I have been going round and round about centerpieces. As usual, I have way too many ideas and far too little money or expertise to pull them all off. As with most things for this wedding, I wanted my centerpieces to be DIY. I also wanted them to be cost effective and not look cheap and cheesy. I know that is pretty dang near impossible to pull off but I was determined.
I thought about going the route of fresh flowers. I LOVE flowers, and I am totally going to splurge on fresh flowers for bouquets and bouts. But for centerpieces...I was just not sold. I mean, I have 12 tables to decorate. In order to make an impact, those would have to be some big centerpieces. And when big centerpieces meet fresh flowers, they make a flipping expensive wallet eating baby. Not cool. Besides the cost, what am I going to do with 12 huge floral arrangments after my wedding? Throw them away? Give them away? Seemed like a lot of money for something that can never be used again. So fresh flowers went out the window.
Since I am having a fall wedding with brown as my central color, I saw something super cute I was way into for awhile. Using coffee beans to fill a vase (maybe mixing in some colored beads for a pop) and putting some branches into them. Then stringing those branches with strands of crystals and hanging tea lights off of them. I still think this would be a gorgeous and fairly cheap centerpiece idea. Hello? Buy cheap coffee in bulk at Sam's Club and collect branches from local garden stores. I think I would spray paint the branches if I decided to do this so they looked uniform. Anyway, I just was not feeling this idea for my wedding. It's super pretty and cost effective, but I just feel like it did not match.
Then, when I was browsing photos of candy buffets, it struck me. If you've been keeping up with my blog, you will probably recall in the photo of the candy buffet that I love there are some floral arrangements in the back. It is basically a submerged flower, in water with a floating candle. I am in love with the simplicity and elegance of this idea. The challenge was making it happen. I originally thought Calla Lillies. They have a nice shape that would look simplistic and gorgeous submerged in water. And I would need exactly 12 of them. Hey! I could do fresh flowers that way! But after continuing with my "wedding research" I fell in love with flowers like peonies and anemones. Calla lillies are so not the same "type" of flower and so that idea went by the wayside.
Well, long story short...mom and I went out and about today to run errands and decided to go to Hobby Lobby to look for a stamp for my invitations. As any woman knows, you cannot walk into a Hobby Lobby without exploring the whole store. Before we knew it we found some beautiful aqua blue and ivory tulle for my flower girl tutu for $1.90 a yard. That was already a score so we were about to walk out the door when something caught my eye in the faux floral department. Normally, faux flowers are a HUGE no no to me. Just Yuck. Who wants fake flowers that obviously look fake at their wedding? The thing was, these did not look fake. They were gorgeous. The perfect color of pomegranate red faux phaelenopsis orchids. They were $5.99 a stem, which is pretty pricey until I looked up and saw that all faux flowers were 50% off today.only. Um, meant to be?! We selected the best ones and decided to go look at vases just for fun. When we got there, we found the most gorgeous 24" graduated pillar vases that the orchids fit inside perfectly. I almost screamed when I saw they were $27 apiece! ($27 x 12 tables = $324 for VASES alone!!) Then my mom pointed out to me the glorious bright red sign I had somehow missed. Those were 50% off too. SCORE!
I swear you have never seen a person go scramble for a cart so fast. We loaded those suckers up and got most the makings for my centerpieces for...are you ready...$180!!!!!! Yes. Victory. Sweet Victory.
When we got home I could not wait to try it out, so I put an orchid in a vase and filled it up with water. I almost freaked out for a second because the water turned a lovely shade of pink after I filled it up. Then I realized I had not removed the tag, which was bleeding red dye into the water. *phew* I arranged some tea lights I scrounged up around it to create a similar effect as what we will have at the reception ballroom. The result was stunning. I stood in the kitchen oogling that baby for a good 10 minutes. Wow. Just wow. For something so cheap and simple, it is simply gorgeous.As pretty as the orchids were outside of water, being inside the glass covered in water made them magnify by like 4 times. And they look real in the water. And they will not wilt! I left my centerpiece mock up assembled for six hours (roughly the time of the reception) and it still looked as gorgeous by the time I took it apart.
The only adjusting I am doing is adding some black river rocks to the bottom of the vase to anchor the orchid. Then, the whole thing will be placed on a mirror in the center of a round table (covered in bronzey-brown sheer table cloth) with tea lights scattered around. After seeing it, I decided the floating candle was completely unnessecary. The best part? I can assemble these ahead of time and the only thing I will need to do on the day of the wedding is fill them with water. SO HAPPY. I am in love!!!
Here's a sneak peak of my precious :)
Keep in mind, much more care will be taken in assembling them for the actual wedding. IE: no bubbles in the water, straight flowers, etc. but still, even for a rough draft...just gorgeous. And cheap without looking cheap at all. YAY! I can finally say it! Centerpieces: CHECK!
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