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Planning my wedding was an incredibly satisfying, rewarding, and fun (yes, fun!) process. I not only got to marry my best friend, but we also both got to see our vision for this day come to life. Throughout all that hard work and planning, I found myself thinking about the day when all this excitement and anticipation would subside, and wanted to do something to preserve it in a way that wasn’t just with photos. About a month before my wedding day in the fall of 2021, my sister offered to gift me what has become one of my most cherished wedding keepsakes and my favorite kitchen accessory.
My sister Aimé, who was also my maid of honor, knew a friend of a friend, Jenna, who preserved wedding bouquets in resin as a side hustle. Most of her work included framed blocks, serving trays, and jewelry dishes, but the pieces that stood out to me the most were the coasters. I met with Jenna two days after my wedding, as she let me know my bouquet had to be somewhat fresh so that the flowers wouldn’t look too wilted in the end result.
My bouquet, crafted beautifully by the talented Marisa Bosquez-White, not only represented my husband and me perfectly, but it also encapsulated the aesthetic of my wedding. It included lush greenery, dainty chamomile, soft pink carnations, and bold red ranunculus. The standouts, however, were the irises — my favorite flower and my birth month flower — and the marigolds — my husband’s birth month flower and a symbol of Mexican culture, especially during Day of the Dead, which was the date of our wedding.
The process of making the coasters, as Jenna described it to me, involved mixing resin with a hardener and pouring it to fill up a quarter of a clean, circular silicone mold, using a heat gun to get rid of any bubbles, and then placing each pressed flower, petal, and leaf into assorted arrangements using tweezers. She then filled up the rest of the mold with the remainder of the resin mixture. Lastly, she let the coasters cure for about two days and then removed them from their molds. Including the four weeks it took Jenna to press the flowers beforehand using books, I received my coasters (wrapped thoughtfully by my sister) about two months after my wedding. (Unfortunately, Jenna no longer makes her resin art, otherwise I would highly, highly recommend her.)
The cost for six coasters was about $120. While these definitely have a much higher price compared to standard coasters, it was absolutely worth it to preserve something with so much meaning that could have easily died within a few days. In looking at all of the options on Etsy, there are plenty of artists making stunning resin keepsakes — from coasters and book ends to frames and keychains — for a range of prices
This way, I’m able to keep parts of my bouquet forever and reminisce about the most special day in my life when I’m simply having my morning iced coffee. I would recommend it to anyone as a thoughtful wedding gift to be cherished for years to come.
Buy: Rectangle Tray Wedding Flower Preservation, $100