non floral centerpieces

Dayn070104

I've been getting quotes from florists on centerpieces/bouquets and i just feel like i can't justify spending big bucks on floral centerpieces.  Does anyone have any great photos/inspiration for non-floral centerpieces like candles or fruit or anything else for an indoor summer wedding?

TIA!

Maggie0829

Does your wedding have a theme at all?  If so you could always play off of that for your centerpieces.
I always liked lemon/lime weddings.  Bright and pretty colors for summer and you could use tall cylinder vases filled with the fruits.  I especially like the goole search done by the PP that has the fruit topiaries...very different but really pretty and fresh looking.

Cocnut0216

A girlfriend of mine is doing small cakes as her centeripeces: which effectively kiss 2 birds with 1 stone (wedding cake and centerpiece)

I think theyre little 2 layer cakes which have her wedding colors and polka dots on them.  They're about 9" diameter (or about 8 slices) and she's getting them sliced as she and her groom do the little wedidng cake for themselves. 

always an option ^^ plus who doesn't like looking at desserts?

andielizabeth

We are using the theme "Perfect Pair" and using pears in our centerpieces. I'm putting them in large cylinder vases with water, I will also have smaller vases with candles and one with a hydrangea in it submerged in water. I don't have a picture but if I find one similar to what I am doing I will post it.

futurepivko

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_non-floral-centerpieces-4?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:81976ad3-2d3d-4fc2-955b-d09f1a36f110Post:7f5dd1de-40eb-4402-bd99-f985f1d47b5c">Re: non floral centerpieces</a>:
[QUOTE]We are using the theme "Perfect Pair" and using pears in our centerpieces. I'm putting them in large cylinder vases with water, I will also have smaller vases with candles and one with a hydrangea in it submerged in water. I don't have a picture but if I find one similar to what I am doing I will post it.
Posted by andielizabeth[/QUOTE]

that sonds beautiful! i hope you find a photo and post it :)


OP-there are so many options that you can do! in TK photo galleries under centerpieces are ideas as well

ShadowSpark

One thing I can suggest is to make your own centerpieces. If you have the time of course. I am going to get my supplies from various craft and party supply stores and go from there, but I have a general idea of what I want. I am using silk flowers instead of real ones, floral foam, beads, ribbons, etc. Plus it doubles as favors; each guest can take home a flower from one of the arrangements and it will never die. Or candles instead of flowers. Floating candles look amazing, and you can tint the water any shade you like and it would match with the rest of your decorations. It may also help to save on money also, I gauged the prices and compared and doing the centerpieces myself is considerably cheaper than having a professional do them, and this way I know I will get exactly what I want.

nicolechris2011

We are not having floral centerpieces either. From the beginning we had decided on cupcakes instead of a cake (well a small cake for our table and to be able to cut) and eventually decided on having our cupcakes on fancy stands with some small decorations for our centerpieces. Some people may not like it, but it is saving us a ton of money and we also love the idea. Hope this helps.

MzZig2004

What about taking tree branches, painting them, decorate them and place in vases.? Or using collections of special items for each table? Like maybe toy cars, brooches, little figurine collections, favorite photos of the couple or wedding photos of other couples. These are just some ideas to throw out there to get you thinking outside the box.

WiersRon

I am using dried flowers from save-on-crafts.com. It is so much cheaper than using real flowers. And, because they are dried, I don't have to worry about the heat/cold killing them!

lauren&samuel

I'm trying to find an alternative to fowers as well.  I want to use paper lanterns with a (flameless!) candle and possibly votives and tealights around.  try lunabazaar.com

wiser516

What I'm doing for my wedding next month is wine bottles for my center pieces.  All the wine that my fiance and I have drank together we have saved and are using them for the center piece.  I have a lady I work with who is very crafty and she is decorating them to look nice

Olivia0686

You could do floral centerpieces yourself, but instead of all real flowers mix in silk flowers.  Also, you can do sigle stem vases which will cut the cost considerably.  Go to thrift stores and antique shops to get the containers; centerpieces do not have to all be exactly the same.

gstarnes2005

A friend of mine with a beach themed wedding did kind of tall hurricane vases with sand and sea shells in the bottom then put one large single wick candle in the middle and lit that. It was beautiful, matched the theme, and kids couldnt reach the flame!

Budnotes

I made my own non-floral centerpieces.  I used the large hurricane vases from Michael's Arts & Craft Stores, placed a large white candle in the center and filled the vases about 1/4 - 1/3 the way up the candle with teal glass gems - it matched our wedding colors of teal & white perfectly!  Our reception hall let us borrow their mirrored bases and we put the centerpieces on those.  I also picked up small votives/holders and we placed 4 votives around the larger candle centerpiece.  It gave a beautifully elegant setting and it was pretty inexpensive to do!

Good luck!

MPaskel07

I didn't read through everything everyone else posted, but something my friend and unoffical wedding planner and I came up with getting Bettas...ya know...the fish.

They're pretty cheap and they're just random. My colors are dark purple with blue and green accents and they have male betta fish that are an awesome mix of purple and blue. They're also going to double as favors because I know there are going to be some kids there who are going to want one...or our friends in college.

I didn't want all of our centerpieces to be flowers either because it can be ridiculous.

Another idea would be going to your grocery store of choice and buying a couple bunches of carnations. You can make mini bouquets really simple and much cheaper than having something complicated.