Florist Reston VA

25 Years Perfecting
The Fine Art of
Wedding Bouquet Preservation
in Washington DC

25 Years Perfecting
The Fine Art of Wedding Bouquet
Preservation in
Washington DC

Begin the Conversation

Your wedding bouquet was everything you always imagined: the colors, the blooms, the design you carried in your mind long before you carried it down the aisle. From the first photograph to the walk down the aisle, from the vows at the altar to the moment you were introduced as a married couple for the very first time. Your bouquet was there for every single one. At Queen & I, preservation means you don’t have to let them go. Every piece is made by hand in a private Reston VA studio, designed to live on the walls of your home. It won’t just remind you of your wedding. It will take you there.

From the first photograph to the walk down the aisle, from the vows at the altar to the moment you were introduced as a married couple for the very first time. Your bouquet was there for every single one. At Queen & I, preservation means you don’t have to let them go. Every piece is designed to live on the walls of your home. It won’t just remind you of your wedding. It will take you there.

Begin the Conversation

What Is Wedding
Bouquet Preservation?

Freeze-dried wedding bouquet encapsulated in resin on a display stand

For shadowboxes and resin, freeze-drying is where preservation begins. A professional-grade freeze-dry machine removes moisture from your wedding flowers while locking in their shape, color, and structure exactly as they were on your wedding day. It holds up across every flower variety in a bouquet in a way a process like silica gel simply can’t. Pressed flowers and bas-relief take your flowers somewhere different, pressed into fine art or cast in relief, but the goal never changes: preserve the moment you first saw your bouquet from ever slipping away, transforming it into something you can display in your home, live with every day, and one day pass on.

At Queen & I, we preserve your wedding bouquet as a custom studio commission, designed around its specific flowers, colors, and composition, and finished as fine art. The result is not a dried arrangement. It is not a product. It is a one of a kind piece made from the flowers you actually carried, built to hang on your wall and take you back to that day every time you see it. Your bouquet already told its story once. This is how it keeps telling it.

Four Ways to Preserve
Your Wedding Flowers

There are two distinct approaches at Queen & I. The first returns your actual flowers to you, preserved and finished inside the piece, something you can hang in your home and live with every day. The second uses your flowers as the raw material to create an original work of art. The flowers themselves are consumed in the process, and what you receive is the art they made. Both are custom studio commissions. Neither is a product.

Framed wedding bouquet shadowbox preservation display

Shadowboxes

A shadowbox begins with freeze-drying your bouquet to retain its full three-dimensional form: the same shape, the same depth, the same presence it had the night of your wedding. Daniel then hand-crafts the finished piece in a deep-frame shadowbox using museum-grade archival materials. Nothing is rearranged. Nothing is re-imagined. What goes in is what comes out: your bouquet, displayed exactly as it was. Your actual flowers come back to you, displayed as fine art, ready to hang on the wall you already have in mind.

learn more
Framed pressed wedding flowers preservation display

Pressed

Pressed flower preservation is two-dimensional, closer in feeling to botanical fine art than to a preserved bouquet. Your actual flowers are hand-arranged and framed using archival materials throughout, each composition designed around the specific blooms and colors you chose. No two arrangements are alike. If the shadowbox captures the bouquet as it was, pressed flower preservation re-imagines it as something you would place in any room of your home: considered, composed, and entirely yours.

learn more
Wedding flowers encapsulated in resin on a display stand

Resin

Freeze-dried flowers encapsulated in crystal-clear resin: luminous, dimensional, and unlike anything a frame can produce. Your entire bouquet, exactly as you carried it down the aisle, suspended in full. Every resin piece is paired with a custom-made wood stand built for your bouquet, so it doesn’t just sit somewhere in your home. It belongs there.

learn more
Bas-relief plaster tile cast from wedding flowers

Bas-Relief

A bas-relief is made by pressing your wedding flowers directly into clay, capturing their exact form in detail. Plaster is poured into that mold to create the finished tile: raised, tactile, and permanent. The result sits closer to sculpture than to framing, with a physical presence no wall-hung piece can match. The flowers are not returned, but every detail of them is.

learn more

Explore all wedding service formats – Shadowboxes, Pressed, Resin and Bas-Relief in detail

What Our Brides
Are Saying

Working with Dan has been a delight! Firstly, he made getting the flowers to him stress-free, by coming to pick them up from our reception! He also made picking out the matting and style of the shadow box fun, and truly tried to incorporate colors and styles from the wedding into the box. He showed us our flowers, and the color stayed true. It has been a breath of fresh air to work with an individual who truly loves what they do for a living!”

Kathleen

“You just made me cry right now, but they are tears of happiness. Your work is beautiful and I feel very lucky to have found your company online, and to have met you, because now I know that my sister will get to carry and keep with her a piece of her wedding day forever. Thank you so much”

Jaqueline

“I would not have trusted my wedding bouquet to anyone else! My flowers are as beautiful as the day I walked down the isle!”

Cynthia

“After a bit of research and some phone calls my husband and I decided Dan would produce the quality product we expected. Dan took the time to explain the products he used and the difference between his materials and other preservation services. We valued his opinion as we created a museum grade shadow box for the full bridal bouquet. He even explained what color changes we should/should not expect. He’s a talented, friendly guy with an excellent service!”

Kristen

“My daughter had her bridal floral bouquet preserved at Queen & I. Wonderful work! Excellent! The bouquet is now in a frame, looks so natural and beautiful, and certainly is a superior piece of art. We are very happy.”

Claudia

“Dan was so easy to work with and had great ideas to help capture our very unique wedding in an equally unique piece. I get so many compliments about my flowers, and everyone loves how he incorporated the extra lace from my gown in the border. I would recommend Queen & I to every bride!”

Susan

“Magnificent, stunning and gorgeous are just a few of the words that come to mind when my husband and I look at my beautiful bridal bouquet preserved by Queen & I. Thank you for helping to preserve a piece of one of the most special days of my life! Dan is a true professional and an artist with a keen eye for design. Queen & I is every bit deserving of a 5 star rating!”

Amanda

Why Brides in the
DC Metro
Trust Daniel Marcey

haute stock photography subscription something blue collection final 2 764x1024 1

35 years in the floral industry. 25 years exclusively devoted to wedding bouquet preservation

Daniel exclusively serves brides in the local DC metro area and does not take on out-of-town clients.

Daniel works with 2–3 DC metro brides per week, by choice. Brides who book with Daniel are not one of dozens. They are one of a few, and that is exactly the point.

Most preservationists fit your flowers to the display. Daniel fits the display to your flowers.

Every piece Daniel creates uses materials trusted by the world’s leading conservation institutions.

Head of sales and lead trainer at Botanique, the industry’s leading freeze-dry equipment manufacturer. Preservationists travel from across the country and abroad to train under him.

There are preservationists who do this work.
Daniel is the one who teaches them how.

FAQ About Wedding Bouquet Preservation

Wedding bouquet preservation at Queen & I starts at $1,250. That number lands differently when you consider what went into your flowers: most DC metro brides invest significantly in their wedding flowers. Preservation is how a single day’s investment becomes something you live with for the rest of your life.

The most effective way to preserve a wedding bouquet is freeze-drying, the method that best retains natural shape, color, and dimension. Peer-reviewed research confirms that freeze-drying protects the physical structure and shape of botanical materials better than other drying methods, so the flowers hold their form permanently, exactly as they were on your wedding day.

If your flowers mattered to you, the decision to preserve your wedding bouquet is worth it. You spent months choosing every stem. The bouquet was there for every photograph, every vow, every first moment as a married couple. Preservation is not an indulgence. It is the natural end of something you already cared deeply about.

It may not be too late, but time matters. Start by texting a few photos of your bouquet exactly as it looks right now to (703) 989-4682. That’s Daniel’s cell, so you can also call. That lets him see the flowers’ actual condition and gauge honestly whether preservation is still possible. Then call that same number directly: he can triage your flowers’ condition the moment you’re on the phone.

It depends on the format you choose. Shadowboxes, Pressed Flowers, and Resin return your actual flowers inside the finished piece. Bas-Relief uses your flowers to create the work, and the flowers are not returned.

The average completion time is three-four months from your design consultation for Shadowboxes, Resin and Bas-Relief. Pressed Flowers take on average 6 months due to the tedious drying process. The work is never rushed: this reflects the time it takes to do it properly, not a production backlog.

Yes, studio visits are welcome by appointment. You can see finished examples of every format in person, ask questions, and make your decision with confidence before your wedding day arrives.

Queen & I is a private studio practice, not a mail-order service. Queen & I works with 2–3 DC metro brides per week by choice, with every piece personally overseen and your flowers collected the night of your reception if needed. Every commission is designed around your specific bouquet, your home, and what you want to live with. There is no team, no production line, and nothing that looks like anything else.

Ready to
Get Started?

Wedding
Coming Up?

Daniel works with 2–3 DC metro brides per week, so availability fills quickly. Booking at least 3 months before your wedding date gives you the best chance of securing your spot. When you call, Daniel will walk you through the preservation process, explain each wedding service format and its pricing, and help you decide how to secure your flowers. You’re also welcome to visit the Reston VA studio by appointment to see finished examples of every format in person before deciding.

call now

wedding
already passed?

Depending on the flowers, most bouquets can still be preserved up to three days after the wedding. Start by texting Daniel a few photos of your bouquet exactly as it looks right now. That’s Daniel’s cell below, so you can call or text. That lets him see the flowers’ actual condition and gauge honestly whether preservation is still possible. Then call that same number directly: he can triage your flowers’ condition the moment you’re on the phone, instead of guessing over the age alone.

text now
get directions
Daniel Marcey, owner of Queen & I - Floral Preservation, Reston, VA

Daniel Marcey

Owner, Queen & I - Floral Preservation │ Reston, VA

Daniel Marcey has spent 35 years in the floral industry, specializing in wedding flower preservation for 25 years. As head of sales and lead trainer for Botanique, the leading freeze-dry equipment manufacturer in the preservation industry, he has trained preservationists across the United States. A ninth-generation Washingtonian, Daniel operates his studio personally, working with a limited number of DC metro brides each week from his home studio in Reston, VA.

about Daniel