Centerpieces - short or tall?

Julie2013

How did you all decide the height of your centerpieces?

JoanE2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_centerpieces-short-or-tall?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:5Discussion:d7445cb4-efcf-40e1-8a33-2622c5f29041Post:5c9f6969-9365-4f11-8b95-0fe503693a00">Centerpieces - short or tall?</a>:
[QUOTE]How did you all decide the height of your centerpieces?
Posted by Julie2013[/QUOTE]

Money.  I initially wanted tall centerpieces, but the cost greatly exceeded that of the short ones.  Given the fact that they're flowers and will die soon after, we opted for short to save the money.

Avion22

We did short centerpieces becuase I think tall ones look silly.

AdeleDazeem

Tall ones means that guests can't see across the table.  That's annoying, especially if you want to talk to that person.

Ven&Radio

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_centerpieces-short-or-tall?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:d7445cb4-efcf-40e1-8a33-2622c5f29041Post:e87b32fb-4e3f-4c34-b32d-1c1a62d30756">Re: Centerpieces - short or tall?</a>:
[QUOTE]Tall ones means that guests can't see across the table.  That's annoying, especially if you want to talk to that person.
Posted by Joy2611[/QUOTE]

This.  Tall ones might look pretty in pictures, but they're just impractical. 

Maggie0829

PP are right that tall one's will cost more money.

I used to work in a florist and we would do a mixed variety of tall and short centerpieces a lot of the time.  I don't agree however about not being able to see the people across from you.  All of the centerpieces we would do would be tall enough that the only thing that would be in the line of sight of the people at the table would be the holder of the centerpiece, not the actual flower portion, and as the holder is typically a candelabra type shape it is thin and in no way large enough to block the persons sitting across from you.

If you do decide to go with tall make sure that whoever is making them uses the 3 foot height rule when constructing them.

Julie2013

So much great advice! Thanks, you all!

So, is there not a design element to consider? We have a very large area similar in size to a ballroom that we need to decorate. My event is a vow renewal, not a wedding, and I doubt I'm planning as much decor as many of you are. Including my family of 6, there will be 30 people attending. At 6 to a table, we are figuring on 5 tables needing a centerpiece. With such a large room and so few tables, I'm wondering if taller would be better just to fill in some of the empty air space (the room has a 2 story high ceiling)? Or would it even make enough difference visually to worry about?

Once again, thanks for your advice. I have a visual disability that messes with my depth perception and am going to be relying heavily on others advice. 

alithebride

we did both. i like the variety.

i've also been to weddings with short cpieces where i couldn't see across the table either so both have that issue.

jessicaemery30

I am going with a couple of different variations of shorter centerpieces for the same reasons the PP's mentioned. With that tall of a ceiling, it may be worth into looking at some other form of decoration. I recently went to a wedding that had paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling over the dance floor which were nice, and they had all short center pieces. Not sure if that is an option for you, but this place had ceiling tiles that they hung fish line from to the lanterns...if that makes sense? There are other options to fill the empty space that may be less expensive than taller centerpieces, and it was really nice. Just another idea!

Avion22

We had a HUGE room with high ceilings (10 tables of 8 people each, but the room could have held three times that), and short centerpieces looked just fine and "filled the space."  By the time you add linens, place settings, and people, there isn't much "space filling" left to do.

[Deleted User]

We did both because we didn't have enough of each to do all the tables.
Tall skinny vases with flowers draping over
Short oval vases with tightly clustered flowers

mcda04

I originally wanted tall ones but since we moved our wedding date up a year, our budget was cut in half so we had to go with a much smaller venue and tall centerpieces would make it look smaller. We chose short centerpieces with fresh flowers.

Julie2013

Once again, thanks to you all!  I feel better able to tackle centerpieces now!