All floral preservation is not the same. Proper floral freeze-drying doesn't produce flowers that are brittle and lifeless as traditional or silica gel drying methods. Your flowers will retain the shape and color of the actual fresh flower. It will not be flat or pressed. There are very few experts in the floral freeze dry industry because the equipment is expensive, requires extensive training to operate, knowledge about flowers, and floral design are required.

Memories & Memorials was founded by Kathy Reid who also created the largest freeze-dried wedding bouquet preservation company in the United States. This has allowed us to make major improvements to the floral preservation process via extensive research and testing. We will continue to research new methods and process control procedures to ensure that our floral preservation process remains the very best available.

OUR UNIQUE FIVE-STEP PRESERVATION PROCESS

Step 1
RE-HYDRATION OF FLOWERS
Your flowers are photographed, inventoried, measured, and each flower put into a special re-hydration solution. The re-hydration solution opens the closed stem and forces it to drink the water and provides much needed sugars. This helps bring back the natural beauty of the flowers so that they look their very best for the freeze-drying process. Customers shipping our free floral shipper are provided with a small bottle of re-hydration solution at no additional charge. This will penetrate the top layers of the petals and will help hold in moisture during the shipping process. Flowers are then stored in a cooler at 40 degrees for at least 24 hours or until the re-hydration is complete.

Step 2
PRE-TREATMENT TO HOLD IN NATURAL COLOR AND OPEN THE CELL STRUCTURE
Depending on the type and color of the flower, it is treated with one of 14 different solutions. Our pre-treatment solutions have been developed, after years of research & development, to hold in color and open the cell structure of the flower. This enhances the water removal process during the freeze-drying process, while retaining the flowers natural color. Flowers are loaded onto trays and frozen to prepare them for the freeze-drying process. Depending on the type of flower they may be pre-frozen for up to four weeks.

Step 3
The Freeze Drying Process
The same high quality equipment used by pharmaceutical companies to freeze-dry ingredients used in vitamins and medicine is used to preserve your flowers. Our state-of-the-art equipment is computer controlled and allows us to determine when the moisture has been removed. The process must be carefully controlled or flowers can be damaged. Depending on the flower type and other factors flowers will remain under vacuum in the freeze-dryers for 10 to 17 days. Once the process is complete the flowers are removed and allowed to cure in a special low humidity room for 3-5 days.

Step 4
COLOR ENHANCEMENT & SEALING
A wire stem is added to each flower head to prepare it for color enhancement and sealing. Depending on the natural flower color a French dye is used to infuse the flower with a transparent pigment so that the natural looking color of the flower will be retained for years to come. Each flower is then sealed with a thin polymer coating. Our polymer coating includes a UVA shield to protect against sun/light and moisture damage. Flowers are stored in special sealed boxes by customer/job number and are now ready for the design process.

Step 5
CUSTOM DESIGN/QUALITY CONTROL/PACKAGING & SHIPPING
Because each display is custom made-to-order, the customers display choice is made no later than three weeks following receipt of the flowers. This is timed so that the display is ready at the same time the flowers have completed Step 4. Our talented floral designers then design the flowers into the displays, per the directions provide by the client, and the photography that we took of the bouquet when it arrived. Each display/design is reviewed using a quality control guideline and approved or returned for adjustments. Completed displays are cleaned and inspected, and then closed and packed for shipping or pick up by the customer.