Community› Wedding Discussion Boards› Wedding Reception Forum
Wedding Reception Forum
New Discussion
Options

Centerpieces that light up

wandajune6wandajune6 member
First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
in Wedding Reception Forum
Sorry for the long question but everyone here is so creative and honest that I value all of your opinions and feedback!

I've gotten a bit hung up with the idea of tall centerpieces that light up. Our venue has very high ceilings, the ability to dim the lighting, and I love the idea of seeing the centerpieces being colorful and lit up from the dance floor. At the same time, my mom has me very concerned that a tall centerpiece will hinder conversation. So my 2 questions:

1. Are lit up centerpieces cute or tacky?
2. How do you do it?

For sophisticated financial reasons, I'm planning to DIY our centerpieces. Our budget's pretty slim so I need to get creative. The options I'm seeing are:

1. Strands of LED lights with a battery pack. Relatively cheap (if I shop around) but I don't love the cords or the ugly battery pack.
2. Submersible lights that I can stick in a vase. They technically do the job but I really loved the idea of the lights being at the top so they're more visible.
3. Pre-lit branches. They're perfect in theory but the nicer looking ones are prohibitively expensive and the much cheaper ones tend to look, well, much cheaper.
4. Hanging candles. They're beautiful but given the number of kids at our venue, I'd prefer to keep any candles lower to the table, just in case things get bumped (votives in taller holders, etc.)

Are there other options that I'm missing? What have you used or seen that looks beautiful?

Thank you!
Daisypath Anniversary tickers
Report Reply to Post

Re: Centerpieces that light up

  • Options
    grumbledoregrumbledore member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Ours will be lit manzanita trees. Check out starry starry lights - thin flexible cords.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Options
    wandajune6wandajune6 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Those are lovely! Are you hiding the batteries in the base? Or have you found another way of disguising them? And is one string enough per centerpiece?

    Sorry- I'm still struggling to picture how they look up close!
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
    Report Reply
  • Options
    BlueBirdMBBlueBirdMB member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    I had submersible LED lights for half the tables.  The other half were $35 lamps from HomeGoods.  Couldn't plug it in, so I put LED flashlights inside to replace the light bulb.  Pretty hard to get another $35 centerpiece that lights up!
    Report Reply
  • Options
    doeydodoeydo member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    1. Are lit up centerpieces cute or tacky?  I think they can be both.  For example, I think using twinkle lights around branches can be cute and I love candles, however, I think the submerged things usually look cheap and tacky.  Example:
    Blue LED Light Up Centerpieces
    2. How do you do it?
    Well, you could use a light-base to add light and perhaps the colours in your wedding (you would place the centrepiece ontop).  Example:     http://www.koyalwholesale.com/p14116/4-centerpiece-mini-light-base-w-9-led-lights-3-per-pack.html
    Another option is pictured below,     I think that the center has battery operated flickering tea lights:
    centerpeices with NO candles hide a battery powered tea light with flowers. http://www.bluedottrading.com/led-tea-lights/flickering-led-tea-lights.html
    image
    Report Reply
  • Options
    wandajune6wandajune6 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    All of these ideas are lovely!

    I'm thinking that twinkle lights might be the idea to beat.

    I don't love the submerged lights either. The more I see of them, the less I love. I do like the fishbowl of flowers and loved the blue centerpiece. The idea of a lamp sounds pretty gorgeous too.

    I'm a little overwhelmed with ideas!
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
    Report Reply
  • Options
    wandajune6wandajune6 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    @shrekspeare- It's funny, I've always hated tall centerpieces. I feel like they get int he way of conversation and are otherwise annoying. Somehow, I've managed to fall in love with them for the wedding. I'm not quite sure how it happened! My goal for tall centerpieces is for them to be tall enough that the big part (whatever you call that!) is well above people's heads when they're sitting down and with a thin enough base to not block views. I also plan to have some votives scattered on the table to keep things visually interesting while seated.

    I'll have to test my ideas out but I'm hoping I can find something that works all around!
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
    Report Reply
  • Options
    grumbledoregrumbledore member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    wandajune6 said:
    Those are lovely! Are you hiding the batteries in the base? Or have you found another way of disguising them? And is one string enough per centerpiece?

    Sorry- I'm still struggling to picture how they look up close!

    The inside has a block of white floral foam which is hot glued to the inside of the container, the tree branch is set into the foam and glued in for stability, then I wound the lights around the branches.  In the foam, I cut out a section big enough for the battery pack to nestle in and the switch is still reachable, then covered the foam with moss.

    Here's the mock-up I did tonight (not lit up):


    image
    The photo isn't doing it justice, it's really lovely.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Options
    wandajune6wandajune6 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    That is beautiful! And your approach makes great sense- and looks far better than anything I came up with!

    I take it that the weight on the bottom is sufficient to keep it from wobbling?
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
    Report Reply
  • Options
    grumbledoregrumbledore member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    It definitely doesn't wobble.  The branches are a lot lighter than I expected, like practically nothing.  I am going to take this one apart and glue it more aggressively on the inside because I am concerned about stability during transport, but it was a great first try.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Options
    wandajune6wandajune6 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Absolutely!

    I just assumed that the branches were heavier. I was planning on using a clear glass vase (perhaps a Dollar Tree cylinder vase?) with either clear glass marbles or smooth stones because I assumed I would need the weight. I think your containers are much prettier- thanks @grumbledore!

    Current plan: branches in a pretty (and tall!) container with the floral foam you used, twinkly lights, and garlands of paper flowers and a few sparkly beads to catch the light. Then it's tall enough to please my mom and folks like @shrekspeare!

    Thank you all so much for the feedback!
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards