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wow... loving all the stories here. i'm just skipping centerpieces all together since i've been to a handful of weddings where the older aunts hoard the centerpieces and "claim them" under thair chair throughout the entire reception so they can go home with them - totally defeating the idea of having center pieces!
also, we're doing a banquet style dinner so that if the guests aren't stealing them, the waiters are taking them off of the lazy susan to put dishes on. works out both ways!
i've been to a wedding where i saw someone try to walk off with a tall vase which clearly didn't fit in her car... also she was from out of town so i have no effing clue how she was going to get that on the plane!
I will jack somebody up if they try to take my centerpieces. lol I think I'm going to put little signs on them saying they are rented and please do not take. Geez.
That is probably a good idea. I was thinking I will have to do the same because I know people will try at my wedding. Maybe a small card at the base of it or something...
I have never been to a wedding where centerpieces were taken home. I have some vases with fake flowers, but my family and I already have uses for them after the wedding is over.
In the event someone would try to take off with something, I wonder if I could drop them by throwing my bouquet at them?? 
i have NEVER heard of this or seen this. i don't think most southerners do this, though. am i wrong? now i'm starting to get worried...
@Cassie_KY: definately a method of "vase defense".
CantWaitToBeWed I really do think it is partially a regional as well as family thing. So if you have never seen it, I probably would not worry.
I was TERRIFIED this was going to happen. I wrote way back that I was using family heirloom silver tea sets, and would be PISSED if somebody walked away with them.
I'm happy to report they were all still there at the end of the night, but I had the person who made the arrangements make it so you could easily take just the flowers, and encouraged people to take just that, and leave the container.
Aww it sucks that the other bride won't get the centerpieces. I wouldn't take a centerpiece unless I knew it was OK (and wouldn't bother the bride for permission).
No-one will be taking our centerpieces home, except for those I choose to give away (pretty much just our moms). Honestly, I would be pretty pissed if someone took our centerpieces without my approval. They did not pay for them and I fully intend on selling everything that I can after the wedding.
My fiance is a composer who also performs at many, many weddings and social events as a side job in Los Angeles. I have been to many weddings from $60pp to $300pp where the centerpieces can easily cost $350 on up. From Marriott to Ritz Carlton, people are manuvering their way to take those tall centerpieces home. Yes, the guests always walk off with them. I know in many Hollywood events, the actual Hollywood movie stars WALK off with the centerpieces too. Imagine stuffing one into a BMW sedan! I just think it is normal. In fact, you must specify NOT to if you do not want that to happen--a bit awkward!! The trend now is to "play a game" or put "winner" under the seat so no one fights over them. I am planning on lots and lots of fresh flowers and I am ok with every single piece walking away. However, if the tall candelabra vases "walk" away, the florist will now charge a loss fee of $100 on up so another thing to consider.
I live in Ontario, Canada, and every single wedding I've been to the centerpieces were there for people to take home. Usually the master of ceremony would make an announcement saying something like "the oldest at the table" or sometimes there's a sticker under the chair of the person who gets to take it home!
I'd say if you don't want people to take them or if they belong to the venue, then definitively make an announcement saying you DON'T want people to take them home.
I was going to designate my friends to keep watch over my table decorations and centerpieces, but then they might get sidetracked with dancing/drinking. I think I'm going to have my DJ make a polite announcement saying the decorations are rentals (even though they aren't, but we're counting on re-selling a lot of stuff)
omg! this is the best thread ever. i have never laughed so hard at myself.
between my mom, sisterinlaw and myself, we try to get a centerpiece at every wedding we go to. the flowers are always so beautiful!
it is tradition within my family weddings, that the centerpiece will be taken. yes it is expensive. a $20 vase (that is three feet tall) with $80 worth of flowers. times 22 tables. that's a lot of money.
it is a custom that we love. as a guest you are always excited to see the centerpieces, try to figure out how to win it. the closest birthday, longest marriage at the table, a dance are all ways to possibly be the lucky winner, of the huge centerpiece. Recently at a famiy dinner a male cousin asked if he would get the centerpeice, bc his bday is two days away from our wedding day. he's already thiking about it and it was more than a year away.
i went to a friends wedding last year, and us girls were trying to divide up the centerpeice long before it was mentioned that they were rented. so i would suggest to announce it so everyone will know not to take them home.
I know that it's commonly done, but I'm always surprised when people don't ask first.
was as actually told bymug mom lay night that our people will take the centerpiece as a kind of "part favor". We wanted to skip the center pEices all together but I don't want to be charged 80 bucks for a missing 20 dollar hurricane vase....because aunt so and so wanted one.....
Totally not an answer to your post...but do you have a pic of them? I'd just love to see what they looked like...what a unique idea - I've never heard of that!!!!
This post made me LOL because places are so different when it comes to customs like this! I live in Upstate NY, and I can honestly say I have only been to one wedding where the centerpieces were NOT given away. In this instance, the bride was intending to return them all to the party store the following day for a refund, and believe me there was talk amongst the guests about it. Every other wedding (including my first) that I've been to they were given away...usually there was some sort of game along with it to decide who gets to take it home, or a penny left under someone's saucer as a 'surprise'. I have ended up with so many vases, candle holders, picture frames, etc. that I didn't particularly need, but didn't want to offend the bride by not taking them when I had 'won' them. The DJ at my wedding made an announcement to everyone to take mine (Hurricane candle holders with pillar candles and crystal-y rocks) and I was STILL chasing people out the door holding them saying 'Please take a centerpiece, I don't want 20 of them in my house!' and I made sure to buy extra materials so I could have one for myself if they were all taken home. I think I ended up with 3, and I still have one. This time I'll do the same thing, because I don't know what I'd do with so many mason jars of dried flowers...there's only so many that can go on a shelf.
I think it depends on where you are, I guess. If you were donating them to a nursing home (I love that idea!!), or they were rented / borrowed / or anything else and you don't want people to take them, you should include a cute little note on the table. "These centerpieces are intended to cheer up the residents of St. Katherine's tomorrow, please take the favors as our little gift to you" or something.
Every wedding I've ever been to has tried to pawn off the centerpieces, floral and non-floral. I'm not surprised that people took them. =\
I'd love for people to take the flowers.... but not the antique china and milkglass we've bought that hold the flowers!
Anyone have any ideas on how to pull that one off?
My goodness! I have never seen people take centerpieces unless they were told to!
@minneapolitan: I've never been to a wedding where you didn't take the centerpieces. I think this is why it should be the job of the MOH/BP in general to spread the word when the centerpieces are not supposed to be taken home (rented, property of venue, etc.) Unless you rented them or they were heirlooms like PP mentioned, why wouldn't you want to give them to your guests? Seems weird to have the responsibility to take all of them home...(I'm imagining someone taking home 20 floral centerpieces lol what a waste of $$$)
Maybe it's a regional thing but you always take centerpieces at weddings in NY (thanks MerryWidow for the backup!)
When I was a teenager, I went to a Cinderella-themed Sweet 16 and the centerpieces were these ginormous castles carved out of styrofoam, spraypainted pink and covered in glitter. I mean, they were at least 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide.
I ended up "winning" one to take home but I wasn't happy about it, because I knew my parents were gonna get mad. Their view was "we have enough crap in the house!"
I took it home to be polite, but I immediately got yelled at by my dad because I got glitter all over the car. LOL!
I have never heard of that and had no problems with our centerpieces.
Wow....who does that?
I would never dream of taking something at all unless I was specifically told by the hostess to do so (has happened and was given as a gift for helping which I thought was fine).
I have never heard of that and had no problems with our centerpieces.
Wow....who does that?
I would never dream of taking something at all unless I was specifically told by the hostess to do so (has happened and was given as a gift for helping which I thought was fine).
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