Unique Gifts for the Wedding Party: Flower Presses

Meeting a Lovely Couple and Helping Them Make Memories of Their Special Day

A few weeks ago we had a lovely young couple come into the shop and the young woman was very taken with our flower presses. They told us that they had got married a few days previously in the garden of the holiday cottage they were staying at on the coast a few miles away. The bride had held a bouquet of bluebells from the garden for the wedding ceremony and was pressing some of them not very successfully she felt, between the pages of a book. So they bought one of our large flower presses with straps with a poppy design on it to finish off pressing the bluebells properly. They went away happy and we felt very pleased to have played a part in helping them make memories of their special day.

It made us realise afterwards that our flower presses can be a perfect gift for a bride, or the bride could choose to buy herself one in readiness for the day if she wants to preserve some of the flowers as a memento of the day. And that our smaller flower presses would make an ideal gift that is a little bit different to the usual, for the bridesmaids and maid of honour.

The Significance of Flowers in Wedding Celebrations

Flowers hold a pivotal role in wedding celebrations, representing love, beauty, and the blossoming of a new life together. The bride’s bouquet often serves as a focal point for the entire event. The flowers chosen for this arrangement complement the bride's gown and reflect her personal style and the overall vision of the wedding.

In addition to the bride’s bouquet, floral arrangements play a crucial role in enhancing the ambiance of the wedding venue. Flowers help in creating a visually stunning environment, enriching the setting with colour and fragrance.

Flowers evoke emotional connections and memories, often serving as a reminder of the joy and love shared on the wedding day. Many couples choose to preserve their wedding blooms through flower pressing to create lasting keepsakes of that significant day. We had orchids at our wedding as they are my husband's favourite flowers and we pressed the one he had as his buttonhole.

Creating Lasting Memories: The Concept of Flower Preservation

Through various techniques, couples can preserve their flowers, effectively keep their wedding flowers intact and allowing them to evoke memories of their special day for years to come.

Among the different methods of preservation, flower pressing stands out due to its simplicity and effectiveness. This technique involves flattening flowers between layers of absorbent paper and applying moderate pressure, which removes moisture while retaining the flower's form and hopefully its colour. The result is a delicate representation of the flowers that can be incorporated into various keepsakes, such as framed art and photo albums.

Choosing to preserve wedding flowers often stems from the desire to maintain a personal connection to those floral arrangements that hold deep sentimental value. For some, the flowers chosen carry stories of courtship—perhaps the bouquet features blossoms from the place they first met or flowers that were part of a family tradition. By pressing these flowers, couples can encapsulate those narratives, further entwining their memories.

Introducing Dalbeattie Wood's Flower Press Range

Dalbeattie Wood offers a selection of flower presses, all designed and made by us, here in Dalbeattie in south west Scotland. All have representations of flowers on the front. Some are modern designs we have drawn and designed ourselves, one is in the Art Nouveau style, based on the cover of a set of gardening books we own and others are illustrations of flowers from plates in an 18th century herbal. So there are designs for all tastes. Our flower presses can cater to various needs and preferences when it comes to preserving wedding memories. The range includes both large and small flower presses, each uniquely tailored to suit different users and uses, while emphasising the art of DIY flower preservation.

The large flower press stands out as an ideal gift for the bride, enabling them to capture the beauty of their wedding flowers. There is plenty of space for preserving a variety of flowers, allowing brides to create stunning keepsakes from their bouquets. The thoughtful craftsmanship behind the larger design not only adds a touch of elegance with its cotton straps and metal buckles (instead of using the traditional screws and wingnuts that can easily be lost), but also ensures that the flowers retain their charm for years to come.

The smaller flower press is perfect gift for bridesmaids or the maid of honour, offering a more compact design that still effectively preserves delicate blooms. Its size and design makes it an excellent choice for children (with rubber bands to hold it closed). The smaller press fits easily into bags or large pockets enabling users to bring it along for walks, travel or use at home.

By choosing these thoughtfully designed flower presses by Dalbeattie Wood, couples can foster a deeper connection to their wedding memories, elegantly preserved through the timeless art of flower pressing and get everyone involved in the wedding to create their own cherished keepsakes too.

Our large flower presses with straps are £25 (the hand painted cornflower one is £28) and the small flower presses with bands are £15.