Today I want to chat about something that a lot of people tend to overlook when thinking about flowers for their wedding or special event. After all the time and attention that’s given to deciding on your floral style, your floral color palette, and the placement of all the floral designs, the piece that is often not given much thought to is what to do with all the flowers once the festivities have ended. Whether it’s your wedding, a corporate event, or a celebration, when the food is all gone, when the music stops, and when the guests leave, everything that was brought to your venue to make your wedding beautiful has to find another home. And that includes your flowers.

So, here are some options for your flowers when it’s time for farewell.

HIRE YOUR FLORIST TO CLEAN-UP

Most Wedding and Event Floral Designers will offer the service of clean-up (also known as strike) at the end of your event. This is a great addition for folks who don’t want take on the task of figuring out what to do with all of their flowers or for folks that don’t have the capacity to take them. Hiring your Florist for strike is an extremely efficient way of checking flowers off the clean-up list. Plus, your Florist will know best how to take everything apart and how to pack it back up. Afterwards, everything gets sorted, cleaned, and organized. Every Floral Designer is different, but I personally compost all the organic materials after a wedding. I strive for Holly Yee Floral Architecture to be as green as possible.

LET GUESTS TAKE THE FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS HOME

Another option for your event florals is to let guests take them home. This works best with all vased arrangements that can easily be carried and transported. I especially like this option and think it’s a beautifully sweet gesture from the couple or host to their guests. People always love the gift of flowers – especially beautifully designed arrangements. Just remember to talk with your Florist about any vases or containers they are providing. If you are renting vases from your Florist you will need to return those, so you might opt to purchase them from your Florist so guests can freely take them. Or you could always ask your Florist if there is a way to incorporate a take-away container that can be hidden inside of the rented one.

DONATE YOUR FLOWERS

This option is hands down the one that you get all the feels from, myself included. If your wedding flowers have still have life in them at the end of your big day, you can take the vased arrangements to local nursing homes to bring a little bot of cheer to the elderly. Just remember you will have to coordinate this yourself or designate someone to be in charge of this, which requires floral clean-up at the end of your event, overnight storage, and delivery the following day. Donating your event flowers to others is a wonderful thing to do, just remember that it requires planning and time.

DRY OR PROFESSIONALLY PRESERVE YOUR FLOWERS

If you want to take your flowers with you at the end of your wedding, even if it’s just your bridal bouquet, a great option for the flowers post-event is to dry or have your bouquet professionally preserved. Drying can be as simple as hanging your flowers upside down in a dark closet. Part of the magic of flowers is that their beauty is fleeting, but with any form of preservation you can prolong the joy of your flowers.

COMPOST YOUR FLOWERS

Sometimes the life of your event flowers is not much longer than the day of your wedding. Floral Designers have to prep and handle the flowers so they are at their peak blossoming state for your event. This often means that they don’t have much life span in them. Instead of throwing them into the trash you can return the flowers to mother earth by composting them.