Centerpieces: Revisited and Redefined

Way back when I posted about the different centerpiece items I'd purchased from Crate & Barrel. If you link over, you'll see the cute little tealight holders, vases, and black chargers. In my mind it was going to be simple, chic, and budget friendly! I'd pick a great bloom to go in each vase, wrap ribbon around the vases and place everything on damask table squares.

I finally compiled everything a month or two ago to see my vision come to life. Here she is:

It could be worse...but could be better, to say the least. Please disregard the yellow gerber daisy, I had picked up whatever flowers they had at Whole Foods. The picture frame is a placeholder for whatever we're using for our table numbers. There was just no "wow" to it. It's fine, gets the job done...but Mr. S and I wanted to see what else we could do without throwing a ton of money at the centerpieces. I'd spent about $225 for enough tealight holders, vases, chargers and fabric to outfit 15 tables.

Oh and if you're wondering - Momma Stiletto is kindly making the table squares for us! Doesn't the first one look great? I love the fabric we ended up choosing, and I'm hoping to take the squares after the wedding and turning them into a keepsake such as pillows or something of the like.

Anyway, Mr. S and I got to researching different options that we thought we could pull off with minimal investment. The general rule seems to be taller = expensive, so we wanted to get some height on the tables. One centerpiece-of-the-moment seems to be branches. So we went into full force research mode finding good DIY's for branch centerpieces and pricing them out. Word to the wise - branches can be very expensive!

I came across an online store called Nettleton Hollow, which has branches that are reasonably affordable. Better yet, they have a blog with great DIY advice for their projects (quite smart, if you ask me!). On their blog I found this fabulous DIY for flowering birch branches combined with dried grass.

I decided to go for it and bought all of the supplies they suggested, and enough to decorate 8 of our tables. I've got one done and I LOVE it!

If you're thinking about doing this yourself, here's a breakdown of what I bought, what I did, and links to the products. Of course, that blog post I mentioned gives a great DIY as well!

Natural Birch Branches: $16.50/bundle

Fountain Grass: $12.50/bundle

I used 18" tall square glass vases: $6.45 each (I found square to be cheaper than cylinder vases and had to bit the bullet and pay the somewhat hefty shipping!)

Small white silk flowers: bought 4 bunches from Jo-Ann Fabrics on sale for $1.00 a bunch, cut them off of the stem

They suggest using 6 of the birch branches and a half of a bundle of fountain grass per arrangement, as I did above. Each bundle of birch branches has approximately 25 branches. So I bought 4 bundles of fountain grass and two bundles of birch branches. I think the biggest cost saver of this project is using the fountain grass to give your arrangement some more volume rather than using the more costly birch branches.

So, including shipping I spent right around $100 for the branches and grass (I was amazed at how reasonable their shipping was!). The 8 vases were $75 including shipping, and around $4.00 on little silk flowers. So, $180 total or around $22.50 per table. Amazing! The only downer was the vases - they seem to have some paint spilled in them and smell a bit like paint. Wha?! It wasn't worth contacting the company about but I probably wouldn't order anything else from them.

After purchasing all of the items, just use a hot glue gun to glue a few flowers on the branches - I think less is definitely more with the flowers, but that's just my opinion!

I love that this gives us some height, some of our green is pulled through via the fountain grass and brings some drama to the tables that we were otherwise lacking. Of course, we still have 6 or 7 more tables to "outfit" with centerpieces! Since I have all of those short vases from Crate and Barrel, and I had been budgeting for a bloom at each table that now won't be needed for 8 of the tables, I have a plan brewing that I'll share with you soon!

Did you decide that your centerpieces needed a little extra "oomph" from what you were originally planning?

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Tables for 8...But What to Decorate?

I've agonized for months over what was going to serve as centerpieces at my reception. Not having the budget for overflowing floral centerpieces (or for anything that would qualify as a "floral centerppiece") and on the flipside not wanting to simply plop a candle into a hurricane and call it a day, I've struggled. And planned. And changed my mind.

Of course, I could have used the hurricanes that my reception site actually has on hand. I'm sure they're fine. And I love a good hurricane, they can be simple but you can still dress them up. But that's just far too easy. And who wants things to be too easy leading up to their wedding day? Not this girl.

The primary elements I've wanted on my table from the beginning have been (in no particular order): candlelight, a single flower (floating or otherwise), a green element, a black container/plate/charger of some sort, and possibly a touch of damask.

I was convinced for awhile that I was going to go antiquing and find a variety of ornate black trays of some sort from antique stores. How I was going to come up with 15 of these, I don't really know...I struggled to fine even one.

Fortunately Crate & Barrel exists to save my sanity. Somehow I have managed to find almost every element that I've needed - in budget! - for my centerpieces. At least I'm hoping that's the case, I just ordered the final pieces yesterday.

Source: Crate & Barrel

Crate & Barrel "Dots" candleholder: $.95 each, 1.75 inches high. Perfect little tealight holder and makes the most beautiful design on the table when lit!

Source: Crate & Barrel

Crate & Barrel Tropical Mini Vases: $9.00 for a set of 6 vases (normally $17.70), 5 inches high. Great little vase for a single stem.

Source: Crate & Barrel

Crate & Barrel Black Square Plate: $4.95 each (normally $12.95), 10.75 inch square. Porcelain and with a glossy finish, the reflection from the tea lights should look great on these plates.

For $175 I was able to get enough of each of these items to outfit 15 tables, with candleholders and vases to spare! However, I still have to see how each of these elements work together...that's still to be determined. Hopefully by next week I'll have everything and can piece it all together. I'm not sure if the vases are going to look really cute or super awkward. And I'm not even daring to tell my florist yet that I've changed my mind completely (as we've been going back and forth on possible floating flowers). That's a conversation I'll save for later.

I've been debating using these table squares by Darling Damask on Etsy. Depending on the size, they range from $8-$10 per square, and she gives a discount for bulk orders.

Source: Etsy

I had planned on having white linens, and I don't think the damask squares look that great on white. But on black, they look cute and would at the very least add a little more visual interest to the tables. I priced it out, and if I bought the fabric myself and sewed these, it would be pretty comprable to just having her do it. Decisions, decisions! Thankfully, this one can wait as I have plenty of time before I have to actually finalize my linen choices!

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