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| BFS '10, Photo by Colleen Cahill |
Centerpieces need not be elaborate or expensive to make a strong visual statement. I'm a firm believer in "less is more" when planning centerpieces; less expense, less time and less complexity. Centerpieces can be a wedding budget buster as many people simply turn over the creation of the centerpieces to their florist. Simple floral centerpieces can easily cost $25-$50; multiply that by 20-25 tables and you can easily have $1,000 invested in centerpieces.
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| BFS '10, Photo by Colleen Cahill, Flowers by Susie Nyberg |
Much of my experience in creating "Simple and Beautiful" centerpieces has been when I've faced the challenge to provide centerpieces that fit our color scheme and theme, and have visual appeal, for our tables at our Doernbecher Children's Hospital Fashion Shows. We've been able to provide centerpieces for 20-25 tables and usually a budget of around $300.
Some budget saving tips include:
- find out what centerpiece basics your venue has that you can use for free (floating candle bowls, mirror tile square, votive holders) and plan some of your centerpiece ideas around those items
- Remember that many times linens are provided by the venue at no additional cost and a great way to highlight and add color accents to your centerpiece displays
- Use a variety of candles and candlelight to provide ambiance; tealights, floating candles, votives can be a fairly inexpensive addition to your centerpieces as many venues will provide the holders
- Don't feel "obligated" to have the same or an expensive centerpiece on each table
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| BFS '10, Photo by Colleen Cahill, Flowers by Susie Nyberg |
For our 2010 Fashion Show, "All Dolled Up" at Persimmon Country Club we were able to use the mirror squares, bowls for the floating candles, and crystal rocks for no additional charge. Many venues also have votive holders, candle holders, vases and other centerpiece basics that you can use and some even provide the tea lights or candles if you ask.
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| BFS '10, Photo by Colleen Cahill |
Also the cost of providing linens is usually included in the rental price of a venue, so use colored napkin squares and linens at no additional cost to create visual appeal and to accent the centerpieces. For "All Dolled Up" we had 25 tables, but only had floral centerpieces on 10 of the tables. For the other 15 tables we used the floating candle bowls and we only had to invest in the floating candles and silk flower petals as the venue provided the bowls, rocks and mirror squares.
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| BFS '10, Photo by Colleen Cahill, cupcakes by Bella Cupcake |
The following are some other centerpiece ideas we've used for other fashion shows or I've seen at weddings that I think are "Simple and Beautiful":
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| BFS '11, "Tiffany" inspired boxes |
We created our Tiffany inspired boxes to use at our 2011 fashion show for less than $8.00 per centerpiece. Materials include the glass box, ribbon, sand, rocks and a beautiful dried orchid. All materials are from a website called www.save-on-crafts.com. Do some checking around on websites to find prices that are much less than traditional brick and mortar craft stores. I found this site to be very reputable and the materials are excellent quality.
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| Found the idea for the Tiffany box centerpiece on a website for Tiffany's inspired weddings |
At Tara and Jim's wedding, after the ceremony the bridesmaid's bouquets were used as a centerpiece on some of the tables. The bridesmaids simply dropped their bouquets in the vases and they were fresh and ready for the girls to pick up when they left the reception.
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| Tara and Jim's wedding, bridesmaid's bouquets used as centerpieces Flowers by L & T Floral Design |
With a little planning you can create "Simple and Beautiful" centerpieces and displays for your wedding or your next special event! And at the end of the event the centerpieces can be given as gifts or party favors to special friends, relatives or an event helper!
A website I like for floating candles is www.balloons-galore.net.
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