Pressed vs Resin Flower Preservation: Which Wedding Bouquet Method Is Best?
Pressed flowers or resin bouquet preservation? Learn the pros, cons, longevity, and costs of each method — and how to choose the best option for your wedding flowers.
Pressed vs. Resin Flower Preservation: Which Is Better?
Your wedding bouquet is more than flowers, it is the memory of your wedding day and a symbol of the love that you have for your partner. The blooms that you held around all of your favorite people on the day your life changed forever.
After the wedding, many couples ask the same question:
Should I preserve my bouquet using pressed flowers or resin?
Both preservation styles keep your flowers from being thrown away, but they create completely different heirlooms, require different craftsmanship, and last differently over time.
In this guide, we’ll explain exactly how each method works, the pros and cons of each, and which option is best depending on what you want to remember, and how you want to live with it in your home.
What Is Pressed Flower Preservation?
Pressed flower preservation is a fine-art process that transforms your real wedding bouquet into framed artwork by flattening the blooms in a careful pressed preservation method.
After your wedding, each flower is tended to petal-by-petal depending on the bloom species. It is important to work with the blooms when they are still in a fresh malleable state so that they are able to be pressed without crumbling. The blooms are then preserved through a controlled drying process that removes moisture while maintaining their natural color and structure.
This is not simply placing flowers in a book — professional pressing requires:
• controlled humidity environments
• monitored drying timelines
• botanical handling experience
• hand placement and artistic design
• color stabilization techniques
• trade secret technology, like Pressed Floral has
The Time & Craftsmanship Behind Pressing
Most people are surprised by how involved the process actually is.
A typical wedding bouquet contains 25–60 individual stems. Each stem must be:
- Identified
- Prepared for pressing
- Flattened in stages
- Dried slowly over weeks
- Carefully checked on consistently
- Creatively rebuilt, and designed
The drying process alone takes 4–8 weeks, depending on the flower type. Roses, peonies, ranunculus, and orchids all dry differently and every bloom species require different handling techniques. Without the professional experience blooms will easily brown, mold, or decay during the attempted preservation.
Once dried, the flowers are not simply glued down.
They are artistically re-designed to resemble the original bouquet composition. Depending on the professional that you work with, you will get one on one design service to get your piece to a perfect design that you can cherish forever.
The final piece is then sealed inside a custom frame using:
- UV-protective glass, or museum grade glass
- Highest level of material quality backing
- solid wood framing materials
This is why pressed flower preservation is considered fine art, not a craft.
What Is Resin Flower Preservation?
Resin preservation encases flowers inside a clear epoxy block or molded object.
The flowers are dried first (often times in silica gel) then placed into liquid epoxy resin which hardens into a solid form. The result is a 3-dimensional piece — often a block, sphere, or paperweight.
Resin creates a sculptural keepsake rather than wall art.
At Pressed Floral, we actually do use resin — but intentionally on a small scale.
We specialize in resin jewelry, including:
- rings
- necklaces
- lockets
Jewelry is where resin shines: small, sentimental pieces you can wear daily and keep physically close. Less harm on the environment, and provides opportunity for small dainty pieces that can be light on the neck and hands.
Pressed vs Resin: The Real Differences
1. In your home
Pressed Flowers
- Designed to hang in your home
- Becomes part of your decor
- Seen every day
- Functions as artwork
Resin
- Typically displayed on a shelf
- Smaller keepsake object
- Often stored rather than displayed long-term
- Can be an item that is "used" for example, coasters, ring holder, bookends
Pressed preservation is displayed as artwork.
Resin preserves the the blooms as a useful object.
3. Longevity
This is the part most people don’t learn until after they’ve already chosen.
Pressed flowers are preserved in a stable environment inside 99% UV-protective glass. Because they are fully dried and sealed, they age slowly — similar to archival artwork.
Resin, however, is a plastic material. Over time it naturally:
- warms in color
- may develop micro-bubbles
- can yellow with UV exposure
This does not mean resin is bad — it just behaves differently and ages differently than framed botanical art.
4. Craftsmanship and Labor
Pressed preservation is far more labor-intensive.
A single frame can involve:
• weeks of drying
• hand handling hundreds of petals
• custom artistic layout
• archival framing assembly
Additionally, the materials themselves are premium:
• real hardwood frames
• museum-grade glass
• conservation mounting materials
This is why pressed preservation typically should cost more — you are commissioning a handmade art piece, not just preserving the physical flowers.
When Resin Is the Better Choice
Resin is actually perfect when you want:
• something wearable
• a small sentimental token
• a gift for a parent or partner
• a keepsake using only a few petals
That’s exactly why we offer resin jewelry — it complements a pressed frame beautifully.
Many couples choose:
Frame for the home + jewelry for everyday life.
When Pressed Preservation Is the Better Choice
Pressed flowers are ideal if you want:
• a statement heirloom
• home decor with meaning
• a generational keepsake
• the closest artistic representation of your original bouquet
This is the option most similar to preserving a painting from your wedding day.
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