Reception Centerpieces

LilyWater09

Hi Everyone! 

So this topic is what is nagging me this week and I would love help.  I am trying to figure out what to have for the reception centerpieces that (a) cost-effective aka cheaper, and (b) eco-friendly/reusable (I hate to order all these flowers to only be thrown away).  My wedding colors and black/white/with accents of Tiffany Blue.  I am open to ANY types of ideas - different, traditional, romantic, etc. 

Thank you in advance to all who respond. 

MRads

Here's a slideshow from Martha Stewart of nonfloral centerpieces: http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/non-floral-centerpieces#slide_9. I have seen candles, books, a girl on my month board is doing tea pots - she's picking them up from different garage sales.

Just remember, though, a lot of times, they aren't necessarily more cost effective than floral pieces.  I thought I would save money by going nonfloral and once I started pricing things out, I quickly realized that was not the case. 

As far as eco friendly, my florist, Carrie Anne Powell doens't have a store, so she doesn't have any extra flowers, which is more eco friendly, and she gives any leftover flowers from the wedding to senior centers to brighten their day.

If you want even more eco friendly, greenSinner is a local florist company that does everything as eco friendly as possible.  They were featured in popcitymedia a few weeks ago.

mookow86

We're spray painting used wine bottles with our colors and then putting single stems of daisies or maybe making paper flowers to put in them. I've recently been getting into the whole paper flowers thing, but it might end up being more work than it's worth.

In general I think you could do something with used glass containers like mason jars or interesting shaped glass jars from ebay or antique stores. You could fill the containers with things like marbles, water and floating candles, fruit slices.

bgfst1

I was just recently reading about someone doing centerpieces with candles and the DIY yarn/string balls. The mock-ups looked awesome, and we made some yarm balls ourselves and it wasn't that hard!

MRads

Oh and one girl on my month board is using empty wine bottles and burlap.  Here's her mock-up.  I love the look of it and she has a cool theme going

adug

I'm with you on the not using flowers. My flowers are all silk, and I do not want to have silk flowers on the tables as centerpeices.

I started to keep my eyes open when going through home decor areas in stores and made a few trips to Michaels and Pat Catans. These all gave me some ideas.

I ordered lanterns from Amazon and we're putting tea lights inside of them. I also bought some plan tea light holders and decorated some with ribbon and painted the others with our colors (black and gold).

I ordered different styles of lanterns so we can use them around our house, especially Christmas time. There are some good deals on ordering 25 or more of certain styles of lanterns if you don't mind them being all the same.

Here's a blue lantern that might go with your theme:

http://www.amazon.com/World-Products-RR-37438-Moroccan/dp/B0011XWCKG/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1312555700&sr=1-3

And here are some bundles:

http://www.amazon.com/WEDDING-Moroccan-CENTERPIECES-CANDLE-Lanterns/dp/B002MLFDWK/ref=sr_1_297?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1312555885&sr=1-297

http://www.amazon.com/MOROCCAN-WEDDING-CANDLE-LANTERN-CENTERPIECES/dp/B002Q8ATIW/ref=sr_1_327?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1312555904&sr=1-327

We are also considering getting a few pumpkins/gourds with yellowish tints. Maybe decorate the tables with blueberries? Not exactly the same hue, but it might work?

LilyWater09

Thanks everyone for the help!  These ideas are great!

Flowerstar1023

What about using potted plants or miniature trees? That way you can replant them/give them to people instead of just throwing away cut flowers.