Freeze-dried fad is fading
Ed Bloom, the owner of Butler Florist, 123 E. Wayne St., has seen a lot of wedding bouquet fads spring up and then wither away in his 37 years in the business.
Right now, he said, the dried flower craze of the recent past appears to be on the wane.
“Drying a bouquet really involves a freeze-drying machine, and you really need to get to one pretty quick,” Bloom said, if the couple wants to preserve it.
He said he refers couples to a service that can provide the drying.
“The other option is to go to a company that redoes the bouquet using flowers that are not the same flowers as in the original bouquet,” Bloom said. “The illusion is that they are the same flowers, but they are not the same. The longer you wait, the less you are able to use your actual flowers.”
“You kind of need to be careful if you are thinking of doing that. Is it important that you have your own bouquet?” Bloom asked.
Bloom said the freeze dryer takes a week or so to slowly take the moisture out of a bouquet and that some flowers don't take well to the process.
He said there is not much call for freeze-drying, not like he used to have people asking to do that.
Another plant trend that has decreased in popularity is dry flowers, Bloom said.
“Certainly the dry flower business is not what it was 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.
“Dried yarrow, eucalyptus, baby's breath, we used to do a lot of arrangements that were just dried flowers.”
“I think a lot of people think because they are dried they are going to last forever,” Bloom said. “They last a year, they get dusty, they get dirty. You can't clean them. People are turning to silk flowers,” he said.
The hot item now for brides are cascade bouquets and there's been a resurgence in baby's breath.
Bloom said, “We didn't use it for a while but I think with all the rustic barn weddings, people want to put it in mason jars. That's still strong.”
Ronda Blough, owner of Pajer's Flowers, 140 Pittsburgh St., Saxonburg, said the bouquet design, despite whatever is the current hot trend, is entirely up to the bride.
“Cascade, crescent, hand-held, roundy-moundy, it depends on what the bride wants,” said Blough.
“The bride comes to the shop for a consultation,” said Blough, to make a decision on bouquet design and the flowers it will contain.
Bloom said the most popular flowers for bridal bouquets currently are hydrangeas and roses.
“I think they have been strong for the last five, six years,” Bloom said. “Hydrangeas give you good value for the money and give you a different look.”
“They come in white and shades of blue and they are tintable,” he added.
Blough said, of flower selection, “it's pretty much up to the bride.”
“As far as flowers, that's up to the person's preference,” said Blough. “It could be sunflowers if it is an outdoor wedding. Rose, lilies and hydrangeas are for more elegant weddings.”
