After my friend’s wedding, I brought home some of the flowers and wanted to do something special for her. I decided to preserve the beautiful flowers and make a wedding keepsake shadowbox to give her on her first anniversary.
Making A Preserved Flower Shadowbox
Our friends were married at the Yankee Clipper Inn in Rockport, Ma. We all stayed at the inn for the weekend and it was so much fun!! My husband even performed the ceremony!! (you can get a one-day marriage designation in Mass and perform a wedding for friends or family)
The Inn is right on an oceanside cove and was the perfect spot for 2 sea-loving people to tie the knot!!
I brought home a couple of the rings of flowers from the reception so I could make a keepsake for my friends.
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Should I Dry Out Or Preserve Wedding Flowers?
The first question I asked myself is should I just dry out the flowers from the wedding or try and preserve them.
So after doing a little Google research, I thought preserving them was better than drying the flowers out; I ordered a bag of silica gel flower drying crystals.
When you preserve flowers they keep most of their natural color and shape. This sounded like the way that the flowers would look the prettiest when put into a shadow box.
The first thing I did was go through the flowers to find the best ones. Since I was using flowers from a centerpiece the stems were already cut down pretty short and the leaves were removed. If you are using flowers from the wedding bouquet to make a shadow box then cut off the stems and remove the leaves. You will just need the flower heads to create a beautiful keepsake.
The secret to using silica gel to preserve flowers is making sure all the flowers are completely covered with the crystals and then stored in an airtight container. The big Rubbermaid rectangle food containers were a perfect size and I could fit lots of flowers in each one.
Then I waited…. I actually waited until just before their 1st wedding anniversary to put together the wedding keepsake shadowbox!! They were having a clam bake the weekend of their anniversary (it was super fun and I ate 2 lobsters because they were ridiculously good…I have a couple of pics on this post)
What The Preserved Wedding Flowers Look Like
The silica gel that I used changes from orange to green when the moisture has been removed from the flowers and they are ready to use…but since I waited so long to do this project I knew they were super ready!!
I just gently removed the flowers from the silica gel and shook off the beads that were trapped in the petals.
There was a mixture of pink roses, sea holly, silver dollar eucalyptus, seeded eucalyptus, dusty miller, white hydrangeas, and celosia.
How I Assembled The Keepsake Shadowbox
My plan was to cover the back of the shadow box with greenery and then layer the flowers on top…I didn’t want any of the fabric backing exposed.
The first things I added to the shadow box were the silver dollar eucalyptus and dusty miller.
I used hot glue to secure everything in place…I could see the glue through the eucalyptus leaves but not on any of the other flowers. Once the flowers are added that won’t be an issue.
This was a figure it out as I go project! I kind of played around with the flower placement before gluing them in place.
I couldn’t get over how well the roses kept their color and shape! Don’t they look amazing??!!
One trick I did was cut the back portion of a couple of the roses off…I snipped straight across the back while holding the front of the bud tight in my hands so it didn’t fall apart (use sharp scissors)… then I covered the back with hot glue and placed it in the shadowbox standing straight up.
The star holly was spectacular!! This is one flower that is meant to be preserved!!
A little paintbrush helped me add delicate petals and flowers for the finishing touches to the shadowbox.
I couldn’t get over just how perfect the white hydrangea petals look!
Finished Shadowbox
Oh, I really love how it all came together!! The mix of textures and colors is so pretty.
A keepsake shadowbox would also be nice to make for prom flowers or remembrance from the funeral arrangement of a loved one as well.
One important thing to keep in mind with a preserved flower shadowbox…or with any preserved flowers or greens for that matter…you must keep them out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight with fade colors from the flowers.
Oh, and my friend loved it; which is the best part of this project!
