Tips to Make Your Wedding Centerpiece Flowers Last Longer

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

For more do it yourself wedding centerpiece ideas, go to the main Wedding Centerpiece Ideas page.

It’s your wedding, do it the way you want!

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