The -Second- Center of Attention

Of course the happy new couple are the center of attention, but there is a reason these beasts are called "centerpieces." Part of it is, yes, that they go in the center of the table, but the other part is that they're one of the first things people look at...Well, so commences the centerpieces. You would be surprised how inexpensive you can make some pretty extravagant centerpieces all on your own. And the best part, you don't have to break your budget doing it! Be creative in where you get your stuff, and know what you want to include in your centerpieces. Remember that people will want to talk and see each other. So, eye level is not the height you want. Either above or below eye level is key.  $AVINGS TIP: UTILIZE your resources!

Note: These are just the main centerpieces, they aren't the ones we had on our head table, nor the "reserved" pieces.

We got away pretty cheap on our centerpieces... This was one of our biggest savers! First of all we got all the vases at our local dollar store. A buck a piece for a glass vase! I highly recommend checking the local "Everything's a dollar" store for glassware like this. Even if your wanting more of a hodge-podge look, even better! Some stores, like this one, offer a "buying in bulk, Do it online" sort of request. However I didn't and they didn't seem to have too big of a problem with it. I walked out of the store spending $23.54 for 22 vases...

Next we got those "clear" shipping labels from our local office supply store. These are amazing because you get that faux etched look that you can customize. We printed our infamous K on them. The best part is you aren't stuck with 20+ vases with your name on them, you just peel off the sticker and voila!

We also got some twine at our local department store. This twine isn't the kind you bundle newspapers or magazines for recycling with. It was back in the jewelry department. I guess you could classify it as hemp, but they had a lighter and a darker brown color so we got both of them. Each 'spool' was $5 had a 100 yards to it and we got two for ten bucks. Using plain old Elmers glue, a couple beads, and some double sided tape I adhered the twine to the vase. Being that I didn't want the twine sliding down I put about an inch long piece of tape on the vase. Then starting at the center, (this is where it got tricky) where the two colors are tied together with the beads, I circled the vase until I reached the bottom of the piece of tape. I used the Elmers glue to keep the ends from flying around. And got some sticky fingers holding it down. I did the same for the other color going up, gluing the end to the coil around the vase.

Next, I'll talk about some of the stuff we got online. First we got our peacock feathers online. Shopping online can be tricky to make sure you don't spend too much, get raped on shipping, or perhaps your stuff won't match what you've already got. We've all seen or heard about the girls from My Fair Wedding with David Tutera where the girl bought all her stuff online, got it all and it wasn't at all cohesive or even matched. We tried to avoid that.

We got two things from the internet that we used for our centerpieces. They were the peacock feathers and the butterflies. I got two packages of twelve feather butterflies, each of them was $4.03, with shipping the total came to a little over thirteen dollars for them. While the butterflies were different colors (as you can tell in the picture below) they were such a small detail that it didn't matter. The peacock feathers weren't a bad deal either, although shipping was more than the price of the items, I wanted to make sure I didn't end up with 70 feathers that were broken in half. For 80 feathers, I spent $8. Like I said, shipping was more but still didn't break $15. Plus I had plenty of extras, after putting three or four in each vase, to fill in vases that looked lacking.

The next resource we used was home improvement stores. Genius, I'm telling you. At craft stores you can drop $20 on a 1lb bag of pea gravel. And burlap style fabric? Yikes. We spent $3 each on three 10lb bags of pea gravel to put in the bottom of the vases. We then got two ROLLS of real burlap for $10 each. Kind of pricier but we had to have a square of burlap under each vase and we had extra for the gift table, the candy bar, and some to spare (turns out I can't count)...

Another resource we used? My (now) husband works at a glass plant. We got all of our mirrors (including the ones for the head table, from his company because he gets it hella cheap. All we did was add cork to the bottom to make it sit nicer on the tables. I won't say it was free, because it wasn't but I think for all these pieces of mirror (pictured left) it was ten bucks, maybe fifteen?

The biggest deal? The sticks! Can you believe people pay for tree branches?! Ours were free from the branches that we cut out of our tree in our front yard. Bam! Freebie! $AVINGS TIP: Don't have a tree? Go to a park! You can do the same thing for flowers, leaves, pine cones, the possibilities are endless!


Now, sadly we did have to get some things from our local craft store. But, we only got the brighter blue, brown (unused) and clear rocks, our LED lights to go in the vases, and some brown and blue poster board. While we had to get the LED and poster board at the craft store we could've probably gotten a better deal on the bigger rocks, but they were an impulse buy that I wanted. With the LED's I wanted something that would reflect better than just the pea gravel. Although using the pea gravel as a base definitely make the colors stand out. Pay close attention to the packaging. There were twelve of the LED's per package and being that we had 22 vases we had to make sure there were enough, twelve LED's cost $5.99 each. Also make sure you read the length of time for them. Ours only lasted 8 hours so it was a quick project that needed done between the ceremony and reception, lights on and in the vases and then topped with some of the rocks.

We used the poster board to create "coasters" for the vases. The "coasters" were very easy to make. I simply crossed the two colors on each other, used the butterfly punch (the same one from the guest book charm) and rounded the corners (with the same contraption from the Save-the-dates) and adhered them together with plain old glue sticks. We set these on top of the mirrors. So it went table cloth, burlap fabric, mirror, 'coaster', then the vase with everything in it.

Our total cost for all table centerpieces (not including the head table, or the "reserved" markers): About $120... it may seem kind of pricey, particularly if your wedding budget pretty much nil, but remember we bought it all separately and assembled on our own. For one centerpiece from the local grocery florist you can look at more than $30... FOR ONE! So remember your centerpiece doesn't have to, and why would you want it to, outshine you as the happy new couple... Its just something to make the tables look inviting. Don't fret over if they don't look like those masterpieces that David Tutera presents his brides. No one from WeTV will be there. They won't notice. Promise.

Now, you don't have to be as extravagant as our wedding. Or as crafty/involved in them. You can order centerpieces with your florist ($$$), or you can create your own with the craft store. (If you use their florals, pay attention to their advertisements, florals go on sale once every month or every other month, then call to have them make sure they have enough for you and have them set it aside.) I've seen it where people use something like what's pictured left. The possibilities are endless. When it comes down to it, only you are going to notice if something isn't a hundred percent like you imagined it.