It started like this: My future husband asked if the centerpieces have to be flowers, or if they can be something else. I said they didn't have to be flowers, just something pretty for the middle of the tables, to make it look like a party and not a business meeting.
Then he asked if instead of bouquets in vases we could float one or a few flowers on the top of bowls of water. He wanted more visual emphasis on the water, not the flowers. I said, sure, as long as the centerpieces are still interesting enough to someone seated and looking through/at them. We'd have to choose the right flowers. It might make it difficult to do ourselves, but he's paying for the flowers. Mostly his choice.
I thought about how much he liked water and aquariums, and how uninterested in flowers he was. So a few days later, I said, "You know, if you want, we could skip flowers altogether and just do actual fishbowls as centerpieces." He was so happy.
But we're not sure about the logistics. I've had pet goldfish, and I know they don't do well in fishbowls. They prefer proper tanks with filter systems. They're also hard to transport, generally, and from tank to bowl, etc. And we're not sure we want to start our marriage with 10 pet fish.
Is this a crazy idea? The big concern is getting one fish and one bowl on each table before the reception, and getting them to some place safe afterwards. I think it'd be fun, both because the idea made my future husband so happy, but also because we're expecting lots of kids at our reception. I imagine they'd prefer watching goldfish to looking at flowers.