Bouquet Preservation

I haven't really decided what I'll do with the bouquets I'm making for my wedding. I'm not sure if I will display them as is or if I will disassemble them and create something new from the remnants. While searching through wedding blogs recently, I somehow came across these gorgeous paintings that are made from pressed bouquet flowers from Curly Art:






If I was having a real bouquet, I would love to do this! I think it's a great way to display your bouquet in your home after the wedding. They're so unique and you could even customize it to match your decorating scheme. :) What did you do (married bees) or are you doing with your bouquet after the wedding?

I Heart Fabric

(a lot)
And I "collect" it. Yes, I'm one of those people- a "fabric hoarder". As is evident by this:


I wanted to incorporate fabric into the wedding because, well, I love it... and I love to sew. Conveniently, since I knew I wanted to avoid using fresh flowers if at all possible, I had a solution. I decided to make our (and by "our" I am including the bridal party as well) bouquets and boutonnieres from fabric. I searched many sources online (including Martha Stewart and Etsy) to get ideas on what fabric bouquets and flowers should look like, but I really didn't find anything that inspired me enough to produce an exact replica. The solution? I worked from scratch to create my own design.

The fabric:

I plan on using dark and light purples in my bouquet & browns, ivory & shades of pale blue for the 'maids. I tried to choose fabrics that varied slightly in texture and color and complimented one another. Carrying bolts of fabric around Joann's was the simplest method of accomplishing this. I also picked up some green fabric (mostly because it was on clearance):

I'm not sure if I will work it in or not.

I created a "trial" 'maids bouquet (not yet sure if I will use it):


I'm still working out a design for the stems and I like the overall shape and color scheme. Originally I was going to make all the 'maids' bouquets the same, but I think I'm going to vary each of them slightly. I'll keep the same color scheme, but I will be using different textures of fabric and different flower forms. As I continue the process of making/adding onto the bouquets I will post them. I haven't come up with a solid idea for the bouts yet, so I think I will wait until all of the bouquets are finished and then make complimentary bouts for each bouquet :)

How have you incorporated your hobbies into your wedding?