Keeping Them for Next Time

The main argument for faux flowers is that they exist afterwards, and how they are stored decides whether that is true.

The Three Enemies

Crushing, which permanently deforms foam petals and creases fabric ones.

Dust, which is what makes stored arrangements look grey and tired when they come out.

Light, which fades everything and does it unevenly, so one side of an arrangement bleaches while the other stays original.

Storing Properly

• Rigid boxes rather than bags, so nothing is squashed
• Stems supported rather than bearing the weight of blooms
• Tissue between layers, not packed tight
• Somewhere dry, dark and stable in temperature
• Not a loft, which cycles between hot and freezing
• Not a garage or a cellar, where damp gets into wire and glue

The keepsake argument made by ranges like floroom.net, that flowers press flat into a box rather than going in the compost, only holds if the box is a rigid one somewhere sensible.

Clean Before Storing

The step that matters most and is always skipped after an event.

Dust and residue left on petals for a year becomes considerably harder to remove and can mark the fabric permanently.

A hairdryer on cool, or a soft brush, before anything goes in a box.

Damp Is the Serious One

Faux flowers do not rot, and their wire stems rust and their glue joints fail.

A garage or a cellar will do that within a year or two. Stems that come out orange at the cut ends have been stored somewhere damp.

Bouquets Store Badly

A bound bouquet holds its shape under its own compression, and stored flat it flattens.

Standing it upright in a tall box, supported at the binding point, keeps the dome. Some people dismantle and store the stems instead, which takes less space.

Label the Boxes

Contents and shade names. In two years you will not remember which blush was which.

Selling Them On

A large secondhand market exists for wedding florals, and a complete set in good condition sells for a meaningful share of its cost.

Photographs taken at the wedding, and the original shade names, are what make a listing sell.

Reuse Them at Home

Garlands on a mantel, wreaths on a door, stems in a vase.

Check Them Annually

Rust, glue failure and fading all start quietly.