Centerpieces

heatherneil1013 · September 2014

Not sure if this would fall under etiquette or not, but this is where I'm starting...

Centerpieces....how to give them to guests if they want them? Just make a general announcement that "hey, if you like something, take it home", or do a "drawing"? If someone is interested in taking one home, they can put their name in a hat or something like that? Personally, I'm ok with taking them all home and reusing the containers for future seasons (autumn theme, which is my favorite time of year), but I also know some people may like them as well. And not everyone will be interested, so I don't want to do one of those "the person with the gold star under their plate gets the centerpiece".

holyguacamole79 · September 2014

Anytime I took a centerpiece home, someome came around to the tables and said "hey, if you want a centerpiece, it's yours!"

southernbelle0915 · September 2014

We just told people by word of mouth. I'm actually not sure what happened to the ones no one took. I wanted to donate to a local nursing home but I never got my shit together in time...

JaxInBlue · September 2014

I agree with word of mouth. My mom and DH's mom had a kind-of mental list of people they thought might like to keep a centerpiece and they made sure to spread the word. One of my aunts took several to my grandmother's nursing home.

Just let people know they can be taken and ask another person or two help you to get the word out.

heatherneil1013 · September 2014

Thanks. And maybe I'll take a handful to my gram's nursing home as well. It's such a cheerless place that a nice punch of autumn color will be welcome.

tammym1001 · September 2014

We didn't have an announcement and I have no idea who said anything, but somehow all of our centerpieces got taken. I'm assuming my MIL or my DOC must have gone around to the tables and told people they could take them. Word of mouth would probably be the best way.

Maggie0829 · September 2014

I think my Mom went around and told people they were free to take home the centerpieces. Or maybe my DJ made an announcement at the conclusion of the night. I have no idea really but I did see people take some with them which was nice because we had a shit load of centerpieces...half our tables at 3-5 varying heights or arrangements so there were a lot for the taking.

ohannabelle · September 2014

We were just telling people as they left, and word spread. I gave away a few really good antique milk glass containers, damnit. I hope some find their way home, but oh, well. At the time, I just didn't give a damn.

melbenso · September 2014

At one wedding I attended, where the bride had made centerpieces by repotting cuttings from her aloe plant, there was a note with the menu on the table explaining that the centerpieces were all from her aloe plant and they welcomed the couples to take them home at the end of the night. Other than that, its been word of mouth. Our centerpieces were provided by our venue, but we did end up having an extra bouquet because DH's best woman had a last minute emergency and couldn't make it to the wedding. I offered it to one of my good friends who was still there at the end of the reception and she happily took it with her.

Jstump2 · September 2014

I'd like to offer a word of caution to anyone planning on doing this. It was really important to my DH that our guests be able to take home centerpieces. I was fine with that but didn't really put much thought into how we would relay this to guests. Fast forward to the end of the reception. My DH asks the DJ for his Mic thanks everyone for coming and says they are more than welcome to take a centerpiece home. Now here's where the problem came in, our centerpieces were lanterns with candles. The hall we rented happened to have some of their own decorations, one of which was this large 6-foot metal tree that had lanterns hanging from it. (but a different style then the ones in our centerpieces) Well either someone was confused or drunk or just didn't care but they ended up taking those lanterns. Long story short we ended up losing part of our deposit and the case of the missing lanterns has never been solved.

jenijoyk · September 2014

Jstump2 said:

I'd like to offer a word of caution to anyone planning on doing this. It was really important to my DH that our guests be able to take home centerpieces. I was fine with that but didn't really put much thought into how we would relay this to guests. Fast forward to the end of the reception. My DH asks the DJ for his Mic thanks everyone for coming and says they are more than welcome to take a centerpiece home. Now here's where the problem came in, our centerpieces were lanterns with candles. The hall we rented happened to have some of their own decorations, one of which was this large 6-foot metal tree that had lanterns hanging from it. (but a different style then the ones in our centerpieces) Well either someone was confused or drunk or just didn't care but they ended up taking those lanterns. Long story short we ended up losing part of our deposit and the case of the missing lanterns has never been solved.

This is totally my fear! We're not making any announcement because the centerpieces will incorporate a bunch of things that belong to our florist... I'm worried that some people will try to take them anyway! Just another thing to put on my DOCs list of things to watch out for. No one shall take the centerpieces!

MandyMost · September 2014

I swear, as soon as I told my relatives I was engaged one of my aunt's was like "I get the centerpiece". We're talking over a year before the wedding. Also, apparently every wedding she has been to has done some sort of game to see who gets to keep it, so she added "It's my husband's birthday so his birthday will be the closest! Also, we've been married the longest" or something like that. I was pretty dumbfounded. I think I responded that the wedding I had just been at didn't even have centerpieces! (Which is true).

Turns out our florist will take back the vases, although she was clear that I won't lose any deposit or anything if a few crazy aunts steel a few!

wajohnson09 · September 2014

I'm debating on how to do this because we are renting the vases.

Does saying "hey you can take the flowers, but please leave the vases" seem tacky?

dramamonkey · September 2014

I had all sorts of different candle holders and lanterns and spread the word via word of mouth. There was one my mom wanted, so she was sure to get that one, and one I wanted that I was sure to get, but it worked out just fine

danamw · September 2014

One wedding I attended, word was spread that if anyone wanted the centerpiece and there was competition over it, whoever's birthday was the closest to the wedding day, gets it. Per table, that is.

I thought my mom had it, but someone else's birthday was that same week.

indianaalum · September 2014

We had planned on keeping all of our centerpieces (so owe can re-sell them) which were lanterns with flowers surrounding them. My father took it upon himself to tell people randomly they can take them home as he was trying to be nice to the guests. In the end, it wasn't a huge deal that people took them, HOWEVER, I did hear from a relative my cousin was upset we didn't tell them that THEY could take one home. People then thought I was playing favorites. I ended up feeling bad and giving her one of the ones I had left that nobody took. Truth be told, I didn't tell anyone they could take them as that was never my intention! LOL

If you don't want to give them away, I would also make sure those close to you know that, so nobody accidentally does what my dad did. LOL

Peaseblossom55 · September 2014

We spread by word of mouth for people to take home center pieces, and we let MIL know to spread the word also. At the end of the night as we were trying to leave the reception place we were trying to give them away to whomever was left we didn't need all of these vases in our home. We have one though.

Wegl13 · September 2014

I planned for this actually. I could rent the vases from the vender but it was going to be a royal pain to get them back to her.... So I bought a bunch of really nice hurricane vases from Old Time Pottery for $4 each. Every wedding I've been to, someone has come around and either 1. Put the center pieces in a box (they were old books of his and teacups of hers- so sweet) or 2. Started throwing things away, and basically looked around to find a likely candidate to offer the centerpiece to (at the last wedding I went to, this was the bride and I got to take home her cute vase with coffee and a candle). I think if you need to keep something, like the vase, this is probably the best way- spread via word of mouth through family and BP.

lc07 · September 2014

I would spread it via word of mouth. A raffle is too big of a production.

Our florist took ours over to a local hospice afterwards. I was really happy with that.

CMGragain · September 2014

Most of daughter's were donated to a local hospital. FMIL did the transport.
My grandmother asked if she could have my bouquet. She thought it was beautiful. She took it home and put it in a vase to display at her card party - minus one rose that she laid on my Dad's grave.

yogablossom · September 2014

I was at a wedding where the DJ made an announcement about whoever at your table had a birthday closest to the date of the wedding, they won the centerpiece to take home.

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