flower guardian now. These small but critical steps ensure your flowers arrive at the studio in their best possible condition, ready to be transformed into a lasting keepsake.

At The Olive Branch Studio, we combine expertise with genuine care to preserve your flowers with the respect they deserve. Our specialized techniques capture every delicate detail, so your memories stay as vibrant as the day you received them.