The Archivist

Preserving memories one petal at a time

By Rebecca Voigt

When Brianne Janer launched Petal Archive in 2020, her floral preservation business had a much different focus.

“My older sister was getting married in 2019, and I wanted to create the perfect gift for her,” Janer says. “I made small resin keepsakes out of her flowers, and back then, I thought I did an amazing job. Let’s just say I should have practiced before I dove right in.”

Despite her humble beginning, over the years Janer perfected the art of preserving flowers in resin, creating everything from bookends to ring holders for her clients. But in late 2023 she started to experiment with pressed flowers, and now her sole focus is turning wedding and other special occasion florals into framed pieces of art to treasure for a lifetime.

“The main reason I switched from resin to pressed flower art was to avoid working with chemicals,” she says. “Resin can be a risk to your health if the proper PPE isn’t worn. Pressing flowers has been a breath of fresh air, and I’m so happy I can still preserve flowers in a cleaner, safer way.”

The process for creating these one-of-a-kind works of art starts on the wedding day. “If you would like to preserve your flowers, try to keep your bouquet in water when not in use at the wedding,” Janer says. “That will really help prolong the life of your flowers, and they will still be in great shape by the time they get to your flower preservationist.”

After the wedding, the couple ships or drops off their bouquet at Janer’s Mid Michigan studio. From there, she starts the meticulous pressing process. “Most flowers will be deconstructed and pressed petal by petal. Some flowers will be thinned out and pressed whole,” she says. “The tedious part about pressing is always changing out the papers in the press. If you miss one important day, you could accidentally ruin your flowers and they could mold or rot.” After about four weeks, the flowers are fully dry and ready for use.

“This is when the fun part starts,” Janer says. “I send the couple design displays with their flowers, and they can choose how it will look in their frame.” Couples can choose a design created with just their flowers or they can include things like vows, invitations, charms, or the bouquet ribbon. Once the design is finalized, Janer carefully frames the delicate flowers and ships the final piece to the couple.

“I love how meaningful this is to people,” Janer says. “The flowers really do hold a lot of memories, and I’m so glad they can have a reminder of their special day in their home.”

Prices start at $100 for an 8” x 10” frame. To learn more visit petal-archive.com.