A bouquet carried at a wedding on the Friday evening, brought to the studio on the Sunday morning by the bride's sister.
Two days is about the limit for this work and we say so plainly. The flowers were still firm, which meant the pressing held their colour rather than their decay. Three weeks in the press, a layout laid out loose and photographed for her to approve, then framed.
The honest part of the conversation happened at the start. Her bouquet had white roses and a deep blue stem. The white would go cream and the blue would not survive pressing at all, so we agreed to press what would hold and keep two of the blue heads dried in the frame instead, where they read as almost black and look deliberate.
She has since sent us two friends' bouquets. Both arrived within a day of the wedding, which is the lesson.