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@sarakay88: can you use electric candles? or how about diff.heights of vases, like 3 on each table from like walmart or michaels? u can get like a black vase and use "silk" flowers such as hydrangeas. they will last longer and be waaay chpr. alot of ppl opt for that now. u can also do the vases with floating petals in them such as orchids, white rose petals and use crystals around them.... and btw 2 feet for vases are ridic!!! you want ppl to be able to talk over dinner,not play hide and seek lol! hope this helps!
ohh i am also on a budget, $8000 but luckily the venue provides candles and flowers/centerpieces with a $25 per table budget for both flowers and centerpiece soooo i am making my own centerpiece,buying the containers to fill for the florists so i have more flower $$. if i have to i will buy petals to fill my vases.
If you really want flowers at your reception but can't afford to pay a lot, check in to local technical high schools in your area. A lot of tech schools have florist programs and will do your wedding flowers for ridiculously cheap. The students need the practice so the school eats most of the cost.
Also, what type of feel are you going for. For instance, I am doing a vintage/shabby chic wedding so instead of vases I am using various sizes of mason jars. Super cheap and super cute if done right. Also, do your vases have to match? You can find vases at a local thrift store for like $2 a piece. A lot of them are pretty nice, too.
Another idea, since your wedding is in a historical building, is to use books as part of your centerpieces. You can find a lot of really cool vintage looking books that will add dimension to your centerpieces. If you can't find appropriate books you could simply paint the ones you do find to make them look cool and weathered. You could even use them to add height to smaller vases.
Just a few ideas...hope they help!
You're not alone with baby's breath--I'm doing baby's breath topiaries for my centerpieces! I'm having my florist do it (don't want the hassle), but I also researched the possibility of DIY-ing it. I think all you'd need to do is get a candelabra or something from Hobby Lobby, glue one of those big foam flower-arranging balls to the top, and then load that sucker up with baby's breath. I read somewhere it takes like 8 bunches to get a good thickness, though I could just be pulling that number out of the air. Doesn't sound that bad to me! This is the look I'm going for:
You don't mention if you have a theme or what your color scheme is.
Will you make it home at all before the wedding?
What about making your own manzanita branch type centerpieces?
Easy enough for someone in your home town to gather some branches, leave them natural or spray paint in your choice of color, secure in a pot with plaster of paris. You can buy some silk flower bunches, pull off the flowers and hot glue them randomly to the branches.
Easy, peasy, takes up visual space but doesn't interfere with sightlines etc.
My other suggestion would be along the lines of what a pp suggested. Gather old books, chachkas etc at thrift shops and flea markets this summer. Package them up and ship them home via greyhound. Make centerpieces with piles of books, figurines etc with maybe individual flowers or succulents.
this has a historical look with a bunch of herbs tied with a ribbon on top
Look at the dollar stores, we bought all our vases there..you can buy them in bulk online at the dollartree..but you should buy asap it took about 4 weeks to get them
http://www.dollartree.com/floral-decor/vases-bowls-containers/202c203c203/index.cat
I completely understand on flowers.
Clear vases with water and flowers with a candle are pretty cheap folks have put pics up for those.
Question I have is can you have non light candles in vases at least. There are plenty of nice things you can do with candles being lit.
Also you can by flamelss lit candles or fake candles from dollar tree or online you can get 12 for like 1.00 in various colors. Look just as good as real ones .
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Whatever you do, don't make your centerpiece more than 10 or so inches high. People won't be able to see each other. Sit at your kitchen table, put a wooden ruler if front of you, and measure what a comfortable height would be. I like the flameless small candles, and perhaps sprinkle rose petals or confetti in the middle of the table. What about just using a simple Eiffel Tower figurine without any flowers or baby's breath? I am guessing you are getting married close to Christmas. Would tiny, inexpensive Christmas trees work? I just saw centerpieces that were very pretty - very inexpensive clear bud vases, each containing one perfect dahlia. It was stunning. And don't let anybody tell you that's not big enough to be a centerpiece. Dinner tables get terribly crowded, once the plates and the food and the glasses and the coffee cups are on the table. If flowers are not in your budget, then set the table beauitifully and let it go at that. You would be surprised at how many people appreciate a well set, simple table.
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Hi all! I am getting married in a little less than three months and wasn't beginning to panic until now...we're having a very low budget wedding, which leaves little money for reception decorations. Even after coming through the amazing ideas on the DIY board, I'm coming up empty...I'm not overly creative and don't know how to pull this off. Here are the challenges:
Our reception is in a historical building, so we're not allowed to use candles.
We'll have approx. 10-12 big round tables for the guests to sit/eat at, so need centerpieces that don't look puny on such big tables.
We live out of state (the wedding's in my home town), so will only be arriving a few days before the big day. So I either need to make the decorations beforehand and drive them down, or make them once I am there.
I love the look of flowers but can't afford a florist or, frankly, most flowers purchased wholesale. And I lack the creativity to pull off an elegant centerpiece.
I'd seriously considered making a baby's breath centerpiece in black eiffel tower vases (our colors are black and white), and ordering the baby's breath in bulk to make the centerpieces a few days in advance, but after talking to some florists, I'm thinking I'm out of my league with this idea. This is where I need help!
For one, how tall should the vases be? I thought two feet would be fine, but one florist really turned her nose up at the idea...should I go with 32 inch? Taller? The vases get increasingly more expensive the taller I get..
Second, with just a single vase on the table, will the table look naked? I really don't know what else to put on it...a mirror seems strange without candles on it, and scattering rose petals would look odd next to baby's breath arrangements, like we cheaped out..
Third, the florists said we'd need to get the baby's breath almost a week in advance and let them soak to open up...which I won't be able to do because we won't be in town to handle it and I don't have a place to store them for that long or someone to get them for me and do this...
Sorry for the long post...I'm sitting here freaking out. This was the one idea I had and now it seems to be falling apart / getting really expensive. I don't want the reception to look tacky or cheap (even though it will be cheap!). But I need a simple idea, and many of the DIY ideas are overwhelming to consider, in time/creativity/cost/etc...
Any suggestions??? And thank you so much in advance for your help...